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Pentagon Says Extremist Groups “Very Aggressively Recruit” Troops (Rebecca Kheel, The Hill)
As the Pentagon looks to root out extremists from its ranks, one of the issues it faces is extremist groups actively recruiting service members. On Monday, the Defense Department’s top spokesman said such groups “very aggressively recruit” service members who are about to leave the ranks. “Some of these groups are very organized, they very aggressively recruit soon-to-be veterans,” press secretary John Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon. Why the interest? Veterans are a major recruitment pool for far-right militia movements due to their experience with weapons, organization and leadership skills. Pentagon leaders have long struggled with rooting out such thinking in the military and preventing service members from entering extremist groups, though the issue came to the forefront after the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol by supporters loyal to former President Trump. Possible solutions: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and military leaders are discussing potential new training for troops before they enter the military, while they are actively in the service and before they leave. “We certainly need to take a look at how we’re educating potential recruits when they’re still civilians and before they sign on the dotted line, clearly.

Why the Flames of White Supremacy Are Still Raging (Liam Duffy, National Interest)
Riot, attempted coup, terrorist insurrection—whatever it was the scenes of the Capitol building engulfed by a mob of people (each with varying degrees of attachment to reality) was certainly traumatic, both for those inside the building and those watching this act of desecration unfold. But the trauma and visceral shock of events like these also tend to unleash what Atlantic journalist Graeme Wood dubbed the “moronic inferno” of online commentary. Before that, British literary titan Martin Amis pondered if the term “moronic inferno” might describe a future in which America’s dream-like state transformed from metaphor into reality—the only reality. Well, American unreality just erupted into the street with the Capitol siege, as Viking helmets and beer bellies descended upon a sacred symbol of American democracy to halt the stolen election of their paranoid imaginations. (Cont.)