After a DOD Inspector General report ordered by FY 2021 NDAA revealed incidents of racism and extremism across all branches of the U.S. military, Senator Reed says commanders must step up efforts to combat racism, discrimination, and extremism and snuff attempts to inflame hatred and division

WASHINGTON, DC – After the Department of Defense Inspector General issued a report required by the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)  that revealed incidents of racism and extremism across all branches of the U.S. military, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement:

“We must aggressively combat racism and crack down on extremism within the ranks.  It’s both a moral and security imperative. 

“Commanders must step up efforts to combat racism, discrimination, and extremism and snuff attempts to inflame hatred and division.

“In order to effectively address problems, they need to be identified and quantified.  This report is a needed step.  It highlights some disturbing incidents and shows we have our work cut out for us, and I think we need to do an even better job with data collection. 

“Secretary Austin has been proactive, vigilant, and diligent on this issue and I know he will establish DOD policies for uniformly reporting and tracking allegations of prohibited activity.”