Defense Secretary Austin announces measures to combat extremism within military

Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a new spate of actions Friday that the Defense Department will take to combat extremism within the military. 

Among those moves is establishing a definition of extremist behavior, training on how to identify when service members are being contacted by extremist groups and screening questionnaires for information about current or past extremist behavior. The Pentagon chief, in response to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, ordered all military leaders to gather with their units by the first week of April to discuss what extremism within the armed services looks like and how to report it. Thirty-seven military veterans and active-duty service members were charged for their involvement in the riot.