Pentagon extremism adviser lays out challenge facing military after two commanders deny a problem exists

One day after two four-star military commanders told Congress they did not have problems with extremists in their ranks, the top adviser on the issue to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin took a different view and stated plainly that he believes the opposite.

"It would be remiss if we didn't admit that there is a problem with extremist behavior in the military. That is to say that one extremist is one too many," Bishop Garrison on Wednesday told a Center for American Progress think tank seminar on ending White supremacist violence. "The George Floyd murder hearing and a lot of these other day-to-day issues that greatly affect communities of color whether or not they wear a uniform or work for DoD are vitally important for us to understand. If we're going to be strong teammates we have to ensure that we're being proper allies for those individuals going through a lot of difficult times within their own communities, so having an education and training line of effort that helps us better understand these gray areas and what we need to do to help address a lot of these issues is going to be of vital importance for us," Garrison said. He is the first senior Pentagon official to speak about the Floyd case since the guilty verdict Tuesday against former police officer Derek Chauvin.