Pentagon tightens restrictions on hate group participation By Kevin Baron, Stars and Stripes
Online Edition, Wednesday, April 14, 2010
ARLINGTON, Va. — Thinking of writing a few choice words in an online “white power” chat room? Think again.
The Pentagon is cracking down on extremism in its ranks with a new set of rules restricting servicemembers from participating on the Web sites of supremacist groups.
A new Defense Department directive on dissident and political activity issued on November 27 — the first since 1996 — says servicemembers “must not actively advocate supremacist doctrine, ideology, or causes.” This includes writing blogs or posting on Web sites.
The new directive is the first at the Defense Department-level to address Internet-based supremacist affiliations. It went unannounced until it was reported in a blog Friday by Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff, who tracked down the military service records of two members of the Michigan-based Hutaree militia group that recently was raided by federal law enforcement groups.
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The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group in Montgomery, Ala., presented dozens of the user profiles to Congress and the Pentagon. The center estimates “thousands” of extremists serve in the ranks and has lobbied the Pentagon for three years to adopt clearer anti-hate measures and more vigorously pursue servicemembers known to be affiliating with hate groups. unhappycamper comment: I've been watching this shit since 2005. The 'waiver' is responsible for 99% of the skinhead and gang activity in the military.