According to a White House source, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command are looking into links to non-radical conservative groups, including the NRA, Turning Point USA, and Patriot Guard Riders to vet National Guard members for extremist ties, One America News Network correspondent Jack Posobiec reported on Twitter Tuesday.
WH source: The NRA, Turning Point USA & Patriot Guard Riders are three of many non-militia groups on the list CID / FBI are using to cross reference in vetting for potential "extremists"
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 19, 2021
The NRA is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States that was founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship. In latter years the NRA has focused on teaching firearm safety and competency. Turning Point USA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk and William Montgomery whose self-described mission is to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote freedom.”
The Patriot Guard Riders was founded in 2005 “to shield families of fallen heroes from those that would disrupt the services of their loved ones.” The 501(c)(3) group has thousands of members across all 50 states.
The members of all three groups are overwhelmingly Republican.
Reportedly, a number of “left wing, anarchist groups are also included on the watch list, but are not considered a top priority. “Leaders in both Army + FBI have directed to focus attention on groups with “strong conservative sentiments,” Posobiec reported.
“NCIS, AFOSI, CGIS also expecting to receive that directive from senior DoD officials in the coming days, this goes way beyond the inauguration. It won't magically stop after tomorrow.”
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 19, 2021
This alarming information comes amid news that twelve U.S. Army National Guard members were removed from the presidential inauguration security mission because of alleged ties to “right-wing militia groups,” or for posting “extremist views online.” Two U.S. officials, however, told the Associated Press that there was no actual threat to Joe Biden.
The officials, a senior intelligence official and an Army official briefed on the matter, did not say which fringe group the Guard members belonged to or what unit they served in. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Their removal from the massive security presence at the nation’s capital comes as the FBI worked to vet all of the 25,000 National Guard troops headed to the area for Biden’s inauguration Wednesday. U.S. defense officials have been worried about a potential insider attack or other threat from service members following the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6 by Trump supporters that shocked the nation.
Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said in a statement Monday that vetting of National Guard troops continues and that the Pentagon has found no intelligence so far that would indicate an insider threat.
When asked about the twelve National Guardsmen who were pulled off duty during a news conference on Tuesday, military officials were vague about the alleged extremist ties
Chief of the National Guard Bureau Daniel Robert Hokanson described the potential extremist ties as “anything whatsoever that needs to be looked into,” and Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Jonathan Hoffman told reporters that “any questionable behavior in the past” were a concern.
“We work very closely with law enforcement and if there’s any identification or anything whatsoever that needs to be looked into, out of an abundance of caution, we automatically pull those personnel off the line, and make sure they’re not part of the mission said, and in certain cases, we make sure that they get sent home,” said Hokanson.
“These are vetting efforts that identify any questionable behavior in the past, or any potential link to questionable behavior, not just related to extremism … we’re not asking questions right now,” Hoffman added.
.@chiefpentspox on National Guard individuals removed from their duties: "These are vetting efforts that identify any questionable behavior in the past, or any potential link to questionable behavior, not just related to extremism…we're not asking questions right now." pic.twitter.com/sOQ93N2Ukf
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 19, 2021
While the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command investigates potential ties of conservative members to domestic terrorism, it’s instructive to note that the Army has a history of feeding left-wing propaganda to its soldiers.
In 2013, a US Army training instructor lumped Evangelical Christianity, Catholicism, Ultra-Orthodox Jews, and the Church of Latter Day Saints with Al Qaeda, Hamas, the Ku Klux Klan, and Nation of Islam as examples of religious extremism.
The instructor of the Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief on religious extremism said she got her information from the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center.
And just last year, the Army listed President Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again,” and innocuous words and phrases like “colorblind,” “all lives matter” as evidence of “white supremacy” in a graphic sent in an email to its military and civilian members.
The graphic also listed “Celebration of Columbus Day,” the “Denial of White Privilege,” and “Talking about ‘American Exceptionalism’” as behaviors that were indicative of white supremacy.
The email invited “all soldiers and (Department of the Army) Civilian Personnel” to attend the U.S. Army’s “Operation Inclusion” seminars July of 2020 at the Redstone Arsenal Army Base in Alabama.
After Army personnel brought the offensive email to the attention of a U.S. Congressman, the Army said the material was “unapproved” and sent out “in error.”
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is apparently planning to restore Obama’s espionage regime to spy on its domestic political opponents.
Biden admin plans to make domestic terrorism key focus of the National Security Council, according to transition officials. Been looking at ways to shift gov resources used for counterterrorism, to combat “domestic violent extremism,” as new admin is expected to call it.
— Carol Lee (@carolelee) January 19, 2021