Pentagon to Monitor Military Social Media for ‘Extremist and Concerning Behavior’
Bishop Garrison | The Pentagon
There has been some pushback after the dismissal of Space Force Commander Matthew Lohmeier after he spoke out against some of the new initiatives in the military aimed at rooting out “extremism” referring to it as Marxism.
Well, now the SecDef has appointed Bishop Garrison to head up a program to weed out Republican voters extremists. Bishop, who graduated West Point in 2002 and served two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Army, receiving two Bronze Stars. However, his political leanings are obvious and difficult to separate from his current role.
The program is being spearheaded by Bishop Garrison, a senior adviser to President Biden’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who has previously said Trump and his supporters are racist and is an advocate for Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project, which teaches that America is an inherently racist nation founded on slavery.
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Pentagon to Monitor Military Social Media for ‘Extremist and Concerning Behavior’
Legal Insurrection has been following the fallout from the removal of US Space Force Commander Matthew Lohmeier after expressing concerns about the spread of Critical Race Theory and Marxist thought in the military.
Lohmeier reports that he is receiving a ton of support from his fellow Americans, which is extending to Republican leadership.
Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas, a former Navy Seal who lost an eye in combat in Afghanistan, condemned Lohmeier’s removal.
‘We need to be preparing our warriors to fight and win battles, not how to be (social justice warriors),’ he wrote.
‘Far left critical race theory is taught while speaking out against MARXISM is punished??’
A fellow Texan, Senator Ted Cruz, called the move ‘troubling’.
Rep. Andy Biggs, of Arizona, said Lohmeier was a ‘hero,’ adding the US military ‘should be preparing to win battles – not being brainwashed with Marxist ideals’.
And Dan Bishop, of North Carolina, wrote on Twitter: ‘Lt. Col. Lohmeier is correct. CRT is a neo-Marxist ideology. He was punished for telling the truth. We need to fight this with everything we have.’
Outrage is now circling a Pentagon advisor who now is planning to “continuously” trawl the social media accounts of military personnel for “extremist behavior and views.” He will use a private security company to shield itself from concerns that it’s violating the First Amendment.
There was a time in the military where people were punished for being outspoken but the DoD eventually recognized that they were promoting “sheep” since only those who held their tongue, cowered and blended in were getting promoted – and these individuals were the wrong choice to be leaders. After that, the DoD accounted for this by making punishments less severe by not holding someone back, and strong personalities were encouraged if their conduct was not detrimental to good order and discipline.
Now, that Tweet will get Private Schmuckatelli in trouble, if not ousted. He can then pursue a new career as a sandwich artist or a barista. One day soon the only ones that will have jobs, paying taxes and can wear an armed forces uniform are the ones that are politically woke.
Some seem to think this will work theoretically, but I wonder how that will work in practical terms?
Category: "Teh Stoopid", Pentagon, Politics
Meanwhile, the CCP is building their navy [PLAN] into the largest in the world. Priorities… Meh.
GI’s can look forward to literally going to Facebook Brig. Hack Stone is just glad that he retired from active duty, and his current employer does not monitor his social media accounts, mostly because the neighbor of the Vice president of the proud but humble woman owned business changed his WIFI password.
Hack Stone,
Yeah, back a few decades,
no one was eyeballing the 1SGT’s mail correspondence
with Cherry Blossoms (rag personal ads), from the PI.
Had one of my Marines subscribing to Women Behind bars. Good Christian women about to be released looking for some companship and place to crash. And the Marine went on to become CWO5USMC, who has been conspiciously absent the last few months.
I hope this dude is monitoring the Masons.
And the Lithuanian Amish…
Are you now or have you been a Conservative?
Is that Constitution you swore to defend an antiquated, living-and-breathing document or would you like to be a civilian again?
Back in the 80s folks would go drug exempt or gay exempt to get out of active duty. I guess now they can go conservative exempt.
STSC,
There should be a national public list,
and certainly a DD-214 exit code,
specifically for the idiots who pulled the fake gay card
to cop out of their enlistment.
I like being on lists.
WaPo has a list.
CNN has a list.
AOC has a list.
The DoD is building a list.
I demand my name be put on that SoB and they send me a cert so I can frame that MFer, put it on the ‘I love me’ wall, reflect upon my accomplishment with joyous glee, EVERYDAMNDAY!
https://www.newswars.com/compilation-leftists-call-for-deprogramming-and-re-education-of-brainwashed-trump-supporters/
What about the shit list.
My ex held on to the shit list after our divorce…I’m certain I remain near the top, although the parade of dicks she’s had since I was sent on my way suggests a few additional names could have been added to the list over the years…
Alas, we don’t get to choose our Eskimo Brothers.
That too. As long as The Man has me on His list, all others can pound sand.
Some active duty units are already doing this.
Fork over all interwebby URLs for personal social media,
so publicly visible posts/tweets/blogs/vids can be periodically watchdogged.
In theory, it’s more about mission reveal.
Then again…….
What’s the commander’s option if PVT Shmuckatelli respectfully refuses to give up his info? UCMJ punishment for disobeying a lawful order? Is this even a lawful order? I know I’d definitely refuse to give my command anything on my personal social media. Come back with a warrant, Sir.
SFC D,
It’s not passwords, and it’s not account access.
It’s just website address URLs,
so whatever is in PUBLIC view to the world wide interwebby can be monitored.
This is NOT accidental. It is a feature, not a bug. Austin and Bishop are working to remove anyone who would support and defend the Constitution, instead of their leftist masters. They want only those who would willingly load “deplorables” onto rail cars, or fire on them if they resist.
Commander Lohmeier was spot on in his assessment of the situation. Ooh, and why do I have my doubts that Bishops Bronze Stars have a “V” attached???
This will NOT end well..
They are obviously End of Tour awards.
So we’re copying the Soviet army by appointing commissars
For “insurrectionist” stuff like this?
Anonymous,
Hey, there’s Leo Brent Bozell IV.
And we know how HE got in.
There goes the neighborhood.
The above post differs from what the pentagon says in todays Military Times Early Bird Brief. Pentagon says that they are not looking into social media that troops are using.
Pentagon said US forces weren’t in Cambodia or Laos, too.
I think I read that they were hiring contractors to do the actual monitoring, so *technically* the Army isn’t. The courts may have something to say about that, however.
Conform or be cast out
Subdivisions
Well-played, sir.
There will be good examples on both sides of this debate. EXAMPLE: Don’t you think it is a good idea to get a head’s up for insurrectionists planning on storming the capital? Do you think it is fair to kick Private X out of the military for posting a selfie of him wearing a MAGA hat?
The problem is defining what is an extremist? It is vague and subject to interpretation. The monster will want fed – its hungry.
So away we go down the slippery slope.
I believe this is what our Jeff LPH 3, 63-66 addressed in his comment above.
“Pentagon Denies Spying On Troops’ Social Media Accounts”
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/pentagon-denies-spying-troops-social-media/
“The Pentagon’s top spokesman issued a full-throated denial of a story by The Intercept, which reported the Defense Department wants to monitor troops’ social media accounts for evidence of ties to extremism.”
“There’s no effort inside this extremist working group to somehow spy on every individual in the military or spend hours and hours just gleaning through social media activity just for the sake of doing it,” John Kirby said at a Pentagon news conference.”
“This isn’t about some sort ofsurveillance program of our own people.”
“Ken Klippenstein first reported on Monday that the military’s Countering Extremism Working Group is developing a program to constantly monitor what service members say on social media for certain keywords indicating extremism. The working group is led by Bishop Garrison, who is the senior advisor to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on human capital, diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
“In order to circumvent service members’ First Amendment protections, the pilot program would award a contract to a private firm to conduct the warrantless surveillance of service members, according to The Intercept, which cited internal Defense Department documents and an unnamed official with direct knowledge of the program.”
“But on Tuesday, Kirby described The Intercept’s story, which has been picked up by The New York Post and other media outlets, as “misreporting.”
“There’s no pilot program being run by Mr. Garrison or the extremist working group to examine social media,” Kirby told reporters.”
“The working group is trying to determine how many extremists are in the ranks and come up with recommendations for Austin about how to solve the problem, Kirby said. Garrison’s mandate does not include rewriting Defense Department policies.”
I spent 32 years in or working for the Army.
I am absolutely convinced the denial is nothing more than a press release.
We were monitoring facebook as far back as 2010 for suicidal messaging by soldiers and families–whether the “Pentagram” wants to admit it or not, surveillance of military social media has a long history.
We can start with the DoD punishing the milbloggers back in 2007 or the Army scanning dating apps in the 2010 timeframe.
No, DoD spying on soldiers is a truth.
The real question is not whether spying is going on. The real questions revolve around what is the data used for (I’ll take targeting traditional values for 1000, Alex), and how is it secured (I’ll take already stolen by the Chinese for 1000, Alex).
We all know that such programs always end up being used used by the Mikey Weinsteins of the world and all DoD data ends up in China.
For those reasons alone, even if it is a very good idea, the DoD cannot be trusted to do it.
We won’t go into the existence of the 4th Amendment now. But suffice to say that if terrorists have rights….
From my position, facebook monitoring was never done officially… however… I had more than a few genius Soldiers that were facebook friends with the rear det commander, most of whom consistently and inadvertently ratted themselves out for various dumbass infractions. Everything from underage consumption to banging wives of deployed Soldiers. We didn’t need to spy. Good times.
^This^
Every Top, Chief, or Gunny is going to (and has for years) kept a watch over what their troops are doing and posting on social media. OPSEC requires it.
The Pentagon as an entity might not be spying, but the spying has and will continue.
If they don’t, it should be a lesson in basic about the dangers of social media, and forcing them all to delete that shit. Lots of examples of individual negative actions, or like when Fitbit knew all our troop movements.
We didn’t exactly “monitor” their accounts, they’d toss their dumbassery right into our laps.
There was an update to the original article published by The Intercept:
In an email received after this article was originally published, a spokesperson for the House Armed Services Committee provided the following statement:
The Committee understands that the Department of Defense is exploring a means of implementing social media screening in conjunction with background investigations. We anticipate that any social media screening would be intended only as an additional means of vetting cleared individuals or those seeking to obtain a security clearance, not as a tool for ongoing surveillance of all men and women in uniform. That said, Secretary Austin has been clear about his intentions to understand to what extent extremism exists in the force and its effect on good order and discipline. We look forward to hearing the results of the stand down and the Department’s plan to move forward.
Riiiiiiight.
They should’ve stowed the shovel and had a beer after undermining any faith the force had in their Commanders’ intent.
“There’s no effort inside this extremist working group to somehow spy on EVERY individual in the military or spend hours and hours just gleaning through social media activity JUST FOR THE SAKE OF DOING IT,” John Kirby said at a Pentagon news conference.”
When dealing with a weasel like Admiral Kirby it’s always wise to watch for the “weasel words” in their carefully worded denials. Of course they’re not going to spy on EVERY individual, just those they suspect of not being sufficiently woke.
And of course, they’re not doing it “just for the sake of doing it” they’re doing it to find those who don’t subscribe to their Marxist beliefs.
And again: “There’s no PILOT program being run by Mr. Garrison or the extremist working group to examine social media,” Kirby told reporters.”
Notice he didn’t say there’s no PROGRAM, per se, just that there’s no PILOT program, which, of course is technically true if they’ve been running such programs for years as Ret_25X points out.
You must always parse the public denials of government departments and officials because they are created by clever wordsmiths skilled in the art of deceptive writing and most such denials are frequently proofread and edited by government LAWERS prior to release.
And the IRS or its employees or contractors absolutely do not misuse the information it gathers.
Will the new “Uniform of the Day” be a brown shirt…or a Black Coat?
Jawohl Mein Fuhrer! Heil Biden!
Remember when, before you were allowed to enlist, you were asked if you had leanings toward Communist/Socialist/Marxist teachings. The Farm Remembers.
Proudly signed that I was not now, nor had ever been, a commie.
Back then, they also asked about homosexual experiences. Is fucking the mind of a Vice President of a proud but humble woman owned business that sells software to the federal government considered gay?
Every one of you dickweeds that comment on TAH
are on a list. DD-214’s and screen names all listed
in a spreadsheet at DoD. You may think you left the
Army but the Army never left you.
oh. nos.
This is what we get for naming our rugby team 06JAN Scrummers.
See y’all in the Xiden Camps!
Oh, -very- well played.
Ol’ Poe has just taken it as a given that he’s on multiple lists since he began writing anti-lib essays and poems for many milblogs and conservative websites, particularly American Thinker, almost two decades ago.
An Internet naif back then, he used his real name, never believing that the libs would seize power and begin their pogroms.
“An Internet naif back then…”
I look upon a little paranoia as a good thing. Sadly, it seems that it is becoming a necessity. Not as necessary as an *AFDB, perhaps, but still…
*Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie
https://www.zapatopi.net/afdb/
So, Daniel Bernath was right? Sure do miss the days when he would post how we would all lose our jobs for frequenting TAH.
I’ve pretty much come to that conclusion long ago.
That’s okay.
If anyone really wants to make a far fetched stretch to come after me, well then… whatevs. It will only make me and my future lawyer very nicely compensated for whatever time they wish take from me in court.
You little scumbag! I’ve got your name!
I’ve got your ass! You will not vote!
You will not hold a job! You will learn by the numbers.
I will teach you. You will vote along party lines.
Democratic party lines!
GUNNY: You are dumb, Private, but do you expect me to believe that you don’t know left from right?
PRIVATE: Sir, no, sir!
GUNNY: Then you did that on purpose! You want to be different!
PRIVATE: Sir, no, sir.
GUNNY slaps PRIVATE hard across the left cheek.
GUNNY: What side was that, Private?!
PRIVATE: Sir, left side, sir!
GUNNY: Are you sure, Private?
He didn’t refer to it as Marxism. The people who came up with this bullshit ARE Marxists. Someone better get a grip or our country is lost.
What’s really disheartening is to see how many of these Marxists are graduates of our military academies…
Luckily for we Americans, the ability for the ill-disciplined Marxist (redundant) to keep up with their taqiya only holds up for so long.
Not as bad as vegans but the similar mindset makes them unable to stfu about their ‘religion’ in hopes to collect converts.
The Commissariat approves of this… and I will be keeping a dossier on all of you!
Jawohl, comrade!
So should we just call him Comrade Zampolit?
In George Orwell’s novel 1984, the four ministries are: the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Plenty, and the Ministry of Love.
The Ministry of Truth controls the media; the Ministry of Peace oversees war; the Ministry of Plenty suppresses the distribution of resources; and the Ministry of Love tortures political dissidents.
I wonder if the Biden/Harris dynasty will call it the Ministry of Freedom.
Sick puppets running roughshod over the military, and “cleansing” the ranks while they can.
A guy in our reserve unit advertised himself on Craigslist – something about swinging on a chandelier, using handcuffs and other sexual offerings. He was pretty much open to anything and everything.
We actually had a discussion about it – he did not offer to do anything in his combat boots so technically he wasn’t leveraging his military status in any way.
So, we decided – and I kid you not – as long as he didn’t involve any 782 gear in the act, he was on his civilian clock.
Like the porn stars who are reservists. If it’s a legal day job, not even the security clearance folk have an issue with it. Just don’t cite gov’t connection while doing it or do it on gov’t time.
Note to self: delete libertarian messages and memes from my accounts IOT save my career.
Second note to self: give effusive praise to the stunning and brave latrannix, beastiality, kiddie pron lovers for their courage.
Third note to self: prep dress uniform for promotion to 5-star General.
“No, we are not homosexual, but we are willing to learn.”
“Yeah, would they send us someplace special?
“Now, that Tweet will get Private Schmuckatelli in trouble, if not ousted. He can then pursue a new career as a sandwich artist or a barista. One day soon the only ones that will have jobs, paying taxes and can wear an armed forces uniform are the ones that are politically woke.”
Good! If you use Twitter, f#@k you and you should be fired from the military. All government agencies should also be prohibited from using Twitter.
Twitter should be for 14-year old girls and gaming companies; nothing more.
Not to mention Tik Tok, Instagram and the rest of that app-o-rama.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Nothing to see here folks, move along.
Two Bronze Stars, two deployments, isn’t it obvious these are Meritorious Bronze Stars for End-of-Tour awards?
Why mention this? Every SFC and above get these for just showing up.
” Every SFC and above get these for just showing up”
Wow. They are tightening up. It used to be E5 and up back in the good ol’ days. Probably the only case ever of decoration deflation.
My PSG was still pissed he got downgraded to an ARCOM w V for a badass combat engagement in ‘Nam because he was a SP4 at the time.
One look at that shit made me go give my DD214 another hug and a kiss!