More than one-third of all active-duty troops and more than half of minority service members say they have personally witnessed examples of white nationalism or ideological-driven racism within the ranks in recent months, according to the latest survey of active-duty Military Times readers.

The poll surveyed 1,630 active-duty Military Times subscribers last fall on their views about political leaders, global threats and domestic policy priorities. It offers a troubling snapshot of troops' exposure to extremist views while serving despite efforts from military leaders to promote diversity and respect for all races.

The 2019 survey found that 36 percent of troops who responded have seen evidence of white supremacist and racist ideologies in the military, a significant rise from the year before, when only 22 percent — about 1 in 5 — reported the same in the 2018 poll.


Enlisted members were more likely than officers to witness the extremist views (37 percent to 27 percent). Minorities were significantly more likely to report cases of racist behavior than whites (53 percent to 30 percent).

Overall, troops who responded to the poll cited white nationalists as a greater national security threat than both domestic terrorism with a connection to Islam, as well as immigration.

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White supremacists in the ranks
Cassie Miller, a research and investigations specialist for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the Military Times poll findings should not come as a surprise.

“Historically, this has been a problem for the military,” she said in an interview. “We've been pushing the Defense Department to take this issue more seriously since 1986. There are certain parts of the white power movement that value military experience and are often recruiting there.”

Miller said the problem has grown in recent years as groups with goals advocating violent insurrection have begun pushing more extremist agendas.

Earlier this month, an Army veteran and member of a neo-Nazi group was charged with trying to illegally transport weapons along with a Canadian Army reservist into Virginia for a gun rights rally. The former soldier was identified as a member of The Base, a small militant group espousing Adolf Hitler's ideals while preparing for a race war in America as part of its ideology.

Brown, whose Army career included a deployment to Iraq, said he expects the climate survey questions to put additional emphasis on the issue, hopefully bringing awareness to military leaders about problems within units that have gone undetected by leadership.

“I continue to believe the U.S. armed forces are a real model for diversity and inclusion, and a place of opportunity for men and women of all races,” he said. “But there are still obstacles, and we have to look to continue to make improvements.”

Lawmakers also included language in the annual budget policy bill mandating a study into new ways to screen and identify recruits with racist or extremist views, to include coordination with the FBI and outside experts monitoring hate groups. That report is due this summer.

In the poll, about 46 percent of troops surveyed rated white nationalists as a significant national security threat, slightly higher than domestic terrorists with a connection to Islam (45 percent), and significantly above immigrants (28 percent).

Slightly less than 2 percent of poll respondents offered unprompted comments that black-on-white racism is a bigger problem facing the military than white nationalist groups, or that reports of white supremacist viewpoints in the military is only a media hoax.