FPI / May 31, 2021
The Pentagon is planning to monitor the social media accounts of military personnel in what critics say is a move to purge the ranks of conservative Americans.
As part of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s call to identify “extremists” in the military, the Pentagon is reportedly planning to develop surveillance tools to monitor the troops’ posts on social media.
The Pentagon working group program has drawn fire from the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama.
Rogers said he and other Republican members regularly hear from active-duty and retired service members who say “even holding conservative values is now enough to endanger a service member’s military career.”
“I am greatly concerned by numerous press reports of conservative voices being silenced in the Department of Defense while departmental leadership defends and protects left-leaning voices,” Rogers said in a statement.
“The United States Armed Forces should be focused on preparing to face and win any battles against the threats posed by China and other foreign adversaries and not imposing political beliefs on those who chose to serve in uniform,” Rogers said.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby denied the working group is planning 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.”
“This isn’t about some sort of surveillance program of our own people,” Kirby added.
Space Force Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier was fired recently after he published a book that accused the military of promoting Marxist ideologies within the services.
“I don’t believe I was being partisan. It is not politically partisan to expose or attack critical race theory or Marxism,” Lohmeier told Fox News.
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