As part of an 18-month project through a partnership between Military Times and Military Veterans in Journalism, we\u2019ll be reporting about disinformation and extremism as the issues relate to veterans and military communities. To start, we\u2019ve compiled a list of frequently asked questions about extremism and disinformation in the military we will update throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have a tip or idea, please email us at MVJ-Tips@militarytimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To start with, in the broadest definition, disinformation is any false information that is created deliberately to mislead people. It\u2019s often spread covertly with the intention of influencing public opinion or obscuring the truth, according to Merriam-Webster\u2019s dictionary<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. government leaders have taken a more nuanced approach. The Department of Homeland Security says disinformation<\/a> can be targeted toward an individual, social group, organization or country. It\u2019s typically spread with malice or greed and in pursuit of political, social or financial agendas, according to the Anti-Defamation League<\/a>. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense said<\/a> the most harmful disinformation is that which sows global mistrust and confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This kind of disinformation can come in various forms and includes hoaxes, propaganda and spear phishing, according to the United Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another tool for spreading disinformation, known as synthetic media<\/a>, is becoming more prolific following recent advances in artificial intelligence. Synthetic media refers to AI-created text, images and audio. One of the most notorious forms of synthetic media are deepfakes<\/a>, images or videos in which the face of one person is overlaid onto another person, often in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the slightly varying descriptions of disinformation from dictionaries<\/a>, government agencies<\/a>, nonprofits<\/a> and international organizations<\/a>, one key word is consistent: \u201cdeliberate.\u201d The deliberate nature of disinformation is what differentiates it from misinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Misinformation, while also false, is not shared with the intention of causing harm, DHS says. Or as the American Psychological Association put it<\/a>, misinformation is getting the facts wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike both disinformation and misinformation, malinformation is based on fact. It\u2019s true information that is used for harmful or manipulative purposes, according to DHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In many cases, malinformation refers to situations in which facts are used out of context, such as editing a video to remove key information. It can also refer to information that stems from the truth but has been exaggerated to mislead, the Government of Canada said in a recent report<\/a>. For example, some alternative media sites that rely on outrage to generate views will distort headlines, a tactic known as \u201cclick-bait.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Doxxing<\/a> \u2013 the practice of publicly revealing someone\u2019s private information without consent \u2013 also falls under the umbrella of malinformation, the Anti-Defamation League said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A variety of sources from homegrown extremists to foreign adversaries create disinformation targeted toward the American public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disinformation is spread by foreign states<\/a>, including Russia, China and Iran, as well as transnational criminal groups and human smuggling organizations. Other governments have accused the U.S. of spreading disinformation in their countries, too. China said earlier this year that the U.S. spread rumors about data security issues with the Chinese company TikTok<\/a> in an effort to suppress foreign businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The State Department works to counter disinformation from Russia<\/a>, which creates and spreads false narratives in order to confuse people and advance the Kremlin\u2019s policy goals, the agency said. Russia and other actors spread disinformation to exploit the American public, and they often target the country during national emergencies, according to DHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Particularly after disasters, disinformation spreaders use social media to deny the event ever happened or claim it\u2019s a \u201cfalse flag,\u201d meaning a covert operation by authorities that frames someone else. One of the most recent examples of this came after a train carrying hazardous items derailed in Ohio, when conspiracy theories spread that the wreck was a planned, deliberate attack by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disinformation can also come from U.S. citizens. Alex Stamos, Facebook\u2019s former security chief, went so far as to say in 2020 that \u201cthe future of disinformation is going to be domestic.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n So-called domestic disinformation, which comes from message boards, websites and social media accounts, is created by both far-left and far-right individuals. However, two recent studies from the University of North Carolina<\/a> and New York University<\/a> found it\u2019s more often a right-wing phenomenon. This homegrown disinformation bubbles up from message boards and finds its way onto ideological websites and social media. Its consequences are sometimes deadly. The Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, reported there were a historically high number of far-left and far-right terrorist attacks in 2021<\/a>, and far-right attacks were more lethal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elected officials also have participated in the spread of disinformation. The University of Oxford found<\/a> that politicians running for office in 45 democracies, including the U.S., have shared false information to gain voter support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When officials talk about extremism in the military, they generally focus on extremism in terms of religious, political or social ideologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pentagon lists one broad definition of extremism in the Department of Defense Instruction 1325.06<\/a>. The directive makes clear that the actions matter most, specifically, violent action: \u201cAdvocating or engaging in unlawful force, unlawful violence, or other illegal means to deprive individuals of their rights under the United States Constitution or the laws of the United States\u2026\u201d And also advocating, engaging in, supporting or encouraging things like subversion, sedition or unlawful discrimination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each branch develops its own policies to enforce the DoD\u2019s top-down guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, anti-extremism watch groups and academia break down extremism into non-violent extremism and domestic violent extremism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DHS and Federal Bureau of Investigation use the term domestic violent extremism<\/a> to refer to domestic terrorism threats, or U.S.-based, non-foreign influenced actions \u201cthrough unlawful acts of force or violence dangerous to human life.\u201d There\u2019s an emphasis here on the \u201caction,\u201d since harboring extreme or hateful opinions or ideology may be considered protected under the First Amendment\u2019s freedom of speech. You can have a hateful thought or opinion, you can voice that thought or opinion, but you can\u2019t perform a hateful act without legal consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One report by the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START)<\/a>, an academic research center, collected data on instances of extremism since World War II and defines non-violent extremism as \u201cindividuals who engage in illegal extremist activity short of violence or who belong to a violent extremist group but do not participate in violent activities.\u201d Again, the key here isn\u2019t simply having an extreme belief, but acting violently from or on behalf of that belief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The extent to which extremism has seeped into military and veteran communities is a contentious debate on Capitol Hill and around the country. The argument about whether it\u2019s a problem has heightened since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when some Trump supporters believed the election was stolen and sought to overturn his loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a lack of data about the infiltration of extremism in the active-duty military, according to the Council on Foreign Relations<\/a>, a bipartisan, nonprofit think tank. Experts generally agree that only a small number of service members have been involved in extremist activities, but some argue that even a tiny proportion could damage the military\u2019s reputation<\/a> and harm U.S. security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s more data available about veterans\u2019 adoption of extremist views, and research in this arena has increased in the past two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a snapshot of what the data says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Of the rioters in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, 17% were veterans, Harvard University found<\/a>. The same study showed that nearly all participants in the siege that day had shared or received misinformation about the 2020 election on social media platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Veterans were responsible for 10% of all domestic terrorist attacks and plots between 2015 and 2021, according to the CSIS<\/a>. Veterans make up about 5% of the overall adult population in the U.S., according to data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Individuals with military backgrounds make up 15% of the cases in a database kept by the University of Maryland<\/a> that tracks people who were driven by their extremist views to commit criminal offenses. Together, veterans and service members account for 6% of the U.S. population as of May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 The University of Maryland\u2019s data shows a \u201csignificant uptick\u201d in the past five years of people with military backgrounds who have committed extremist offenses. From 1990 to 2010, an average of seven people with military histories were added to the database every year. That increased to 63 people per year from 2018 to 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Acts of violent extremism aren\u2019t new to the U.S. military. The DOD tried addressing tensions following the Civil Rights Movement in a policy in 1969, but incidents continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then in the early 1980\u2032s former Army Green Beret and retiree Frazier Glenn Miller<\/a> started a white nationalist paramilitary group called the White Patriot Party in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Miller\u2019s recruits wore Battle Dress Uniforms with Confederate flag patches sewn onto the left shoulder. Miller had plans to start a race war<\/a> and used active-duty soldiers to create a weapons cache. Federal agents infiltrated the group before a major catastrophic event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On April 19th, 1995 a former Army sergeant and special forces selection washout named Timothy McVeigh bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City killing 168 and injuring 684<\/a>. That event is known as the deadliest domestic extremist act in the U.S. to date. Federal investigators later found McVeigh harbored antigovernment extremist ideology and even visited the Branch Davidian compound in Waco before the federal standoff there. The bombing in Oklahoma City prompted the Department of Defense\u2019s next revision of its extremism policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nidal Hasan\u2019s name went down in infamy on November 5th, 2009<\/a>. The then Army major opened fire on soldiers and civilians preparing to deploy at a readiness processing center on Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos) near Killeen, Texas. Hasan killed 13 and injured more than 30 others. Prosecutors later argued in his trial that he had planned his attack to align with his views on Islamic extremism. He acted alone, but under the umbrella of a hateful or extremist ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of disinformation, one example occurred in March 2015, when residents in small towns across Texas began hearing whispers among social media networks that an annual military exercise known as \u201cJade Helm\u201d was actually an attempt to suppress the locals, seize guns, and enforce martial law<\/a>. The uproar kicked up enough of a ruckus that the governor enacted the Texas State Guard to oversee the national military\u2019s operations. Years later, a former Central Intelligence Agency director revealed that Russia had launched a disinformation attack against the U.S. government<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans and Democrats disagree about whether it\u2019s necessary to address extremism among military and veteran communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the wake of the Jan. 6 attack, Democrats urged the Pentagon to do more to counter extremism in the ranks, and they pushed the Department of Veterans Affairs to intervene<\/a> when veterans show signs of being susceptible to recruitment by extremist groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many Republicans, however, have attempted to halt Defense Department training aimed at countering extremism, criticizing it as a distraction from military preparedness and an effort to politicize the armed forces. Some Republicans have taken issue in particular with a daylong extremism \u201cstand-down\u201d in 2021<\/a>, a military-wide training on the dangers of extremist ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lawmakers opposed to such training were able to cut seven of eight measures aimed at combatting domestic extremism from the annual defense policy bill, a legislative fight that is sure to come up in defense budget wrangling again this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This story was produced in partnership with <\/i>Military Veterans in Journalism<\/i><\/a>. Please send tips to <\/i>MVJ-Tips@militarytimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An overview of disinformation and extremism and the debate surrounding their spread among military and veteran communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":107086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[13,16,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3409,3331],"class_list":["post-72846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"O573X5UWGJHUHPKHUIH5RS7G44","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/extremism-disinformation\/2023\/06\/05\/what-are-disinformation-and-extremism-and-why-should-troops-be-aware\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\nWhat is disinformation?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23082535352740.jpg.jpg\")
What is misinformation?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How about the lesser-known term, malinformation?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Who is deploying disinformation?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is extremism?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/US-and-Confederate-flag-protest.jpg.jpg\")
How widespread is extremism and disinformation among military communities?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1230728560.jpg.jpg\")
A brief history of violent military extremists<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635648745946830331-fed-oklahoma-city-bombing-4jpg.jpg\")
What is Congress\u2019 role in helping solve these problems?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n