{"id":69281,"date":"2021-04-22T16:01:09","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T16:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/04\/22\/stratcom-boss-clarifies-comments-on-zero-extremism-in-his-organization\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:32:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:32:37","slug":"stratcom-boss-clarifies-comments-on-zero-extremism-in-his-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/04\/22\/stratcom-boss-clarifies-comments-on-zero-extremism-in-his-organization\/","title":{"rendered":"STRATCOM boss clarifies comments on \u2018zero\u2019 extremism in his organization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s great to be confident, but there can be too much of a good thing when it comes to throwing out unscientific claims in front of Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, U.S. Strategic Command\u2019s Adm. Chaz Richard<\/a> took a question about domestic extremism<\/a>, telling lawmakers that, \u201cI am very confident that the number of extremists in my forces is zero,\u201d adding that the security clearance process would weed out any bad actors in his organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense Department officials have clarified dozens of times since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that they do not have a good idea of the prevalence of extremist views or activity among troops<\/a>. Those questions arose after revelations of some current and dozens of former service members were among those who violently fought their way past police and mobbed the hallways looking for lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know of none, right?\u201d Richard told Military Times on Thursday, clarifying his earlier comments. \u201cAnd I\u2019m looking really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it\u2019s true that STRATCOM\u2019s sensitive intelligence and nuclear weapons responsibility require a higher level of security clearance than most organizations in the military, the security clearance process has proven to not catch everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January, the FBI arrested an Army reservist who worked as a Navy contractor with a secret clearance, his charging documents describing him as an \u201cavowed white supremacist\u201d for his role in breaching the Capitol earlier that month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of his coworkers told the Associated Press<\/a> that he had once said \u201che would kill all the Jews and eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and he wouldn\u2019t need to season them because the salt from their tears would make it flavorful enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The security clearance process leans heavily on self-reporting of conflicts or compromising information, as well as background checks for foreign ties, substance abuse issues and financial troubles. Deep dives into social media activity, including possible aliases and dark web activities, are not standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\t