WASHINGTON — A new intelligence report delivered to Congress on Wednesday by the Biden administration warned about the rising threat of militias and white supremacists, adding urgency to calls for more resources to fight the growing problem of homegrown extremism in the United States.
In particular, the intelligence assessment highlighted the threat from militias, predicting that it would be elevated in the coming months because of “contentious sociopolitical factors,” likely a reference to the fallout from the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob and the increasingly partisan political climate.
Racially motivated violent extremists, such as white supremacists, were most likely to conduct mass casualty attacks against civilians while militias typically targeted law enforcement and government personnel and facilities, the report said. Lone offenders or small cells of extremists were more likely than organizations to carry out attacks, it said.
President Biden requested the comprehensive threat assessment shortly after he took office in the wake of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, which laid bare the toxic domestic extremism that has shaken the country. Only the brief executive summary was declassified and made public while a classified version was sent to Congress and the White House.
QAnon Supporter Allegedly Fired Paintballs at Army Reservists, Yelled ‘This Is for America’
A QAnon supporter allegedly fired paintball rounds at Army reservists at the Wisconsin Army Reserve Center in Pewaukee on Monday, authorities said. Defendant Ian Alan Olson, 31, drove a Subaru covered in spray-painted QAnon slogans, stepped out, yelled “This is for America,” and shot two or three rounds from an AR-15 style gun, according to the affidavit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (h/t The Daily Beast).
He missed, and his firearm seemed to jam, authorities said. The reservists tackled him and held him until law enforcement arrived, authorities said. Incidentally, one of the alleged targets is also described as being in law enforcement.
That was not the end of it. Authorities said Olson was booked into the Waukesha County jail on state charges. Olson allegedly said he just came back from Washington D.C., having tried to deliver a message there.
His sedan featured spray-painted message like the letter Q on the passenger-side doors, “Trust my Plan,” on the hood, “WWG1WGA” (meaning the QAnon slogan “where we go one, we go all”) on the rear bumper, and “OMW 2 DC” on the rear window. Federal investigators said this last one was an apparent reference to the nation’s capital. According to the FBI, reports from the U.S. Capitol Police showed officers transported him for psychiatric evaluation earlier this month after he made several disturbing statements on March 3.
Prosecutors Unseal Conspiracy Indictment Against Four Proud Boys Who Were Ready for ‘F***ing War’ on Jan. 6
As much of the world looked in horror at the carnage inside the U.S. Congress on Jan. 6th, members of the far-right Proud Boys allegedly celebrated the invasion on social media and inside their encrypted chat networks.
“I’m proud as **** what we accomplished yesterday, but we need to start planning and we are starting planning, for a Biden presidency,” Zachary Rehl, reportedly the leader of the group’s Philadephia chapter, was quoted saying in the indictment unsealed on Friday.
Together with their fellow Proud Boys Ethan Nordean and Joseph Biggs—who were previously charged—the four failed in their efforts to prevent the certification of President Joe Biden’s election, which completed as scheduled despite grumblings from pro-Donald Trump Republicans from the margins. But the four of them succeeded in being hit with a six-count federal indictment, charging them with conspiracy, obstructing law enforcement, destroying government property and other offenses.
Their indictment shows them using programmable handheld radios, encrypted messaging applications, and other equipment to communicate and coordinate during the Jan. 6th siege, planning for the event as far back as two days after Election Day.
“It’s time for ******* War if they steal this ****,” Biggs, a self-described organizer for Proud Boys events also known as “Sergeant Biggs,” allegedly wrote on Nov. 5.
Nordean, who has appeared on the conspiracy theory outlet InfoWars under the name Rufio Panman, ratcheted up the supposedly revolutionary rhetoric later that month.
“We tried playing nice and by the rules, now you will deal with the monster you created,” Nordean is quoted writing on Nov. 27. “The spirit of 1776 has resurfaced like the and has created groups like the Proudboys and we will not be extinguished. We will grow that guides us. We are unstoppable, unrelenting and now . flame that fuels us and spread like love . . unforgiving. Good luck to all you traitors of this country we so deeply love … you’re going to need it.”
Rehl is quoted writing that same day: “Hopefully firing squads are for the traitors that are trying to steal the election from the American people.
On Dec. 27—the day Trump tweeted “See you in Washington, DC, on January 6th”—Nordean created an online fundraising campaign for “protective gear and communications” to be used by Proud Boys on the day of the siege, prosecutors say.
According to the indictment, the Proud Boys became concerned that their encrypted channels became compromised after Metropolitan Police arrested the group’s chairman Enrique Tarrio and examined his phone on Jan. 4.
“Donohoe then created a new channel on the encrypted messaging application, entitled ‘New MOSD,’ and took steps to destroy or ‘nuke’ the earlier channel,” prosecutors say, adding that all four of them joined that channel along with an unindicted co-conspirator.
On the night before the siege, that unindicted co-conspirator allegedly told the group: “Rufio is in charge, cops are the primary threat, don’t get caught by them or BLM, don’t get drunk until off the street.”
Prosecutors say the Proud Boys followed the “directives” of Tarrio and the group’s four indicted leaders not to wear their traditional colors of black and yellow and that several held walkie-talkie-style devices.
“Nordean and Biggs carried and used a bullhorn to direct the group,” the indictment states.
Court papers show them storming toward the building for more than an hour after breaking past the barricades at 12:53 p.m. Eastern Time.
Dominic Pezzola, who has been charged separately, allegedly broke through the window of the building with a riot shield at 2:13 p.m., and some six minutes later, the group’s “Boots on the Ground” channel lit up with another message.
“We just stormed the capitol,” the message read, according to the indictment.
Recently declared a terrorist organization by Canada, the Proud Boys describe themselves as a fraternal group of “Western Chauvinists,” but anti-hate watchdogs like the Anti-Defamation League call them a violent, nationalistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and misogynistic extremists who bear the hallmarks of a gang.
Donald Trump's ex-chief of staff has said that it was "manifestly false" of the former president to suggest that a mob of his supporters who breached the Capitol building in January posed "zero threat."
Mick Mulvaney, who resigned as the White House special envoy to Northern Ireland after the deadly January 6 riot, told CNN that he was "surprised" to hear the president say his supporters were "hugging and kissing" police officers. Five people, including a police officer, died as a result of the attack.
"I was surprised to hear the President say that," Mulvaney told CNN.
"Clearly there were people who were behaving themselves, and then there were people who absolutely were not, but to come out and say that everyone was fine and there was no risk, that's just manifestly false — people died, other people were severely injured."
"It's not right to say there was no risk. I don't know how you can say that when people were killed," he said.
Last week, Trump spoke to Fox News about the events of January 6 in comments that significantly represented the nature of the attack. Hundreds of his supporters had breached police lines to enter the Capitol building after the president repeatedly and falsely claimed the election had been "stolen" from him due to widespread voter fraud.
"It was zero threat right from the start — it was zero threat," Trump told Fox News on Thursday.
"Look, they went in. They shouldn't have done it. Some of them went in and they're hugging the police and the guards. They had great relationships. A lot of the people were waved in and then they walked in, and then they walked out."
Around 140 officers were injured during the attack, according to the head of the Capitol Police union.
Mulvaney, who served as Acting Chief of Staff between January 2019 and March 2020, was one of several senior Trump officials who resigned in the wake of the attack. During the siege, he had criticized President Trump for failing to issue a stronger statement condemning the violence and urging supporters to go home.
Despite his condemnation of Trump's behavior around the Capitol riot, Mulvaney told CNN he would "absolutely" support Trump if he sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) - Streets surrounding the U.S. Capitol and congressional office buildings were locked down, with a heavy police presence, on Friday, a Reuters eyewitness said, while Capitol police said they were responding to reports that a motorist had tried to run down two officers.
Capitol police said they were responding to reports that someone rammed a vehicle into two officers and a suspect was in custody. "Both officers are injured. All three have been transported to the hospital," their statement said.
Dozens of police cars, marked and unmarked, raced toward the Capitol building. All roads leading to the complex were blocked by police or police officers.
A helicopter was seen hovering overhead and observers were ordered to leave the area. Videos from the scene showed what looked like two people on stretchers being loaded into ambulances.
Authorities have begun only in the past couple of weeks to remove the outer ring of high, razor-wire-topped fencing erected around the sprawling Capitol complex after an attack on Jan. 6 by thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
Family and friends concerned Noah Green was unraveling before Capitol attack
Brendan Green said the troubling signs his brother was unraveling built up until the night before authorities said Noah Green launched an attack outside the Capitol.
Brendan Green said his brother was violently ill Thursday evening in the Virginia apartment they shared, before he left and sent a forlorn text that was one of their final communications.
“ ‘I’m sorry but I’m just going to go and live and be homeless,’ ” Brendan Green said the text read. “Thank you for everything that you’ve done. I looked up to you when I was a kid. You inspired me a lot.”
Less than 24 hours later, Capitol Police said a man crashed his vehicle into two officers at a barricade outside the Capitol before getting out of the car and charging them with a knife. At least one officer opened fire, fatally wounding him. Several people familiar with the investigation identified the suspect as Noah Green.
`Clear the Capitol,´ Pence pleaded, timeline of riot shows
NEW PENTAGON REPORT TIMELINE AND DETAILS
12pm: Trump tells fans at rally 'I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard'
12.53pm Unruly crowd starts to overpower police at the Capitol. Trump is still speaking
1.45pm: Crowd overpowers Capitol police
2.13pm Pence is evacuated from the Senate chamber
2.24pm Trump tweets Pence 'didn't have the courage' not to certify the vote
3.13pm: Trump tweets telling people to 'remain peaceful'. By now, they are inside the Capitol and rioter Ashli Babbitt has been shot dead
3.19pm: Pelosi and Schumer call the Pentagon
3.44pm: Schumer begs Pentagon officials to tell Trump to tell the rioters to go home
4.06pm: Pence calls the Pentagon, telling them to 'clear the Capitol'
4.17pm: Trump releases a video telling rioters to go home peacefully and saying 'go home, you're very special, we love you'
4.30pm: Military plan is 'finalized' but still no troops on ground
5.20pm: First National Guard troops arrive
8pm: Capitol is declared secure
A new Pentagon report of the timeline of the January 6 Capitol riot has revealed how leaders Mike Pence, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi called defense officials begging for help after being evacuated from the Senate floor but received none for hours.
The report was obtained by The Associated Press and details of it were published on Saturday for the first time.
It details some of the calls that were made between congressional leaders and Pentagon bosses on January 6 while rioters overpowered Capitol police.
The first rioters made their way inside at around 1.45pm. Pence was evacuated from the floor at 2.13pm.
Between 2.13pm and 4.06pm, Pelosi, Schumer and Pence all called for help. But it took until 5.20pm for the first troops to join the effort to contain the crowd.
Now, there are ongoing questions over why it took so long for the military to send back-up.
The new report reveals that officials were concerned there would be a national insurrection around the country that would require boots on the ground in multiple cities.
'We must establish order,' said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a call with Pentagon leaders.
The timeline adds another layer of understanding about the state of fear and panic while the insurrection played out, and lays bare the inaction by then-President Donald Trump and how that void contributed to a slowed response by the military and law enforcement.
It shows that the intelligence missteps, tactical errors and bureaucratic delays were eclipsed by the government´s failure to comprehend the scale and intensity of a violent uprising by Americans.
With Trump not engaged, it fell to Pentagon officials, a handful of senior White House aides, the leaders of Congress and the vice president holed up in a secure bunker to manage the chaos.
While the timeline helps to crystalize the frantic character of the crisis, the document, along with hours of sworn testimony, provides only an incomplete picture about how the insurrection could have advanced with such swift and lethal force, interrupting the congressional certification of Joe Biden as president and delaying the peaceful transfer of power, the hallmark of American democracy.
Lawmakers, protected to this day by National Guard troops, will hear from the inspector general of the Capitol Police this coming week.
'Any minute that we lost, I need to know why,' Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., chair of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which is investigating the siege, said last month.
The timeline fills in some of those gaps.
At 4:08 p.m. on Jan. 6, as the rioters roamed the Capitol and after they had menacingly called out for Pelosi, D-Calif., and yelled for Pence to be hanged, the vice president was in a secure location, phoning Christopher Miller, the acting defense secretary, and demanding answers.
There had been a highly public rift between Trump and Pence, with Trump furious that his vice president refused to halt the Electoral College certification. Interfering with that process was an act that Pence considered unconstitutional. The Constitution makes clear that the vice president´s role in this joint session of Congress is largely ceremonial.
Pence's call to Miller lasted only a minute. Pence said the Capitol was not secure and he asked military leaders for a deadline for securing the building, according to the document.
By this point it had already been two hours since the mob overwhelmed Capitol Police unprepared for an insurrection. Rioters broke into the building, seized the Senate and paraded to the House. In their path, they left destruction and debris. Dozens of officers were wounded, some gravely.
Just three days earlier, government leaders had talked about the use of the National Guard. On the afternoon of Jan. 3, as lawmakers were sworn in for the new session of Congress, Miller and Milley gathered with Cabinet members to discuss the upcoming election certification. They also met with Trump.
In that meeting at the White House, Trump approved the activation of the D.C. National Guard and also told the acting defense secretary to take whatever action needed as events unfolded, according to the information obtained by the AP.
The next day, Jan. 4, the defense officials spoke by phone with Cabinet members, including the acting attorney general, and finalized details of the Guard deployment.
The Guard's role was limited to traffic intersections and checkpoints around the city, based in part on strict restrictions mandated by district officials. Miller also authorized Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy to deploy, if needed, the D.C. Guard´s emergency reaction force stationed at Joint Base Andrews.
The Trump administration and the Pentagon were wary of a heavy military presence, in part because of criticism officials faced for the seemingly heavy-handed National Guard and law enforcement efforts to counter civil unrest in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
In particular, the D.C. Guard´s use of helicopters to hover over crowds in downtown Washington during those demonstrations drew widespread criticism. That unauthorized move prompted the Pentagon to more closely control the D.C. Guard
'There was a lot of things that happened in the spring that the department was criticized for,' Robert Salesses, who is serving as the assistant defense secretary for homeland defense and global security, said at a congressional hearing last month.
On the eve of Trump's rally Jan. 6 near the White House, the first 255 National Guard troops arrived in the district, and Mayor Muriel Bowser confirmed in a letter to the administration that no other military support was needed.
By the morning of Jan. 6, crowds started gathering at the Ellipse before Trump´s speech. According to the Pentagon's plans, the acting defense secretary would only be notified if the crowd swelled beyond 20,000.
Before long it was clear that the crowd was far more in control of events than the troops and law enforcement there to maintain order.
Trump, just before noon, was giving his speech and he told supporters to march to the Capitol. The crowd at the rally was at least 10,000. By 1:15 p.m., the procession was well on its way there.
As protesters reached the Capitol grounds, some immediately became violent, busting through weak police barriers in front of the building and beating up officers who stood in their way.
At 1:49 p.m., as the violence escalated, then- Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund called Maj. Gen. William Walker, commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, to request assistance.
Sund´s voice was 'cracking with emotion,' Walker later told a Senate committee. Walker immediately called Army leaders to inform them of the request.
Twenty minutes later, around 2:10 p.m., the first rioters were beginning to break through the doors and windows of the Senate. They then started a march through the marbled halls in search of the lawmakers who were counting the electoral votes. Alarms inside the building announced a lockdown.
Sund frantically called Walker again and asked for at least 200 guard members 'and to send more if they are available.'
But even with the advance Cabinet-level preparation, no help was immediately on the way.
Over the next 20 minutes, as senators ran to safety and the rioters broke into the chamber and rifled through their desks, Army Secretary McCarthy spoke with the mayor and Pentagon leaders about Sund´s request.
On the Pentagon´s third floor E Ring, senior Army leaders were huddled around the phone for what they described as a 'panicked' call from the D.C. Guard. As the gravity of the situation became clear, McCarthy bolted from the meeting, sprinting down the hall to Miller´s office and breaking into a meeting.
As minutes ticked by, rioters breached additional entrances in the Capitol and made their way to the House. They broke glass in doors that led to the chamber and tried to gain entry as a group of lawmakers was still trapped inside.
At 2:25 p.m., McCarthy told his staff to prepare to move the emergency reaction force to the Capitol. The force could be ready to move in 20 minutes.
At 2:44 p.m., Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to climb through a window that led to the House floor.
Shortly after 3 p.m., McCarthy provided 'verbal approval' of the activation of 1,100 National Guard troops to support the D.C. police and the development of a plan for the troops´ deployment duties, locations and unit sizes.
Minutes later the Guard´s emergency reaction force left Joint Base Andrews for the D.C. armory. There, they would prepare to head to the Capitol once Miller, the acting defense secretary, gave final approval.
Meanwhile, the Joint Staff set up a video teleconference call that stayed open until about 10 p.m. that night, allowing staff to communicate any updates quickly to military leaders.
At 3:19 p.m., Pelosi and Schumer were calling the Pentagon for help and were told the National Guard had been approved.
But military and law enforcement leaders struggled over the next 90 minutes to execute the plan as the Army and Guard called all troops in from their checkpoints, issued them new gear, laid out a new plan for their mission and briefed them on their duties.
The Guard troops had been prepared only for traffic duties. Army leaders argued that sending them into a volatile combat situation required additional instruction to keep both them and the public safe.
By 3:37 p.m., the Pentagon sent its own security forces to guard the homes of defense leaders. No troops had yet reached the Capitol. By 3:44 p.m., the congressional leaders escalated their pleas.
'Tell POTUS to tweet everyone should leave,' Schumer implored the officials, using the acronym for the president of the United States. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., asked about calling up active duty military.
At 3:48 p.m., frustrated that the D.C. Guard hadn't fully developed a plan to link up with police, the Army secretary dashed from the Pentagon to D.C. police headquarters to help coordinate with law enforcement.
Trump broke his silence at 4:17 p.m., tweeting to his followers to 'go home and go in peace.'
By about 4:30 p.m., the military plan was finalized and Walker had approval to send the Guard to the Capitol. The reports of state capitals breached in other places turned out to be bogus.
At about 4:40 p.m. Pelosi and Schumer were again on the phone with Milley and the Pentagon leadership, asking Miller to secure the perimeter.
But the acrimony was becoming obvious.
The congressional leadership on the call 'accuses the National Security apparatus of knowing that protestors planned to conduct an assault on the Capitol,' the timeline said.
The call lasts 30 minutes. Pelosi´s spokesman acknowledges there was a brief discussion of the obvious intelligence failures that led to the insurrection.
It would be another hour before the first contingent of 155 Guard members were at the Capitol. Dressed in riot gear, they began arriving at 5:20 p.m. They started moving out the rioters, but there were few, if any, arrests. by police.
At 8 p.m. the Capitol was declared secure.
WASHINGTON — The Capitol Police had clearer advance warnings about the Jan. 6 attack than were previously known, including the potential for violence in which “Congress itself is the target.” But officers were instructed by their leaders not to use their most aggressive tactics to hold off the mob, according to a scathing new report by the agency’s internal investigator.
In a 104-page document, the inspector general, Michael A. Bolton, criticized the way the Capitol Police prepared for and responded to the mob violence on Jan. 6. The report was reviewed by The New York Times and will be the subject of a Capitol Hill hearing on Thursday.
Mr. Bolton found that the agency’s leaders failed to adequately prepare despite explicit warnings that pro-Trump extremists posed a threat to law enforcement and civilians and that the police used defective protective equipment. He also found that the leaders ordered their Civil Disturbance Unit to refrain from using its most powerful crowd-control tools — like stun grenades — to put down the onslaught.
The report offers the most devastating account to date of the lapses and miscalculations around the most violent attack on the Capitol in two centuries.
WASHINGTON — They're the most elite, lethally trained members of the U.S. military, widely considered the best of the best. And yet in secret Facebook groups exclusively for special operations forces that were accessed by NBC News, they share misinformation about a "stolen" 2020 election, disparaging and racist comments about America's political leadership and even QAnon conspiracy theories.
Among the hundreds of Facebook posts NBC News reviewed from forums for current and former Rangers, Green Berets and other elite warriors: a member of a special forces group lamenting that several aides to former Vice President Mike Pence were part of a "Concerted effort by the thieves and pedophiles walking the hallowed halls of the peoples government" to undermine former President Donald Trump.
"In a just world, they would have already been taken out behind the court house and shot," another member commented.
In yet another post, a member of one of the groups responded to criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement with an image of a noose and the message "IF WE WANT TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN WE WILL HAVE TO MAKE EVIL PEOPLE FEAR PUNISHMENT AGAIN."
"The story of radicalization in special operations is a story that needs to be told," said Jack Murphy, a former Army Ranger and Green Beret who has written extensively about the special operations forces community. "It has shocked and horrified me to see what's happened to these guys in the last five or six years."
Extremism in the military has been in the spotlight since more than two dozen current and former service members were linked to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. But the private Facebook groups reveal an underbelly of a segment of the military that has long been revered as America's front line of defense.
NBC News reviewed posts from four private groups that describe themselves as solely for special operations forces. While the majority of the content in two of the groups, SF Brotherhood - PAC and US Special Forces Team Room, is political in nature, the forums shouldn't be seen as reflective of the overall views of the whole special operations forces community.
Collectively, the two groups have more than 5,000 members, with some belonging to both. U.S. Special Operations Command has about 70,000 personnel, and there are tens of thousands more retired members of special operations forces.
Facebook has flagged a few of the posts in the groups as including false information, or they have received pushback from fellow members.
The politically charged ones often ridicule President Joe Biden — describing him as "senile" and weak compared to leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin — and refer to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin with derogatory terms like "bubba."
Many of the posts express support for Trump, including his false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. One member of a group, for instance, commented on an image of law enforcement officers with their guns drawn while barricaded inside the House chamber during the Jan. 6 riot, writing, "too bad they didn't bother to defend the Constitution."
Other posts promote conspiracy theories that those involved in the Jan. 6 riot were members of antifa and Black Lives Matter, not Trump supporters.
"Trump was sabotaged once again!" a member of US Special Forces Team Room wrote Jan. 7 about the Capitol riot. And because of those posing as Trump supporters at the Capitol, he added, "trying to get to the bottom of the obvious election fraud now looks like it doesn't have a chance."
"Well said!" a member responded. But another disagreed. "Nope, they were definitely real trump supporters," he wrote.
Robert Wilson, a former Green Beret who was commander of the 3rd Special Forces Group, said members of the community "are radicalizing themselves online, just like many of these lone-wolf ISIS terrorists did."
"It's a problem, and it's an internal threat to the United States," said Wilson, who was counterterrorism director on the National Security Council during the Obama and Trump administrations.
The secret Facebook groups for special operations forces can be found only by members. All of the groups reviewed by NBC News say they rigorously vet their members to ensure tat their special operations forces backgrounds are authentic.
SF Brotherhood – PAC, for instance, tells its 719 members that "only SF vetted are allowed here" and urges them to "Remain Quiet Professionals." US Special Forces Team Room, which has 4,700 members, is described as "for US Special Forces qualified individuals only."
"You can say what you want, post what you want, but most importantly you can dislike what you want and get over it. Same rules as a team room," the group's description says. (A "team room" is what a special operations unit calls the room where members congregate while deployed, and one rule is that what happens there, stays there.)
The two other groups reviewed by NBC News focused largely on military news, although there were some discussions about political issues, such as discussions about members of the military who participated in the Jan. 6 riot.
While the groups include current special operations forces, more members are retired than active-duty, a member said. NBC News reached out to members of the groups behind the posts described in this article — all of whom are men — but none of them responded on the record.
Garry Reid, director for defense intelligence at the Defense Department, said the Pentagon is trying to better "identify, detect, categorize and take action against any such behaviors in this department."
"This is very disturbing material for me and very disturbing content that in no way would mirror the behavior expected of persons employed by the Department of Defense, and certainly not serving in the U.S. military," Reid said.
When it comes to special operations forces, he said, "because of the sensitivity of the missions and the criticality to security that some of these operations have, people would be even more concerned and upset to know that that exists in that community."
Such behavior isn't acceptable in the military, but it can be difficult to detect and root out, he said.
"Humans have thoughts, and we don't like all the thoughts that people have. But what's not tolerated is putting thoughts into action," Reid said. "And taking action in this case, [meaning] posting something to a site on the internet, is contrary to policy, because it is espousing the views that bring forward aspects of hate and violence and unlawful discrimination. That is just flatly unacceptable."
The posts viewed by NBC News "would be a reason for further investigation," he said.
A spokesperson for Facebook said that while its private groups have the option to be visible or hidden, the company's standards apply to both, and that they are enforced by a combination of technology and employees who review content.
'I am concerned about active duty'
The military's handling of extremism in its ranks has come under intense scrutiny in recent months, and internal data about the scope of the problem are scant. The Pentagon has acknowledged that it doesn't know how many current or former service members are affiliated with extremist groups.
Since the attack on the Capitol, the military has sought to get a better sense of the problem. Austin ordered a 60-day "stand-down" to address the issue, and last week he released a memo outlining new initiatives based on initial findings.
A Countering Extremism Working Group will oversee the implementation of the initiatives, according to the memo. They include screening military recruits for extremist behavior and training outgoing service members in ways extremist groups might target them.
U.S. Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, also published a plan last month to try to improve racial and ethnic diversity and remove bias within an arm of the military that is overwhelmingly white and male. "As national and global demographics shift and become more diverse, so must our enterprise," the Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan states.
A recent attempt by SOCOM's recent moves to address diversity created a hiccup. SOCOM reassigned the organization's new chief of diversity and inclusion because of his social media posts, including a derogatory one that essentially compared Trump to Adolf Hitler.
Some retired special operations forces have been among those facing charges in connection with the Jan. 6 riot, including a former Green Beret who is charged with assaulting a Capitol Police officer with a flagpole.
The FBI is investigating active-duty troops and reservists as part of its investigation into the riot. There is growing concern that the problem is more pervasive than it appears among those currently serving.
"I am concerned about active duty," Wilson said. "I don't think special operations forces just develop these ideas in their head when they get out and are in their late 40s. So I think it starts in the military and probably gets worse when they're out."
Part of what could make special operations susceptible to extremism is its insular culture, experts said, because it is composed of small, tight-knit units and lacks diversity.
Military officials have acknowledged that rooting out extremism in such a vast organization of current and retired personnel is difficult. The Pentagon, for instance, doesn't specifically ban membership in extremist groups. Among the new efforts outlined in Austin's memo is to update the Defense Department's definition of banned extremist activities.
"The vast majority of those who serve in uniform and their civilian colleagues do so with great honor and integrity, but any extremist behavior in the force can have an outsized impact," Austin wrote in his recent memo.
Austin's efforts to address extremism have made him the target of vitriolic commentary in the special operations forces Facebook groups.
Members of the Facebook group SF Brotherhood - PAC react to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's asking troops to report extremism in the ranks to leadership in late February.obtained by NBC News
"Racist punk," "pus-gut maggot" and "bubba" are some of the attacks on Austin in response to his calls for troops to report extremism by fellow troops. Other posts question the merit of Austin's Silver Star or say he got to his current position only because he's Black.
"He has risen to the very peak of his profession, riding on the color of his skin," a member of SF Brotherhood – PAC wrote Feb. 26 about Austin's efforts to address extremism.
More broadly, in terms of race, there are expressions of frustration in multiple posts that white men are being targeted.
Austin has also come under criticism in the Facebook groups for changes to allow transgender people to serve in the military. "Well if this doesn't get the troops ready for combat, I am not sure what will!" a member wrote when posting a Newsmax story with the headline "US Eyes Free Transgender Surgery for Military."
Heidi Beirich, a co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said the review of the secret Facebook groups was "an incredible find" given how difficult it is to get access to the forums.
"But also it's giving you on the ground real information about the most dangerous people in the military, right?" she said. "These are the exact troops who we do not want involved with things like QAnon."
Extremism among special operations forces is particularly dangerous given their specialized training, experts said, and that's even more the case when it comes to QAnon. The private special operations forces groups feature multiple references to QAnon.
"If you have been following Q for a while you know that Q taught many of us lurkers how he was going to communicate with us to by pass the mainstream media," a member wrote. "He's a mathematician by trade and had a brilliant aptitude to pick up Gematria code early in which the Cabal used to communicate with each other on SM," or social media.
A member of SF Brotherhood - PAC refers to himself as a "lurker" and a Q follower in a 2019 post.obtained by NBC News
Another post elicits QAnon comments from other members after suggesting it's suspicious that an aide to Pence, Olivia Troye, publicly turned against Trump, that a separate former Pence aide testified in Trump's impeachment trial and that one of Pence's former chiefs of staff was married to an FBI agent.
"They will do anything to destroy Trump and Pence in order to prevent them from exposing their vile plans," a member responded.
QAnon followers aren't necessarily common among special operations forces. But if any member of the military believes in the conspiracy theory, that could create parallel, and competing, chains of command for those forces, Murphy argued, given that QAnon followers swear an oath to the movement that involves fighting the U.S. government. In the QAnon world, the military is responsible for cleansing corruption from the U.S. by rounding up politicians, pedophiles and human traffickers.
"If you really believe that sort of thing and you're a special forces guy, explain to me why you wouldn't pick up a gun and do something about it," he said, saying his former special forces team sergeant is now a QAnon believer who was present at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
"It's not just the occasional private in the 3rd Infantry," he said. "There are senior officers and noncommissioned officers in the military who believe this."
WASHINGTON — A federal judge ordered two alleged Capitol rioters and Proud Boys leaders into custody Monday ahead of their pending trial after prosecutors introduced new evidence about their involvement in planning the Jan. 6 attack.
Judge Timothy Kelly granted the government's request that Ethan Nordean, 30, and Joseph Biggs, 37, be detained, a reversal of a previous judge's order that allowed them to be released to home confinement.
Nordean, of Washington state, and Biggs, of Florida, are alleged to have conspired to hinder Congress' actions and obstruct law enforcement, along with destruction of federal property. Prosecutors claim they led some of the earliest individuals who breached the building that day.
"It’s no exaggeration to say that the rule of law, the durability of our Constitution’s order and in the end, the very existence of our republic, is threatened by such conduct," Kelly said.
Prosecutors argued earlier this month that their pretrial release should be revoked due to newly uncovered evidence including messages sent using the platform Telegram that they said showed the defendants were involved in planning the obstruction of Congress and law enforcement on the day lawmakers were set to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
That day, a mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump breached the Capitol, delaying the proceedings and threatening the lives of lawmakers and police officers. Five individuals, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, died as a result, and two other officers died by suicide in the aftermath.
Biggs is alleged to have entered, exited, and re-entered the Capitol during the riot and gotten as far as the Senate chamber. Nordean, for his part, also allegedly stole a flag from the building.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday will take place in a U.S. Capitol on high alert, with memories fresh of the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the building by supporters of his predecessor, Donald Trump.
The crowd inside the Capitol will be a fraction of the hundreds of members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, top government officials and guests who typically attend, to allow for more social distancing in a COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 572,000 Americans.
But security will be higher than usual, even for what is officially designated a "National Special Security Event," with the Secret Service in charge of security.
The white-domed building is still surrounded by a black steel mesh fence with some 2,250 armed National Guard troops from 18 states plus the District of Columbia on duty in the city, the vestiges of a much larger force put in place after Trump supporters stormed the building as Congress was voting to certify Biden's election victory.
Five people including a U.S. Capitol Police officer died from the violence and dozens of police were injured in clashes with rioters.
District of Columbia authorities have asked the Pentagon to authorize the district's National Guard contingent to help local police handle any anti-Biden protests coinciding with Wednesday's address.
"The D.C. National Guard is prepared to support D.C. law enforcement, pending approval" by acting Army Secretary John Whitley, the D.C. National Guard said in a statement.
It was not immediately known if Whitley would approve the request. The National Guard deployment already has cost more than $520 million, according to the U.S. National Guard Bureau.
Secret Service officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment about security preparations.
'THE FENCE IS EVERYWHERE'
The howl of leaf blowers mingled with the roar of heavy machinery this week around the fenced-in Capitol as ground staff cleared withered leaves and construction crews worked on renovating a fountain at the foot of the complex.
Steel barriers lined sidewalks, glinting in the sun. Ambulances sat before the House of Representatives.
Gena Whalon was among the smattering of out-of-town visitors taking selfies outside. She reflected on the insurrection and the U.S. Capitol Police’s failure to prevent Trump supporters from breaching the building.
"If all those people were Black, they would have fired tear gas," said Whalon, an African American from Austin, Texas.
"The fence is everywhere," she said, standing outside it. "It's completely understandable because of the dangers of the protesters. It does suck though because the fence prevents you from taking good pictures."
The Capitol Police said on Monday they had taken into custody a 22-year-old man who scaled the fence late on Sunday.
Congress is only just starting to grapple with the aftermath of the violence.
Michael Bolton, the Capitol Police inspector general, appeared before a House committee earlier this month to present findings of "deficiencies" within the unit that handles public disturbances and poor coordination and training in its intelligence unit.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is working to secure Republican backing for a bipartisan commission that would investigate the riot.
