Fears over extremism in US military as soldier revealed as neo-Nazi TikTok follower
"US army investigates after young private follows the Base, which has vowed to recruit soldiers for so-called race war
An active-duty serviceman in the US army is openly following a proscribed neo-Nazi terrorist group on social media, one that has vowed to recruit soldiers in preparation for a so-called race war.
Experts say examples like this shows how under Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon is allowing extremism to go unchecked.
On the surface, following a TikTok account might seem like a minor infraction for a young private in the 1st Infantry Division. But not only has that private followed the Base, a violent neo-Nazi terrorist organization once the target of an FBI investigation, there are directives issued under Joe Biden that discourages that kind of social media activity.
But in February, the DoD issued a memo halting a major counter-extremism initiative rooting out white nationalists and far-right influences among servicemen, citing that it was not in line with Donald Trump’s executive orders. Since, the efficacy of rooting out the far right within the ranks remains unclear.
In the wake of the January 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill and early revelations that at least 151 of those attackers had a military background, the Pentagon issued a historic stand-down order and created a working group on extremism.
By December 2021, it released new policies on what constitutes extremist activities, namely policing how soldiers behave on social media, which included any affiliations to extremist organizations.
On an obscure and secretive TikTok account the Base operates for recruitment, counting just 30 followers, a private and mortarmen in the 1st Infantry Division is listed as a follower. Posts on the account promote the Base’s assassination and sabotage mission in Ukraine, neo-Nazi iconography, and plans to create “platoon-sized units of highly dedicated, trained men”.
The Guardian provided the name and rank to the US army, which said it was now investigating the matter.
“The army will not tolerate harmful behaviors and activities – including active participation in extremist activities,” said a spokesperson in an email, affirming that the army complies with tracking extremist activities and submitting data to the Pentagon’s inspector general.
“Army senior leaders are committed to confronting extremism in the army, identifying the root of the problem, and understanding the issue’s depth.”
On the private’s Instagram account, he appears to be an airsoft gun enthusiast and a second world war re-enactor that has played as a member of a unit of what appears to be Germany’s Nazi-era Wehrmacht.
“The TikTok account affiliated with the group includes a clear statement supporting accelerationism and advises joining the group to be linked up with other individuals to exploit ‘collapse’,” said Joshua Fisher-Birch, a longtime far-right analyst and expert on the Base who noticed the soldier following the account.
“The Base has been designated as a terrorist group by the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.”
Fisher-Birch pointed out that the Base and other adjacent groups, like the now-defunct Atomwaffen Division, are still interested in political violence and continue to prioritize the recruitment of soldiers because “combat experience and military training are prized”.
But under the reign of the new Pentagon, extremism and the far-right are an afterthought, while policing and deleting away “woke” ideologies remains paramount. Hegseth has his own connections to Christian nationalism and was reported by a servicemember for alleged extremist tattoos that prevented him from attending president Biden’s inauguration.
“I think it’s pretty obvious that soldiers interested in the far right have less to fear – Hegseth has made it clear he doesn’t care about this issue,” said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.
“So why would a soldier be worried about getting into trouble for associations with white supremacists and neo-Nazis?”
Critics have already made clear that neglecting far-right extremism in the military is not only historically ignorant, it’s dangerous. For example, the mastermind behind the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 that killed 168 people, Timothy McVeigh, was a Desert Storm veteran that once tried out for the US army special forces.
Beirich notes that if any servicemen is connected to the Base, the military should immediately initiate dismissal hearings or at the very least issue a punishment, adding it is “terrifying” that an American soldier is even “linked to such a violent neo-Nazi group”.
“There is no question this would be the end of the soldier’s career – and it still should be. There are regulations on the books banning this activity, but whether they are enforced or not remains to be seen,” she said.
The Base also has its own well-documented and decorated track record of attracting active-duty soldiers and veterans into its service. Led by a former special forces contractor, the Base counted several global war on terror veterans among its members and one Canadian reservist who crossed into the US illegally and was subsequently implicated in a litany of terrorism plots he is now serving time for.
Beirich counted out several other recent examples of men with military backgrounds and their membership in hardcore neo-Nazi groups that were similarly intent on stateside attacks.
“No one should forget that just two months ago, Brandon Russell, a former National Guardsman and white supremacist group leader, was found guilty of plotting to sabotage Baltimore’s electrical grid,” she said.
“Two former marines were sentenced in July for a neo-Nazi plot to attack the electric grid in the north-western US, and attempted to build an arsenal of arms and explosives to do so. There are of course many other examples.”
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