ICCT Policy Brief
September 2019
DOI: 10.19165/2019.2.06
ISSN: 2468-0486
A Threat from Within? Exploring the
Link between the Extreme Right and
the Military
Author: Daniel Koehler
Right-wing violence and terrorism have slowly gained more academic and public attention
in recent years, with an increase in anti-immigration and anti-government organised
violence from the extreme right in most Western countries. Some evidence exists that
right-wing extremists have attempted to infiltrate the military in their home countries to
gain access to tactical training, weapons, and to recruit highly skilled new members.
Research about the extent and impact of extreme right-wing links to the military is,
however, scarce. In addition to the lack of insight into potential right-wing (or other forms
of) extremism problems in the military, most armed forces have not developed effective
countering violent extremism (CVE) tools. In this way, the incorporation of CVE in the
military lags far behind the use of CVE in other aspects of counter-terrorism in the West.
As the military, next to the police and intelligence, is a critical part of a country’s security
infrastructure, it must also include specially designed mechanisms to protect it from
infiltration and abuse from violent extremists and those planning terrorist activities. This
Policy Brief will discuss available knowledge about extreme right-wing links to the military
in Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. It will conclude by
formulating concrete recommendations for handling this potential threat.
ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
2
Introduction
Recently, headlines in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom have
sparked a public fear of a potential right-wing extremist threat against democratic forms
of government originating in the armed forces established to protect them. In the U.S.,
Coast Guard Lieutenant Christopher Hasson was arrested in February 2019 for allegedly
plotting extreme right-wing terror attacks on a scale rarely seen before, including the
potential use of biological and chemical weapons.
1
In Germany, army First Lieutenant
Franco A.
2
was arrested in April 2017 and charged with plotting a false flag terror attack
together with another officer and a civilian.
3
In preparation for the plot he had led a
double life for about two years, posing as a Syrian refugee and even receiving financial
assistance. In the United Kingdom, Lance Corporal Mikko Vehvilainen, a veteran of the
Afghan war and soldier of the Royal Anglian Regiment, was sentenced to eight years in
jail in November 2018 for his membership in the right-wing terrorist organisation
National Action and for attempts to recruit fellow soldiers.
4
Other countries have
experienced incidents of right-wing extremism in the military as well. In the Netherlands,
21 investigations led to four soldiers being dismissed from active duty between 2014 and
2019 for their extreme right-wing activities.
5
In addition to cases of active duty military personnel involved in extreme right-wing
activities, examples of veterans conducting right-wing terror attacks can easily be found.
One of the most prominent cases would be Timothy McVeigh, a Gulf War veteran, who
killed 168 victims on April 19, 1995 in the attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building
in Oklahoma City.
6
In Germany, the most lethal terror attack in post Second World War
history, the Octoberfest bombing from September 26, 1980, caused 13 casualties and
more than 200 injured. The main perpetrator, Gundolf Köhler, had received military
training and voluntarily extended his mandatory service.
7
Naturally, when discussing the potential threat of extreme right-wing infiltration of the
military or violent extremist radicalisation of soldiers, one must be careful to consider a
number of contextual factors. Militaries are vast organisations, both in terms of
personnel and logistical complexities. The U.S. military, for example, has a total of
1,358,193 active personnel and 811,000 reservists.
8
The German military currently
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
1
Dave Philipps, “Christopher Hasson, Coast Guard Officer, Plotted Attacks at His Desk, Filings Say,” The
New York Times, 21 February 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/us/coast-guard-christopher-
hasson-terrorist-attack.html.
2
In accordance with German privacy regulations and common practice, suspects are not identified in
public unless they have done so themselves or are already widely known.
3
Tagesschau, “Generalbundesanwalt klagt Franco A. an [Prosecutor General charges Franco A.],”
tagesschau.de, 27 March 2019, https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/francoa-101.html.
4
ITV News, “‘Outstanding’ soldier who wanted to recruit from within armed forces convicted of National
Action membership,” 12 November 2018, https://www.itv.com/news/2018-11-12/outstanding-soldier-at-
heart-of-neo-nazi-terrorist-cell/.
5
Jeroen van Raalte, “Extremisme in het leger: 21 onderzoeken leiden tot vertrek vier rechts-
extremistische militairen [Extremism in the army: 21 investigations lead to the departure of four right-
wing extremist soldiers],” de Volkskrant, 2 July 2019, https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-
achtergrond/extremisme-in-het-leger-21-onderzoeken-leiden-tot-vertrek-vier-rechts-extremistische-
militairen~b6544f39/.
6
Sally Jacobs, “The Radicalization of Timothy McVeigh,” Tulsa World, 10 June 1995,
http://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/the-radicalization-of-timothy-mcveigh/article_49b91161-74c7-538f-
8183-e5f957f45aa1.html.
7
Daniel Koehler, Right-Wing Terrorism in the 21st Century. The National Socialist Underground and the
History of Terror from the Far-Right in Germany (Oxon/New York: Routledge, 2016) pp. 210-211.
8
U.S. Department of Defense, “Number of Military and DoD Appropriated Fund (APF) Civilian Personnel
Permanently Assigned,” 31 December 2017,
A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the Extreme Right and the Military
3
employs 181,463 active soldiers.
9
Some 153,000 men and women are actively serving in
the British military (with 32,550 reserve personnel)
10
and 68,000 in the Canadian Armed
Forces (27,000 reserve).
11
Some countries, at least partially, base their militaries on
mandatory service or conscription. In Germany, mandatory service for all male citizens
turning 18 lasted until 2011. In the United States, conscription was the norm until 1973.
The sheer number of military personnel, and to a lesser degree the partial reliance on
mandatory service, automatically means that people from various different social,
economic, and political backgrounds are brought into service. This includes the risk of
bringing recruits in with extremist views and/or links to extremist groups. Hence, the
question is not whether or not right-wing extremists are able to enter the military but
rather if they are identified in time and if the military reacts adequately to the case (e.g.
disciplinary action or removal from service).
Military leaders and policy makers in all countries discussed here also regularly (and
correctly) point out that relative to the overall number of serving personnel, incidents of
right-wing extremist soldiers are extraordinarily marginal. Warning against the threat of
right-wing extremist infiltration can easily be silenced by misstating this warning as a
general criticism of the military’s valour, sacrifices, and moral values. On the contrary
however, discussing potential threats of a violent extremist infiltration and adequate
counter measures by the armed forces does not automatically mean criticising the
military as an institution and should be seen in the light of other discourses aimed at
helping the military to improve its efficiency to fulfil the duty of protecting democratic
forms of government, such as for example adequate handling of Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) and other mental health issues. In the end, violent extremists coming
from the ranks of the military do extensive damage to the societies they attack and the
reputation of the military. The special skills trained for in the armed forces that go far
beyond the simple handling of weapons (e.g. close combat, tactical formations, use of
surveillance techniques, handling explosives, counter-intelligence) and the extraordinary
trust placed into this institution create a responsibility to establish effective protective
measures against anyone attempting to abuse these trust and skills.
In any case, one must recognise that even though just a tiny minority of military
personnel might be drawn to violent extremism, their special training or combat
experience can make them significantly more dangerous and deadlier in carrying out
potential terror attacks than an average member of the public. Of course, all forms of
violent extremist ideologies can theoretically attempt to penetrate the ranks of the
military. The case of the November 5, 2009 Fort Hood shooting by then Major Nidal
Hasan, which claimed 13 victims, is a prime example. Hasan had become a Jihadist
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/dwp/rest/download?fileName=DMDC_Website_Location_Report_1712.xl
sx&groupName=milRegionCountry.
9
Bundeswehr, “Stärke: Militärisches Personal der Bundeswehr [Strenght: Military Personnel of the
Bundeswehr],“ 24 June 2019,
https://www.bundeswehr.de/portal/a/bwde/start/streitkraefte/grundlagen/staerke/!ut/p/z1/hY7NCsIwEISf
xUOv2Zji7y1VEKVCxaJtLhJrTCtpUtLY-vhGPAmKc9vZb4YBBhkwzbtKclcZzZW_czY-
RdM4jcmMkDRZLPF6G0bRcEfI6jCE4z-A-Tf-IYphfxGQ-
47Jr4505yFgwG684w_UGOuUcIgXr4WQl1xflEhMQd_GBphU5vyeTvU5nEpgVlyFFRbdrbdL55p2HuAA932
PpDFSCVSYOsDfIqVpHWSfJDR11uNwpLqYDp6g0kpt/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/#Z7_B8LTL2922T
PCD0IM3BB1Q22TQ0.
10
Noel Dempsey, UK Defence Personnel Statistics (London: House of Commons Library, 2019),
http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7930/CBP-7930.pdf.
11
Government of Canada, National Defence, “Frequently Asked Questions,” 29 October 2018,
https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/contact-us/frequently-asked-
questions.html.
ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
4
extremist during his active service.
12
Cases of far-left violent radicalisation within the
military or infiltration attempts from this form of violent extremism, however, are not
known to the author. Perhaps due to an ideology that fundamentally opposes strict
hierarchies and the military in particular, attracting members of the far left to the military
is unlikely. This policy brief will focus specifically on the threat posed by extreme right-
wing (i.e. far-right, white nationalist, neo-Nazi, racist ideologies) infiltration of armed
forces in four countries (Germany, Canada, United States, United Kingdom) and discuss
lessons learned, as well as countering violent extremism (CVE) and counter-terrorism
recommendations for military leaders and policy makers. The four sample countries have
been selected because of the availability of information about right-wing extremism in
the military both through governmental and non-governmental sources and the well-
documented prevalence of incidents in these countries. From these four sample
countries, Germany has by far the most detailed publicly available data on this issue as
the military intelligence (Militärischer Abschirmdienst - MAD) and the German
government regularly publish statistics in this regard. Therefore, the German case study
will appear to be overrepresented.
The data for this policy brief was gathered through open source research using press
databases (e.g. NEXIS and Factiva) and relevant governmental databases (e.g. the
German parliamentary inquiry database). Furthermore, available academic literature
and terrorism/extremism databases (e.g. the “Database on Terrorism in Germany –
Right-wing Extremism” [DTG-rwx], the Extremist Crime Database [ECDB]) regarding
right-wing terrorism were searched for relevant cases of incidents involving the military.
Publicly available information was then processed to gather the most relevant incidents
and current approach to counter (right-wing) extremism in the sample countries’
militaries.
The findings and lessons learned presented in the following policy paper have, however,
broad relevance for other countries and their militaries as well, since dealing with violent
extremist infiltration or armed services and radicalisation during active duty is a potential
threat to many if not all militaries.
Canada
The wider interest in the Canadian military’s links to extreme right-wing groups and the
fear of potential infiltration spiked in May 2019, when a 2018 report by the Military
Police Criminal Intelligence Section entitled “White Supremacy, Hate Groups, and Racism
in The Canadian Armed Forces” became public.
13
In it, the Canadian military police
outlined that since 2013, 53 Canadian Armed Forces members were either connected to
hate groups or hate incidents, involving notorious extreme right-wing groups such as
“Atomwaffen Division”, “Hammerskin Nation”, “Proud Boys”, “La Meute”, “III%”, or the
“Soldiers of Odin”. Even though the report concludes that these groups do not pose a
significant threat to national security (pointing out that only 0.1% of the Canadian Armed
Forces personnel were identified with related activities), it is still conceded that military
training and skills help to gain leadership positions within such groups.
14
Of the 53
identified soldiers, 16 were found to have direct links to the named extreme right-wing
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
12
Katharine Poppe, “Nidal Hasan: A Case Study in Lone Actor Terrorism,” George Washington University
Program on Extremism, October 2018,
https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/Nidal%20Hasan.pdf.
13
Report No. 2000-1040 (MPCIS).
14
Ibid.
A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the Extreme Right and the Military
5
groups and the rest to have made statements or conducted behaviour considered to be
discriminatory in nature.
15
In addition, an investigative media report from 2018 claimed to have found evidence in
online communication between right-wing extremists discussing the strategic value of
infiltrating the armed forces to acquire weapons training and tactical skills.
16
The
potential threat of this infiltration debate was further heightened through secrecy and
covertness as recommended among the discussants.
As with other countries in this Policy Brief’s sample, Canada has had to deal with highly
publicised extreme right-wing incidents involving military personnel in the past. For
example, in July 2017 a group of five off-duty Canadian Armed Forces personnel
disrupted an indigenous ceremony and openly showed their allegiance to the Proud
Boys. Designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center,
17
the Proud Boys
were founded in 2016 by VICE Media co-founder Gavin McInnes and have been
recognised regularly for their white nationalist and anti-Muslim rhetoric and actions,
including violence. After the subsequent public debate and initial outcry, however, four
of the five returned to active duty, albeit on probation and monitoring. The fifth had left
the military on his own accord.
18
Without a doubt, the most significant and momentous incident with links to racism and
right-wing extremism in the history of the Canadian military happened in March 1993,
when two soldiers of the elite Airborne Regiment tortured and killed a 16-year-old
Somali teenager during a peacekeeping operation as the peak of a series of events that
in the end left dead a total of four Somalis in Canadian custody.
19
Public outcry followed
in November 1994, when pictures taken by the torturers became public. In the
subsequent string of reporting and parliamentary investigations, numerous links
between the Airborne Regiment and various extreme right-wing groups surfaced. One
soldier, for example, who was also involved in the Somalia affair, had taken pre-
deployment photographs showing him wearing a Hitler shirt in front of a swastika. The
same soldier was also a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
20
Further incidents involved
airborne soldiers wearing white supremacist tattoos and providing training to the neo-
Nazi organisation Heritage Front.
21
As a result of the affair, the Airborne Regiment was
disbanded.
22
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
15
Mack Lamoureux, Ben Makuch, “Canadian Military Confirms Neo-Nazi Group Atomwaffen Was Within
Its Ranks,” Vice, 28 May 2019, https://www.vice.com/amp/en_ca/article/a3xndb/canadian-military-
confirms-neo-nazi-group-atomwaffen-was-within-its-ranks#click=https://t.co/DMW4MXyyqb.
16
Ben Makuch, Mack Lamoureux, “Neo-Nazis Want Canadian Military Training,” 22 October 2018,
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/a3pppz/neo-nazis-want-canadian-military-training.
17
Southern Poverty Law Center, “Proud Boys,” no date, https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-
hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys.
18
Elizabeth McMillan, “Military personnel in Proud Boys incident return to regular duty,” CBC, 31 August
2017, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/military-personnel-proud-boy-s-incident-jobs-
1.4269952.
19
Richard Foot, “Somalia Affair,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 18 October 2018,
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/somalia-affair.
20
Clyde Farnsworth, “Canada Investigates Reported Ties of Rightist Militants and Military,” The New York
Times, 17 May 1993, https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/17/world/canada-investigates-reported-ties-of-
rightist-militants-and-military.html.
21
Ibid.
22
Richard Foot, “Somalia Affair,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 18 October 2018,
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/somalia-affair.
ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
6
The United States
The United States military has a long history of links with extreme right-wing groups and
individuals going back to the end of the Civil War, when the Ku Klux Klan was founded by
former officers of the Confederate army. Nevertheless, the U.S. military has, according
to retired U.S. Army colonel and former member of the National Security Council Jeff
McCausland, “failed to establish a comprehensive way to screen” out extremists,
especially right-wing oriented ones.
23
The result of this missing screening mechanism is
a long list of incidents showing a potentially significant risk of extremist infiltration of the
U.S. military, for example:
- After the 1968 murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Ku Klux Klan members
paraded on an American base in Vietnam.
24
Marines held regular Klan
meetings in Camp Pendleton in 1976.
25
In the mid-1980s pictures of
uniformed soldiers holding Klan signs with clearly racist and anti-Semitic
slurs surfaced.
26
- In 1995, members of the elite 82
nd
Airborne Division formed a clandestine
neo-Nazi cell and in December that year two soldiers involved in that
group murdered an African-American couple.
27
The perpetrators received
life imprisonment and 19 additional soldiers were dishonourably
discharged.
28
- In 2010, a Marine Corps sniper team in Afghanistan posed for pictures in
front of a Nazi SS flag.
29
- In 2012, a member of the Missouri National Guard was arrested for
providing weapons for and running a neo-Nazi paramilitary training camp
in Florida.
30
In the same year, two soldiers were arrested after murdering
a former soldier and his girlfriend in an attempt to cover up their
assassination plot against then-President Barack Obama.
31
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
23
Jeff McCausland, “Inside the U.S. military's battle with white supremacy and far-right extremism,” NBC,
25 May 2019, https://www.nbcnews.com/think/amp/ncna1010221#click=https://t.co/8HJmNRBS0Y.
24
James E. Westheider, “African Americans and the Vietnam War,” in A Companion to the Vietnam War,
eds. Marylin B. Young and Robert Buzzanco (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2009), pp. 333-47.
25
Everett R. Holles, “Marines in Klan Openly Abused Blacks at Pendleton, Panel Hears,” The New York
Times, 9 January 1977, https://www.nytimes.com/1977/01/09/archives/marines-in-klan-openly-abused-
blacks-at-pendleton-panel-hears.html.
26
Dave Philipps, “White Supremacism in the U.S. Military, Explained,” The New York Times, 27 February
2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/us/military-white-nationalists-extremists.html.
27
David Lewis, “Army investigating skinheads,” CNN, 9 February 1996
http://edition.cnn.com/US/9602/ft_bragg/index.html.
28
David Holthouse, “Several High Profile Racist Extremist Serve in the U.S. Military,” Southern Poverty
Law Center, 11 August 2006, https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2006/several-
high-profile-racist-extremists-serve-us-military.
29
Associated Press, “US marines in fresh controversy over sniper team photo with Nazi SS flag,” The
Guardian, 9 February 2012. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/09/us-military-
marines-nazi-ss-flag-photo.
30
Christopher Jones, “The American military's extremist problem,” The Week, 12 May 2019,
https://theweek.com/articles/833960/american-militarys-extremist-problem.
31
John Hudson, “Prosecutors: U.S. Soldiers Plotted to Kill President Obama,” The Atlantic, 27 August
2012, https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/08/prosecutors-us-soldiers-plotted-kill-
president-obama/324243/.
A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the Extreme Right and the Military
7
- The 22-year-old Brandon Russell, member of the notorious Atomwaffen
Division, was arrested in 2018 and found in possession of weapons and a
“dirty bomb” including radiological material. Russell had been serving in
the 53
rd
Brigade Special Troops Battalion of Florida’s Army National Guard
at the time of the arrest.
32
- The 18-year-old Vasillios Pistolis, a Lance Corporal of the Marine Corps
and a member of Atomwaffen Division, was involved in physical assaults
during the infamous Charleston “Unite the Right” rally and bragged about
it online. He had already been involved in neo-Nazism before he joined
the military.
33
- Coast Guard Lieutenant Christopher Hasson spent five years in the Marine
Corps and two years in the Army National Guard and his radicalisation
process can be traced at least over a two-year period.
34
- In September 2019, 24-year-old active service Army Spc. Jarrett William
Smith, stationed at Fort Riley, was charged with distributing bomb-making
information over social media. Smith had given bomb making lectures via
Facebook to right-wing extremists. His own involvement in the militant
extreme right movement predated his enlistment and Smith also was
trying to join the neo-Nazi paramilitary Azov battalion and fight on their
side in the Ukrainian conflict.
35
Furthermore, investigative press reports have also uncovered several service members
with ties to right-wing extremist groups. For example, the American Identity Movement,
formerly known as Identity Evropa, was found to have at least 11 members in the ranks
of the U.S. military.
36
The white nationalist network itself was even founded by an ex-
Marine. Reactions of the military varied from person to person. While one Marine and
high-ranking member of Identity Evropa were removed from the ranks, another was
permitted to continue serving with the Minnesota National Guard after receiving
counselling and publicly disavowing the group’s ideology.
37
Another investigative press
report presented the case of 22-year-old private first class in the 1
st
Armored Division
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
32
Howard Altman, “How did Florida National Guard miss soldier's neo-Nazi leanings?” The Tampa Bay
Times, 24 May 2017, https://www.tampabay.com/news/military/how-did-florida-national-guard-miss-
soldiers-neo-nazi-leanings/2324930.
33
A.C. Thompson, Ali Winston, Jake Hanrahan, “Ranks of Notorious Hate Group Include Active-Duty
Military,” PBS Frontline, 3 May 2018, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/ranks-of-notorious-hate-
group-include-active-duty-
military/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share_button.
34
Lynh Bui, “‘I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on earth’: A self-proclaimed white
nationalist planned a mass terrorist attack, the government says,” The Washington Post, 20 February
2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/self-proclaimed-white-nationalist-planned-
mass-terror-attack-government-says-i-am-dreaming-of-a-way-to-kill-almost-every-last-person-on-
earth/2019/02/20/61daf6b8-3544-11e9-af5b-b51b7ff322e9_story.html?utm_term=.abf74f3e002b.
35
Hannah Allam, “U.S. Soldier Charged With Teaching Bomb-Making To Far-Right Extremists”, National
Public Radio, 23 September 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/09/23/763544037/kansas-soldier-charged-
with-teaching-bomb-making-to-far-right-extremists
36
Christopher Mathias, “Exposed: Military Investigating 4 More Servicemen For Ties To White Nationalist
Group,” The Huffington Post, 27 April 2019,
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5cc1a87ee4b0764d31dd839c/amp#click=https://t.co/SN6lbsOppb.
37
Christopher Wilson, “Military grapples with white nationalists in ranks,” Yahoo News, 19 June 2019,
https://news.yahoo.com/military-grapples-with-white-nationalists-in-ranks-203207506.html.
ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
8
Corwyn Storm Carver, an alleged member of Atomwaffen Division.
38
Carver, who
allegedly took over a leadership role in Atomwaffen, is currently under investigation for
violating the Army’s regulations regarding extremist activities. His reported social media
postings included idolisation of Charleston shooter Dylann Roof and death threats to
superiors.
39
Intelligence reports by governmental and non-governmental organisations have also
underlined the threat posed by right-wing extremists in the U.S. military. A summer 2006
report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), for example, showed how the
increased pressure to recruit enough personnel to make up for the demands of the troop
surge in Iraq and Afghanistan led to lowering the standards for entering the military.
40
The report cited a Department of Defence (DoD) investigator, who had gathered
evidence on 320 extremists in the U.S. military between 2005 and 2006, of which only
two were discharged. Other DoD investigators, according to the report, also uncovered
an online network of 57 neo-Nazis who were active duty Army and Marines personnel
spread across five military installations in five states. Furthermore, a 2008 FBI
intelligence assessment titled “White Supremacist Recruitment of Military Personnel
since 9/11” found that white supremacist leaders were making a concerted effort to
recruit active-duty soldiers and recent combat veterans.
41
The report, based on analysis
of FBI case files from October 2001 to May 2008, identified 203 military personnel or
veterans who were active members in white supremacist organisations during that
period and lists a number of significant cases. In 2018, the United States Department of
Defence stated that there have been 27 reports of extremist activity by service members
since 2012. All but two of those 27 service members had been formally investigated and
18 service members were disciplined or separated from the military, according to press
coverage citing the DoD statement.
42
Like the Canadian intelligence report on the same issue, the FBI also found that right-
wing extremists with “military experience often hold positions of authority within the
groups to which they belong”.
43
A year later, in 2009, a report by the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) pointed to a number of factors thought to raise the risk of
military personnel radicalising into right-wing extremist groups.
44
These included the
election of Barack Obama, a downturn in the economy and large numbers of
unemployed veterans returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. The report’s
publication led to public outcry from Republican politicians, conservative commentators,
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
38
Christopher Mathias, “Exclusive: Army Investigating Soldier’s Alleged Leadership In Neo-Nazi Terror
Group,” Huffington Post, 5 March 2019,
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5ccb5350e4b0e4d7572fde38/amp.
39
Ibid.
40
David Holthouse, “Several High Profile Racist Extremist Serve in the U.S. Military,” Southern Poverty
Law Center, 11 August 2006, https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2006/several-
high-profile-racist-extremists-serve-us-military.
41
Southern Poverty Law Center, “FBI reports on extremists in the Military,” 29 August 2008,
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2008/fbi-reports-extremists-military. For the
full unclassified report, see: Federal Bureau of Investigation, “White Supremacist Recruitment of Military
Personnel since 9/11,” 7 July 2008,
https://documents.law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/White%20Supremacist%20Recruitment%20of%20Mili
tary%20Personnel%20Since%209-11-ocr.pdf.
42
Shawn Snow, “27 reports of extremist activity by US service members over the past 5 years, DoD says”,
The Marine Corps Times, 13 September 2019, https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2019/09/13/27-
reports-of-extremist-activity-by-us-service-members-over-the-past-5-years-dod-says/
43
Ibid., p.5.
44
Department of Homeland Security, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate
Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” 7 April 2009,
https://fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf.
A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the Extreme Right and the Military
9
and veteran associations that ultimately led to its rescindment and the dismantling of
the unit responsible for the assessment.
45
Squashing inopportune reports does little to
change the reality they reflect, however. A 2019 poll by the Military Times showed that
22 percent of the surveyed military personnel had seen signs of white nationalism or
racist ideology within the armed forces.
46
The United Kingdom
The British military’s potential problem with extreme right-wing personnel quickly
became a public concern with the arrest, charge and conviction of Lance Corporal Mikko
Vehvilainen, a veteran of the Afghan war and soldier of the Royal Anglian Regiment, in
November 2018. Finally sentenced to eight years in jail for membership in the extreme
right-wing terrorist organisation “National Action” (NA), which was proscribed in
December 2016, Vehvilainen had reportedly attempted to form a NA cell within the
British Armed Forces and was connected to three other soldiers.
47
Another case from
July 2019, when two black paratroopers were suing the British Army for racial abuse from
other soldiers who decorated their barracks with Nazi flags and pictures of Adolf Hitler,
also raised public concern.
48
These, however, were not the first such incidents involving military personnel in extreme
right-wing milieus. Other examples that produced notable public outcry include the
emergence of a video depicting soldiers using a poster of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
for target practice in April 2019,
49
or pictures showing British soldiers amicably posing
with right-wing extremist Tommy Robinson in October 2018.
50
Even though these events
are of very recent nature, some experts such as Daniel Jones have pointed out the far-
right’s “history of infiltrating the British army”.
51
According to Jones, the British far-right
mainly uses three approaches towards the military: a) by copying its styles and
hierarchies; b) by adopting military heroes; and c) as recruitment ground for new
members with military skills and access to weaponry. Jones also lists a number of
historical links between the British extreme right and the armed forces dating back to
the 1960s. Of those the (arguably) most significant were:
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
45
Spencer Ackerman, “DHS Crushed this Analyst for Warning about Far-Right Terror,” Wired, 7 August
2012, https://www.wired.com/2012/08/dhs/.
46
Leo Shane III, “White nationalism remains a problem for the military, poll suggests,” Military Times, 28
February 2019, https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/02/28/white-nationalism-
remains-a-problem-for-the-military-poll-shows/.
47
ITV News, “‘Outstanding’ soldier who wanted to recruit from within armed forces convicted of National
Action membership,” 12 November 2018, https://www.itv.com/news/2018-11-12/outstanding-soldier-at-
heart-of-neo-nazi-terrorist-cell/.
48
Telegraph Reporters, “Black paratroopers suing Army claim soldiers put up Nazi flags and pictures of
Hitler in their barracks,” The Telegraph, 2 July 2019,
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/02/former-paras-sue-army-racist-abuse-including-
decorating-block/amp/.
49
Lizzie Dearden, “British soldiers shown shooting Jeremy Corbyn target prompts army investigation,”
The Independent, 3 April 2019, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/soldiers-corbyn-
shoot-target-practice-army-mod-kabul-a8852156.html.
50
Jamie Grierson, “Counter-extremism chief attacks Tommy Robinson soldier photo,” The Guardian, 10
October 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/09/uk-army-investigates-tommy-
robinson-poses-with-soldiers.
51
Daniel Jones, “The Far Right Has a History of Infiltrating the British Army,” Fair Observer, 21 March
2019, https://www.fairobserver.com/region/europe/uk-far-right-british-army-extremism-europe-news-
17712/.
ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
10
- In the early 1960s Colin Jordan of the National Socialist Movement
actively recruited at the Royal Marine Commando depot in Plymouth.
52
- In 1976 the officer commanding a small training cadre of Territorial
Army members and a unit of Army Cadets was revealed to be member
of a far-right paramilitary group called Column 88, the armed wing of
the National Socialist Movement. He also had arranged for his cadets to
train alongside units of Column 88.
53
- In the 1970s at least eight soldiers in uniform helped with fundraising
for National Front.
54
As a result of increasing public pressure and scrutiny, especially after the NA trial, the
British Army seems to have implemented new strategies dealing with the potential
threat of extreme right-wing infiltration. It has been reported that the army started to
refer soldiers to the PREVENT/Channel counter-radicalisation programmes in 2017. By
May 2017, five military personnel had been referred to the programmes, according to
media citing the Ministry of Defence.
55
This number pales in comparison to 1312 general
referrals outside the military made for right-wing extremism in 2017/18 (out of 7318
total referrals) but is nevertheless one of the only publicly known collaborations between
a western military and a formal counter-radicalisation or de-radicalisation programme
outside of the armed forces. According to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence,
the remarkable policy allows for the continuation of active service if the soldier in
question had not entered the criminal space and complies with the necessary
intervention to be “re-educated”.
56
In addition to standard vetting of newly recruited soldiers, it was also reported in the
media that the British military had produced an internal guide and training module for
officers to recognise a potential extreme right-wing radicalisation process in late 2017
after the highly publicised Vehvilainen arrest. This was further amended by a new
Prevent policy issued by the MoD in March 2019 encouraging military personnel to
complete online awareness training courses aimed at highlighting the signs and
symptoms of potential radicalisation.
57
Compared to the situation in the United States, the threat of extreme-right infiltration
appears to be less in the United Kingdom if one merely looks at the number and severity
of publicly known cases. In addition, the British Armed Forces have begun to introduce
unique prevention measures (e.g. mandatory training, cooperation with counter-
radicalisation programs, guides for the detection of extremist ideology) that fit into the
general logic of most CVE work, i.e. awareness of signs of concern, cooperation with
specialised service providers and differentialisation of intervention measures according
to some form of risk ranking. With taking these first steps towards including CVE in the
military, the United Kingdom certainly as a significant advantage for reducing the threat
of future infiltration attempts by extremists.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
52
Ibid.
53
Ibid.
54
Ibid.
55
Billy Briggs, “Five military personnel referred to counter-terrorism programme,” The Ferret, 24 May
2019, https://theferret.scot/military-counter-terrorism-prevent-far-right/.
56
Ibid.
57
Mark Di Stefano, “The British Army's Guide For Spotting "Extreme Right Wing" Soldiers Has Leaked
Online,” BuzzFeed News, 29 May 2019, https://www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/markdistefano/the-british-
armys-guide-for-spotting-extreme-right-wing#click=https://t.co/63KWU1oljQ.
A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the Extreme Right and the Military
11
Germany
Ten years after the end of the Second World War, Western Germany created a new army
called the Bundeswehr. Perhaps inevitably given that it was raised in 1955, this new force
also included former members of Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS, as well as the
NSDAP itself. Combat veterans and experienced (non-commissioned) officers were in
especially high demand; their skills were necessary to rebuild the German military and
train new recruits. The fact that the Cold War had begun, and that the border between
West and East Germany was increasingly likely to be one of its frontlines, led to a quick
rethinking regarding the opposition against former Nazi soldiers and officers in the newly
formed military.
58
Hence, it is not surprising, that Germany’s armed forces have a long
history of extreme right-wing terrorism and violent incidents involving active duty and
former soldiers.
The most significant examples are:
- The Nationalsozialistische Kampfgruppe Großdeutschland (National
Socialist Combat Group Great Germany - NSKG), which was founded in
April 1972, included 25 members from Bavaria and North Rhine-
Westphalia and was directly influenced by the American neo-Nazi Gary
Lauck. The NSKG saw itself as the executor of Adolf Hitler’s last will. At
least three active-service Bundeswehr soldiers (two master sergeants and
one staff sergeant) were part of the NSKG. According to the group’s own
testimonies, the NSKG had active ties to American and Palestinian (PLO)
terrorists and the group’s ultimate goal was the armed struggle against
the government. This it aimed to accomplish in part by conducting bomb
attacks and kidnappings against government installations, Communists,
and Jews. Quickly discovered (seven months after its formation) by the
authorities, the NSKG was found in possession of three heavy machine
guns, five submachine guns, rifles, explosives, rocked-propelled grenades,
hand grenades, and manuals for hostage tacking. Six members were
convicted of forming a criminal organisation and sentenced to several
years in prison.
59
- In 1973, another small group of six neo-Nazis, the so-called Gruppe
Neumann (Group Neumann), executed an arson attack against a left-wing
book store and plotted to take hostages. One member of the group was
an active duty sergeant of the Bundeswehr.
60
- In May 1976, 19-year-old active duty private Dieter Epplen attempted to
execute a bomb attack against the radio station of the Allied Forces
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
58
Frank Pauli, Wehrmachtsoffiziere in der Bundeswehr – Das kriegsgediente Offizierskorps der Bundeswehr
und die Innere Führung 1955 bis 1970 [Officers of the Wehrmacht in the Bundeswehr – The War Experienced
Officers Corps of the Bundeswehr and the Internal Leadership 1955 till 1970] (Paderborn: Ferdinand
Schöningh, 2010).
59
Daniel Koehler, Right-Wing Terrorism in the 21st Century. The National Socialist Underground and the
History of Terror from the Far-Right in Germany (Oxon/New York: Routledge, 2016), p. 77.
60
Ibid., p. 173.
ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
12
Network (AFN) in Munich. The bomb detonated prematurely, leaving
Epplen severely injured.
61
- The first right-wing extremist group in post Second World War Germany
to be legally classified as a terrorist organisation (the Wehrsportgruppe
Rohwer - Military Sports Group Rohwer) executed seven armed robberies
and various attacks against German and Dutch army personnel between
1977 and 1978. Its members, among them one active-service Bundeswehr
corporal who provided the group with indispensable and detailed
knowledge for example about guard shifts and security measures at the
targeted military installations, were sentenced to prison on terrorism
charges in 1979.
62
- In 1995 convicted right-wing terrorist and outspoken neo-Nazi Manfred
Roeder was allowed to give a lecture at the Leadership Academy
(Führungsakademie) of the Bundeswehr and received material support
from Bundeswehr depots for his right-wing extremist organisation, which
only became public in 1997 and created a nationwide scandal.
63
Bundeswehr officials later claimed not to have known about Roeder’s
background.
64
- A wave of right-wing incidents involving the army happened in the late
1990s.
65
For example, in 1997 German authorities detected a group of
right-wing extremist Bundeswehr soldiers who possessed bomb-
manufacturing manuals, chemicals, weapons, detonators and a Milan
anti-tank rocket launch pad.
66
In the same year, a group of nine soldiers
violently attacked three immigrants in Detmold.
67
- In 2000, 22-year-old André Chladek resigned his position as a sergeant in
the elite special commando unit (Kommando Spezialkräfte - KSK) and
immediately went on to raid a German army unit of conscripts training
with weapons and live ammunition. He stole six pistols and 1,550 rounds
of ammunition. Afterwards, he went underground and plotted to
assassinate leading politicians, army officers, media and civil society
representatives. He turned himself in to the authorities after six weeks
when he realised that his plotted assassinations would not yield the
political change he hoped for.
68
He was sentenced to seven years in prison
in 2001.
69
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
61
Ibid., pp. 195-6.
62
Ibid., p. 81.
63
Ilka Brecht, Volker Steinhoff, “Minister unter Druck - Neue Enthüllungen zum Bundeswehrskandal
[Minister Under Pressure: New Details of the Bundeswehr Scandal],“, Panorama, 12 December 1997.
https://daserste.ndr.de/panorama/archiv/1997/Minister-unter-Druck-Neue-Enthuellungen-zum-
Bundeswehrskandal,erste6882.html.
64
Ibid.
65
Shlomo Shpiro, “Barking or biting? Media and parliamentary investigation of right‐wing extremism in
the Bundeswehr,” German Politics 9, no. 4 (2000): pp. 217-40.
66
Koehler, Right-Wing Terrorism in the 21st Century. The National Socialist Underground and the History of
Terror from the Far-Right in Germany, p. 192.
67
Ibid., p. 231
68
Ibid. p. 192
69
Ibid.
A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the Extreme Right and the Military
13
- In 2006, KSK soldiers deployed in Afghanistan used a version of the
Wehrmacht’s Afrika Korps symbol on their vehicles.
70
- In April 2017, KSK soldiers played extreme right-wing music during a
celebration and two officers, one of them a Lieutenant-Colonel, displayed
the Sieg Heil salute, which is a criminal act in Germany. The Lieutenant-
Colonel received a fine of 4.000 Euros.
71
- In 2019, another KSK Lieutenant-Colonel was suspended for making
extreme right-wing comments on social media, as well as displaying a
sovereign citizen ideology. The officer had been monitored by the German
military intelligence since 2007, when he wrote hate letters containing
extreme right-wing ideology to some of his fellow soldiers.
72
One of the most consequential incidents, however, happened in April 2017, when a First
Lieutenant was arrested on terrorism charges.
73
The officer, together with a fellow
soldier and a civilian, allegedly had plotted to stage a false flag terror attack blaming
refugees. For that purpose, the Federal Prosecutor General argues, he had already
procured a gun and ammunition and was living a double life posing as a Syrian refugee,
even receiving financial assistance from Germany’s refugee agency.
74
The main suspect,
Franco A., had already received some attention for potential extreme right-wing
attitudes, when his Master thesis written at the French elite military college, École
spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, was flagged for espousing xenophobic and racist ideology.
He received a reprimand by his German superior officers but the incident was not
reported to the military intelligence unit responsible for counter-extremism within the
armed forces.
75
The case is still pending (as of June 2019) in front of the German High
Court since a district court had dismissed the terrorism charges, against which the
Federal Prosecutor General appealed. Currently, all suspects in the case have been
released from investigative custody.
76
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
70
Agence France Presse, “KSK-Soldaten sprühten Wehrmachtssymbol auf Wagen [KSK soldiers sprayed
Wehrmacht symbol on vehicle],“ SpiegelOnline, 1 November 2006,
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/afghanistan-einsatz-ksk-soldaten-spruehten-
wehrmachtssymbol-auf-wagen-a-445874.html.
71
Deutsche Presseagentur, “Elitesoldat akzeptiert Strafbefehl nach Hitlergruß [elite soldier accepts
sentene after Hitler salute],” Stuttgarter Nchrichten, 21 January 2019, https://www.stuttgarter-
nachrichten.de/inhalt.vorfall-bei-sindelfingen-elitesoldat-akzeptiert-strafbefehl-nach-
hitlergruss.680a7fbc-6943-4577-9d61-daa89cd94ded.html.
72
SZ, “Bundeswehr suspendiert Offizier wegen Reichsbürger-Verdachts [Bundeswehr suspends officer
due to sovereign citizen suspicion], ” Süddeutsche Zeitung, 8 February 2019,
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/bundeswehr-reichsbuerger-ksk-1.4321858.
73
Tagesschau, “Generalbundesanwalt klagt Franco A. an [Prosecutor General charges Franco A.],”
tagesschau.de, 27 March 2019, https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/francoa-101.html.
74
Generalbundesanwalt, “Anklage wegen des Verdachts der Vorbereitung einer schweren
staatsgefährdenden Gewalttat [Charge on Suspicion of Preparing a Severe Act of Violence Threatening
the State],” 12 December 2017,
https://www.generalbundesanwalt.de/de/showpress.php?searchstring=franco&newsid=741.
75
Mathias Gebauer, “Die rassistische Gedankenwelt des Franco A. [The Racist Mindset of Franco A.],”
SpiegelOnline, 3 May 2017, https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/bundeswehr-die-rassistische-
gedankenwelt-des-franco-a-a-1145824.html.
76
Deutsche Presseagentur, “Bundesanwaltschaft beharrt auf Terrorverdacht im Fall Franco A. [Federal
Prosecutor General Insists on Terrorism Charges],” SpiegelOnline, 20 June 2018,
https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/bundesanwaltschaft-legt-beschwerde-im-fall-franco-a-ein-a-
1214013.html.
ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
14
The main suspect Franco A. was also connected to a separate string of incidents that
again raised the public fear of right-wing extremism in the German military. In August
2017, counter-terrorism police units searched homes of six persons on suspicions
preparing an extreme right-wing terror attack. The group called Nordkreuz (Northern
Cross) included several police and military reserve officers.
77
In June 2019, four former
and active special forces (Sondereinsatzkommando, SEK) police officers from the
Nordkreuz group were arrested after it was found that they had stolen over 10,000
rounds of ammunition. Several of the suspects, including the main administrator of
Nordkreuz, had been serving in Bundeswehr elite units like paratroopers or forward
reconnaissance (Fernspäher) before joining the police.
78
The founder and administrator
of the group was also said to have been in touch with Franco A. via a private security
company called “Uniter”. The company actively recruits among former and active special
forces soldiers, such as the KSK. Uniter and Nordkreuz are alleged to have been preparing
for a breakdown of political order in Germany (as part of the so called “prepper” scene),
but also to create weapons depots, conduct combat drills and collect lists of left-wing
politicians who could be executed in the case of a violent revolution.
79
Investigations are
still ongoing (as of June 2016) but press reports about a possible “shadow army” of
German elite soldiers plotting to overthrow the government have had a particular
unsettling effect on the German public.
80
Even though the legal consequences are as of yet unclear, the political reactions to the
Franco A. case were significant. As an immediate response, the German Minister of
Defence, Ursula von der Leyen, ordered a systematic search of all military barracks to
identify and remove potential extreme right-wing propaganda and memorabilia
glorifying the German Wehrmacht.
81
The second response to the incident was the
revision of the German military’s so called “tradition decree” (Traditionserlass), outlining
the rules and procedures regarding the army’s history, as well as its core values and
ideals.
82
In contrast to the other countries discussed here, the German military does have a
specialised internal united tasked with countering extremism within the Bundeswehr.
The Military Intelligence (Militärischer Abschirmdienst – MAD) is responsible for (among
other tasks) identifying extremist soldiers and removing them from active duty if the
suspicion is confirmed.
83
The German MAD works on the basis of a law that outlines its
responsibilities and criteria for defining “extremism”. Countering extremist ideologies
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
77
Fabienne Hurst, Robert Bongen, Julian Feldmann, “Rechtsterror-Ermittlungen: Gründer der "Prepper"-
Gruppe ist Polizist [right-wing terrorism investigations: founder of prepper group is police officer],”
Panorama, 7 September 2017, https://daserste.ndr.de/panorama/archiv/2017/Rechtsterror-Ermittlungen-
Gruender-der-Prepper-Gruppe-ist-Polizist,prepper100.html.
78
Uwe Reißenweber, “Ermittlungen führen in die Bundeswehr [investigations lead into the Bundeswehr],”
Nordkurier, 25 June 2019, https://www.nordkurier.de/mecklenburg-vorpommern/ermittlungen-fuehren-
in-die-bundeswehr-2535906206.html.
79
Südwest Rundfunk, “Plant Uniter den politischen Zusammenbruch Deutschlands? [is Uniter planing the
collapse of Germany?],” swr aktuell, 7 February 2019, https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-
wuerttemberg/Umstrittener-Verein-Ex-KSK-Soldaten-erheben-neue-Vorwuerfe-gegen-Uniter,uniter-
vorwuerfe-schattenarmee-100.html.
80
Martin Kaul, Christina Schmidt, “Hannibal's Shadow Army,” taz. Die Tageszeitung, 13 December 2018,
https://taz.de/taz-Recherche-auf-Englisch/!5558072/.
81
Zeit Online, “400 Militärdevotionalien in Kasernen gefunden [400 military devotionalia found in
barracks],” Die Zeit, 30 May 2017, https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2017-05/bundeswehr-
kasernen-durchsuchung-wehrmacht-andenken.
82
Zeit Online, “Von der Leyen setzt neuen Traditionserlass um [Von der Leyen executes new tradition
decree],” Die Zeit, 28 March 2018, https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2018-03/bundeswehr-
traditionserlass-ursula-von-der-leyen-rechtsextremismus.
83
Militärischer Abschirmdienst, “Überblick: Wie der MAD gegen Extremisten vorgeht [overview: how the
MAD counters extremism],“ Bundeswehr, 19 March 2019, https://mad.bundeswehr.de/portal/a/mad/start.
A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the Extreme Right and the Military
15
and behaviour in the military is supported by the fact that certain elements of extremism
(e.g. some acts of speech, codes, and symbols) are illegal and can constitute a crime.
This, of course, makes it easier for the MAD to investigate and potentially remove
soldiers suspected of harbouring extremist views. But, even without clearly illegal
behaviour by soldiers, it is possible to remove personnel from active duty on the basis of
an anti-constitutional ideology that goes contrary to every enlisted person’s pledge of
allegiance to protect the German political order.
A significant improvement in responding to the threat of extremist infiltration of the
Bundeswehr was started in late 2016, when the German parliament started the process
of revising the legal basis for background checks of new recruits by military intelligence.
Until that change, it was only possible for the intelligence service to screen out fully
employed soldiers, not recruits. The new law became effective in July 2018.
84
It has
resulted in the identification of right-wing extremist recruits and their subsequent
rejection from the armed forces in 13 cases between 2017 and 2018.
85
Regarding right-
wing extremist incidents involving active duty military personnel, the publicly reported
MAD statistics indicate the need to maintain a specialised unit investigating potential
extremist infiltration beyond vetting and background checks of new recruits, since the
initially suspected cases are about 8x times as much as those confirmed in the end:
Table 1: Number of new cases of suspected right-wing extremism in the Bundeswehr
handled by the MAD.
86
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
84
Bundesministerium der Verteidigung, “Bundestag beschließt Sicherheitsüberprüfung vor Dienstantritt
[Bundestag decides to conduct security checks before entering active service],“ 16 December 2016,
https://www.bmvg.de/de/aktuelles/bundestag-beschliesst-sicherheitsueberpruefung-vor-dienstantritt-
11452.
85
Deutscher Bundestag, “Drucksache 19/10338. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage der
Abgeordneten Ulla Jelpke, Tobias Pflüger, Dr. André Hahn, weiterer Abgeordneter und der Fraktion DIE
LINKE. – Drucksache 19/8674 – Rechtsextreme Vorfälle in der Bundeswehr [Report No. 19/10338. Reply of
the Federal Government to the Small Inquiry of Members of Parliament Ulla Jelpke, Tobias Pflüger, Dr.
André Hahn and other Members of Parliament of the Fraction DIE LINKE – Document No. 19/8674 –
Right-Wing Extremist Incidents in the Bundeswehr],“ 20 May 2019,
https://dipbt.bundestag.de/doc/btd/19/103/1910338.pdf, p. 6.
86
Deutscher Bundestag, “ Drucksache 19/1568. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage der
Abgeordneten Ulla Jelpke, Tobias Pflüger, Dr. André Hahn, weiterer Abgeordneter und der Fraktion DIE
LINKE. – Drucksache 19/732 – Rechtsextreme Vorfälle in der Bundeswehr im Jahr 2017 [Report No.
19/1568. Reply of the Federal Government to the Small Inquiry of Members of Parliament Ulla Jelpke,
Tobias Pflüger, Dr. André Hahn and other Members of Parliament of the Fraction DIE LINKE – Document
No. 19/732 – Right-Wing Extremist Incidents in the Bundeswehr in 2017],“ 9 April 2018,
http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/19/015/1901568.pdf, p. 3.
Year
# of Suspected Extreme
Right-Wing Cases
2008
674
2009
736
2010
585
2011
378
2012
338
2013
309
2014
308
2015
265
2016
227
2017
379
2018
270
ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
16
Year
# of Confirmed Right-
Wing Extremism Cases
2008
42
2009
59
2010
47
2011
22
2012
7
2013
3
2014
4
2015
4
2016
3
2017
6
2018
4
Table 2: Number of confirmed cases of right-wing extremism in the Bundeswehr after
MAD investigation.
87
In 2019, the MAD still had 428 open investigations into possible cases of right-wing
extremism in the Bundeswehr partially dating back to 2011.
88
In September 2019, the
MAD still had 478 open investigations into possible cases of right-wing extremism in the
Bundeswehr partially dating back to 2011. 50 new cases were added between May and
September 2019, signalling a substantial broadening of investigative activities. Most
concerning is the fact, that about two dozen cases alone involve the special operations
KSK unit.
89
Measures taken in response to confirmed cases do vary depending on the
severity of the investigated incident. The MAD reported that the four confirmed cases of
2018 were all long-term members of right-wing extremist organisations and had been
discharged from the military.
90
Of the six confirmed cases from 2017 for example, only
five soldiers were discharged.
91
In many cases, disciplinary action like reprimands were
deemed sufficient and access to weapons was not restricted.
92
Extreme right-wing convictions within the German army were commonly explained as
stemming from the use of conscription, which results in recruits whose worldviews span
the spectrum of political orientations. However, the officer corps should not have been
affected by this ‘natural political turnover’ since it was open for professional soldiers
only. Available studies about political convictions of the officer corps are rare but have
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
87
Ibid.
88
Deutscher Bundestag, “Drucksache 19/10338. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage der
Abgeordneten Ulla Jelpke, Tobias Pflüger, Dr. André Hahn, weiterer Abgeordneter und der Fraktion DIE
LINKE. – Drucksache 19/8674 – Rechtsextreme Vorfälle in der Bundeswehr [Report No. 19/10338. Reply of
the Federal Government to the Small Inquiry of Members of Parliament Ulla Jelpke, Tobias Pflüger, Dr.
André Hahn and other Members of Parliament of the Fraction DIE LINKE – Document No. 19/8674 –
Right-Wing Extremist Incidents in the Bundeswehr],“ 20 May 2019,
https://dipbt.bundestag.de/doc/btd/19/103/1910338.pdf, p. 4.
89
Matthias Gebauer, “Zahl rechtsextremer Verdachtsfälle in der Bundeswehr steigt“, Spiegel Online,
September 18, 2019, https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/bundeswehr-zahl-rechtsextremer-
verdachtsfaelle-gestiegen-a-1287358.html
90
Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 19/10338, 2019
91
Deutscher Bundestag, “ Drucksache 19/1568. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage der
Abgeordneten Ulla Jelpke, Tobias Pflüger, Dr. André Hahn, weiterer Abgeordneter und der Fraktion DIE
LINKE. – Drucksache 19/732 – Rechtsextreme Vorfälle in der Bundeswehr im Jahr 2017 [Report No.
19/1568. Reply of the Federal Government to the Small Inquiry of Members of Parliament Ulla Jelpke,
Tobias Pflüger, Dr. André Hahn and other Members of Parliament of the Fraction DIE LINKE – Document
No. 19/732 – Right-Wing Extremist Incidents in the Bundeswehr in 2017],“ 9 April 2018,
http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/19/015/1901568.pdf, p. 5.
92
N-TV, “"Sieg Heil" bei der Bundeswehr [Sieg Heil in the Bundeswehr],” 20 June 2019, https://www.n-
tv.de/politik/Sieg-Heil-bei-der-Bundeswehr-article21098864.html.
A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the Extreme Right and the Military
17
indicated that the conscription might not have had the main impact on right-wing
extremist attitudes. A first major study
93
was conducted in the late 1970s and found that
a total of 10 percent of all candidates (classes of 1973-1975 with a total of 638 officers)
had extreme right-wing political opinions.
94
Another representative poll from 1993
looked at the question of how attractive the armed forces might be for potential recruits
with extreme-right wing attitudes. It found that 77 percent of those interested in joining
the military had significant extreme right-wing worldviews.
95
This relationship between
right-wing opinions and favourable attitudes towards the military was largely confirmed
by a subsequent study eight years later.
96
Although an inherent affinity towards military,
weapons, uniforms, and strict hierarchies might be essential to the far-right, problematic
traditions and continuities between the modern German army—the Bundeswehr—and
the Wehrmacht of the Third Reich might be another reason for that attraction.
97
Interestingly, such affinities and attractions might also be found among terrorists in
general and a potential overlap could be explored separately. A similar study to the one
from 1978 looking at the political opinions of German army officers (conducted in 2007
with 2,300 participants, all students of both armed forces universities) still revealed a
strong political affinity to the ‘New Right’ for 13 percent of all future officers and a closed
right-wing extremist opinion for 4 percent.
98
After conscription was abolished in Germany in 2011, and the armed forces were
transformed to a volunteer-based military, many experts expected more right-wing
extremists to enlist because a career in the Bundeswehr would now become more
attractive to those persons with few or no chances on the labour market.
99
On the
contrary, however, as Table 2 regarding the confirmed cases of right-wing extremist
soldiers shows, the extent of the threat at least by that specific metric has been declining
steadily and significantly from 2010 onwards. Since no other academic study on political
attitudes within the armed forces has been conducted after the end of conscription, it is
difficult to assess the current threat of extremist infiltration beyond the cases presented
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
93
This study focused on right-wing extremist opinions in the German Army’s officer corps. The following
studies looked more broadly at political and social attitudes of officers, including right-wing and extremist
tendencies.
94
Wolfgang Gessenharter and Helmut Fröchling, with Burkhard Krupp, Rechtsextremismus als normativ-
praktisches Forschungsproblem: eine empirische Analyse der Einstellungen von studierenden Offizieren
der Hochschule der Bundeswehr Hamburg sowie von militärischen und zivilen Vergleichsgruppen [Right-
Wing Extremism as normative-practical research issue: an empirical analysis of attitudes of student
officers of the Bundeswehr University Hamburg as well as military and civil comparison groups]
(Weinheim; Basel: Beltz).
95
Heinz-Ulrich Kohr, „Rechts zur Bundeswehr, Links zum Zivildienst? Orientierungsmuster von
Heranwachsenden in den alten und neuen Bundesländern Ende 1992 [Right to the Bundeswehr, Left to
the Civil Service? Attitudes of Adolescents in the Old and New States End of 1992],” SOWI-Arbeitspapier
Nr. 77, March, 1993,
http://www.mgfa.de/html/einsatzunterstuetzung/downloads/ap077.pdf?PHPSESSID=.
96
Sven Bernhard Gareis and Peter-Michael Kozielski, with Michael Kratschmar, „Rechtsextreme
Orientierungen in Deutschland und ihre Folgen für die Bundeswehr [Right-Wing Extremist Attitudes in
Germany and their Consequences for the Bundeswehr],“ SOWI-Arbeitspapier Nr.: 129, June, 2001,
http://www.mgfa.de/html/einsatzunterstuetzung/downloads/ap129.pdf?PHPSESSID=.
97
Johannes Klotz and Christian Gerlach, Vorbild Wehrmacht? Wehrmachtsverbrechen, Rechtsextremismus
und Bundeswehr [Role Model Wehrmacht? Crimes of the Wehrmacht, Right-Wing Extremism and the
Bundeswehr] (Köln: PapyRossa, 1998).
98
Thomas Bulmahn and Rüdiger Fiebig, with Victoria Wieninger, Stefanie Greif, Max H. Flach, and Manon
A. Priewisch, “Ergebnisse der Studentenbefragung an den Universitäten der Bundeswehr Hamburg und
München 2007 [Results of a student poll at the Universities of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg and Munich
2007],“ Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut der Bundeswehr, „Forschungsbericht 89“, March 2010,
https://www.fachportal-paedagogik.de/literatur/vollanzeige.html?FId=903572#vollanzeige.
99
Michael Wolffsohn, “Verführbare Soldaten [Seducible Soldiers],“ Süddeutsche Zeitung, 3 January 2013,
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/rechtsextremismus-in-der-bundeswehr-verfuehrbare-soldaten-
1.1563756.
ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
18
here and the official MAD statistics; however, it has been noted with concern that the
German far right political party Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany)
has been actively campaigning for support from military personnel and police officers
with so far unknown effects on the political attitudes within the armed forces.
100
It would be valuable to compare the German situation with the Austrian counterpart, as
both countries share a Nazi history and have comparably structured militaries. However,
even though a small number of cases of the Austrian military’s attraction to the far right
has been reported in the press, the available information is so far too scarce to attempt
such a comparison. No officials reports like the German MAD statistics exist in Austria
and court trials against right-wing extremist soldiers are widely shielded off from the
public.
101
A parliamentary inquiry regarding right-wing extremist incidents in the
Austrian army from April 5, 2019, for example, was largely left unanswered with
reference to national security and intelligence privilege.
102
Hence, the lack of data access
in the Austrian case prevents such a comparison.
The Veteran Question
A different, albeit connected, question is the role of military veterans (i.e. persons with
military training of any sort) in extreme right-wing groups or terrorist cells. Even though
technically and legally these individuals have left the military’s responsibility, there are
still certain factors that could make them—at least partially—the military’s problem
again. For example, if their extremist radicalisation started during their active service and
was not spotted by the military, or if veterans retain close contacts with active service
personnel or within reservist and veterans’ associations. For instance, in order to
radicalise other soldiers, recruit for their groups, or get access to weapons, training, and
tactical information. Furthermore, depending on the time span between veterans
leaving active service and showing publicly visible signs of violent radicalisation, the
public (including policy makers) might see the military as responsible after all.
Law enforcement and intelligence agencies have occasionally warned against the threat
of “disgruntled” or “disillusioned” veterans who could become prime targets of extreme
right-wing recruitment efforts. The previously cited analysis by the American DHS states
that:
“rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning
veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from
military training and combat. These skills and knowledge have the
potential to boost the capabilities of extremists—including lone wolves or
small terrorist cells—to carry out violence. The willingness of a small
percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
100
Maria Fiedler, “Wie die AfD um Soldaten wirbt [How the AfD campaigns for soldiers],” Der
Tagesspiegel, 29 March 2019, https://www.tagesspiegel.de/themen/agenda/unzufriedenheit-in-der-
truppe-wie-die-afd-um-soldaten-wirbt/24142754.html.
101
Catharina Felke, “Rechtsextremismus ist in Österreich nicht verboten,“ Zeit Online, 12 May 2017,
https://www.zeit.de/politik/2017-05/oesterreich-rechtsextremismus-heer-parallelen-deutschland-
andreas-peham-interview.
102
Johann Luif, “Anfragebeantwortung: "Unterwanderung des österreichischen Bundesheeres durch
rechtsextreme Organisationen, insbesondere durch die Identitäre Bewegung Österreich" (3254/AB),“
Republik Österreich, Parlament, 29 May 2019,
https://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/VHG/XXVI/AB/AB_03254/imfname_754891.pdf.
A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the Extreme Right and the Military
19
1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the
psychological effects of war is being replicated today.”
103
Cases of military veterans, sometimes with combat experience, who are responsible for
significant far-right terror attacks can easily be found. In the United States, arguably the
most infamous attack happened on April 19, 1995 with Timothy McVeigh’s attack on the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 victims. McVeigh was a
Gulf War veteran and honourably discharged from the army in 1991 after having
received several service awards.
104
Other cases include Curtis Allen, a former Marine and Iraq War veteran who was
sentenced to 25 years in federal prison in January 2019 for his part in a bomb plot
targeting Muslims in Kansas. Allen belonged to an anti-Muslim militia group called “The
Crusaders.”
105
Looking into the history of the extreme right in the U.S., several leading
figures who created influential groups or strategic concepts had a military background.
George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party, was discharged from the
United States Navy as a pilot with the rank of Commander due to his political views
106
and Ku Klux Klan leader Louis Beam, who also championed the “leaderless resistance”
concept, fought in the Vietnam war between 1967 and 1968 as a helicopter door-gunner
of the United States Army and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
107
The
founder of the notorious Aryan Nations, Richard Butler, enlisted in the Army Air Corps
where he served stateside for the duration of World War II.
108
In Germany, some of the most influential or violent figures of the extreme right after the
Second World War came from the ranks of the military as well. One of the most
prominent cases of military educated and later high-ranking neo-Nazis is Michael Kühnen
(1955-1991), who became one of the leading thinkers of the militant extreme right in
Germany in the late 1970s and 80s. Kühnen served in the Bundeswehr between 1974
and 1977, achieving the rank of Lieutenant. He studied at the University of the Armed
Forces in Hamburg and was dishonourably discharged due to his extreme right–wing
activities in 1977. He founded several militant extreme right-wing organisations, partially
with direct support from U.S. neo-Nazi Gary Lauck. He was also implicated in the first
terrorism trial against an extreme right-wing group in post Second World War Germany,
the so called “Bückeburg Trial” in 1979. He was charged and found guilty of sedition; his
active involvement in the terror group’s actions could not be proven.
109
Kühnen and his
organisations at least influenced two additional right-wing terrorist groups active in 1977
and 1978.
110
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
103
Department of Homeland Security, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate
Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” 7 April 2009,
https://fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf, p. 9.
104
Sally Jacobs, “The Radicalization of Timothy McVeigh,” Tulsa World, 10 June 1995,
http://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/the-radicalization-of-timothy-mcveigh/article_49b91161-74c7-538f-
8183-e5f957f45aa1.html.
105
Christopher Mathias, Ryan J. Reilly, “These Pro-Trump Extremists Had A Plan To Kill Muslims. How
Were They Radicalized?,” The Huffington Post, 17 April 2018, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/domestic-
terrorism-trial-kansas-trump-militia_n_5ad4e700e4b0edca2cbcb603.
106
Frederick James Simonelli, American Fuehrer: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party
(Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999).
107
Southern Poverty Law Center, “Louis Beam,” no date, https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-
hate/extremist-files/individual/louis-beam.
108
The Telegraph, “Richard Butler,” 10 September 2004,
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1471383/Richard-Butler.html.
109
Koehler, Right-Wing Terrorism in the 21st Century. The National Socialist Underground and the History of
Terror from the Far-Right in Germany, pp. 81-2
110
Ibid.
ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
20
One year after the Bückeburg Trial, in 1980, Germany experienced the (still) most lethal
terror attack since the end of the Second World War: the Octoberfest bombing on
September 26, 1980, causing 13 casualties and injuring more than 200. The main
perpetrator, Gundolf Köhler (born 1959, killed in the attack), was a committed right-wing
extremist since at least age 14 and active member of far-right paramilitary militias since
the age of 15 or 16. He served for two years in the Bundeswehr, voluntarily extending
his mandatory service and tried to acquire training as an explosives expert. After the
military denied him this career, he went on to study geology in Tübingen in 1979.
111
As one of the most significant extreme right-wing terror groups, the killing and bombing
spree of the “National Socialist Underground” (NSU) between 2000 and 2007, which left
10 people murdered, has been called “our September 11” by Germany’s then Federal
Prosecutor General Harald Range.
112
The core cell of three neo-Nazis went underground
in the late 1990s and were not detected until 2011. In that time, the group was found
responsible for at least 10 assassinations, three bomb attacks and 15 armed robberies.
Uwe Mundlos (1973-2011) was one member of that cell and served in an armored
infantry battalion of the Bundeswehr between April 1994 and March 1995. He had
several conflicts with superiors due to his outspoken right-wing extremist convictions.
Violating all standing regulations regarding extreme right-wing military personnel,
Mundlos was promoted to private first class (Obergefreiter), received heavy-weapons
training and a ‘satisfactory’ grade certificate for his military service.
113
Recommendations
Based on the selected examples of incidents and individual cases presented here, it is
possible to draw some lessons learned on countering the threat of right-wing extremist
infiltration of the military for policy makers and military leaders. The first lesson is that
the military has to deal with various different types of cases potentially involving violent
extremist radicalisation and thereby needs to develop and establish adequate context-
specific counter measures. There is no silver bullet solution. The potential cases the
military might be confronted with can be:
a) Extremist background/radicalisation before entering service
Already radicalised extremists might actively try to enter the armed forces for strategic
or tactical purposes, to gain weapons training, access to ammunition and explosives or
to recruit other soldiers for their cause. Cases of recruits who were already committed
extremists at the time they entered service can be found in all four countries studied
here. Furthermore, available information suggests that extreme right-wing leaders have
advocated for the strategic infiltration of the military in various ways. This scenario is the
typical threat of a hostile infiltration and one that should be countered in a most
straightforward way by the military. Criminal background checks are standard procedure
in most if not all military forces around the world.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
111
Ibid., pp. 210-1.
112
Eckart Lohse, Markus Wehner, “Die NSU-Morde sind unser 11. September,“ Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung, 25 March 2012, http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/generalbundesanwalt-harald-range-
die-nsu-morde-sind-unser-11-september-11696086.html.
113
Koehler, Right-Wing Terrorism in the 21st Century. The National Socialist Underground and the History
of Terror from the Far-Right in German, pp. 132-3.
A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the Extreme Right and the Military
21
However, such check will do little if right-wing extremist views are not specifically
incorporated as a potential risk factor in such background evaluations. Especially in the
United States, the lack of such checks was found to reduce the military’s capability of
protecting itself against right-wing extremist infiltration.
114
In other cases, such as
Canada, infiltrators might attempt to use sophisticated strategies to remain undetected
in order to gain access to military training and equipment.
115
Even in Germany, the only
country from the sample to have established a dedicated counter-extremism unit within
the military, the legal basis for screening out extremists before they enter service was
made possible only in 2018. It is absolutely necessary to include background checks in
military recruitment procedures that go beyond criminal activity and look at past
involvement in violent extremism as well. This is a standard counter-intelligence
mechanism and also forms the basis for assessing a recruit’s moral and ethical fitness for
serving in the military. If a recruit’s past activities show an ideological conviction that
explicitly sees democratic principles as hostile, how can person be expected to protect
these principles?
b) Extremist radicalisation during active service
A more complicated type of case concerns the radicalisation of military personnel during
active service. Here, the person’s experiences in the military, personal networks, or
outside influences (online and offline) facilitate a radicalisation process leading to the
rejection of the military’s fundamental principles, and leading even to violent actions
(e.g. in the case of Nidal Hasan or Christopher Hasson). To detect such a radicalisation
process and intervene adequately forms the core of all CVE activities and programs
around the world and is certainly no easy task. Specially trained personnel,
116
programs
and procedures designed for different stages of radicalisation processes,
117
effective
monitoring and evaluation procedures,
118
and a widely spread awareness/knowledge
about signs of concern (e.g. codes and symbols, extremist ideologies and rhetoric,
subcultural styles) and reporting mechanisms are just some of the more important
components necessary to counter this potential threat.
The British Armed Forces have started to make the first steps into that direction with
producing special educational material for all personnel and making CVE training
mandatory. The German military does have the significant advantage of having its own
dedicated intelligence service (the MAD) tasked and equipped specifically to identify and
assess potential cases of extremist radicalisation. A counter-extremism force within the
military means that necessary resources like investigators are permanently dedicated to
countering this threat and is highly recommended for all other armed forces as well.
It also became apparent that not all cases of identified extremism in the military can be
met with the same intervention. Reprimands, mandatory counselling, or removal from
active duty and dishonourable discharge can be possible tools. If an intervention other
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
114
Jeff McCausland, “Inside the U.S. military's battle with white supremacy and far-right extremism,”
NBC, 25 May 2019, https://www.nbcnews.com/think/amp/ncna1010221#click=https://t.co/8HJmNRBS0Y.
115
Ben Makuch, Mack Lamoureux, See “Neo-Nazis Want Canadian Military Training,” 22 October 2018,
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/a3pppz/neo-nazis-want-canadian-military-training.
116
For a detailed analysis of CVE and deradicalization training see: Daniel Koehler, Verena Fiebig,
“Knowing What to Do: Academic and Practitioner Understanding of How to Counter Violent
Radicalization,” Perspectives on Terrorism 13, no. 3 (2019): pp. 44-62.
117
Koehler, Understanding Deradicalization. Methods, Tools and Programs for Countering Violent
Extremism.
118
Ben Baruch and Tom Ling, with Rich Warnes, and Joanna Hofman, “Evaluation in an emerging field:
Developing a measurement framework for the field of counter-violent-extremism,” Evaluation 24, no. 4
2018): pp. 475-95.
ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
22
than removal from active duty is determined to be the adequate reaction, then the
consequence must be that the military establishes its own CVE or de-radicalisation
program. Even in the case of discharging radicalised soldiers, a very important question
remains: what happens to the person afterwards? Having identified a person already
committed to violent extremism to an extent deemed dangerous for the military, and
after the person has received military training, the shame of dishonourable discharge,
and the removal of someone’s source of income, could very well become major push
factors in the radicalisation process. Releasing disgruntled and highly frustrated former
soldiers with violent extremist views into civilian life without any kind of referral to
counselling and/or de-radicalisation programs could therefore be a significant risk. So
far, only the British military has started formal collaboration with civilian (albeit
governmental) CVE programs.
c) Extremist radicalisation after discharge – veterans
Technically this type of cases is not the responsibility of the military. However, due to
the nature of military training or significant events during active service (e.g. PTSD),
civilian CVE and de-radicalisation programmes should have the opportunity to work
together with the military in order to reduce risk for clients who are veterans and should
maybe involve persons with military authority in the counselling. Ideally, this CVE
collaboration can be based on a mutual understanding and shared responsibility for the
person at risk.
d) Families and friends of military personnel
Another potential set of cases can involve family members and friends of military
personnel who might become radicalised or active in violent extremist organisations.
Providing special counselling and support for military personnel in this regard is a logical
step to protect military information and prevent soldiers of being exploited for extremist
goals. Especially career personnel with access to classified information who might
become subjects of extortion in order to protect their rank and income could be included
in such counselling programs.
In addition to these more specific pointers, the discussion above underlines the need for
more research on radicalisation within the armed forces. There are a range of topics that
in need of further attention, such as military-specific risk factors for radicalisation, effects
of military life and combat experiences on vulnerabilities for violent radicalisation, and
the role of military education on the careers of extremists and terrorists. Without a
scientific evidence base on the extent of risks and threats, as well as the interplay of
various external and internal factors, any CVE attempts by the military or directed at the
armed forces have a much higher chance of failure and backfiring. Close cooperation
between civilian (e.g. academic and practitioner) experts and the military to learn from
each other and design a best-fit synthesis of CVE tools and knowledge for this complex
area is therefore recommended.
Conclusion
Countering violent extremism mechanisms have become a cornerstone of counter-
terrorism in many countries in recent years. Even though the field is still in its infancy,
and plagued by the lack of key fundamentals (e.g. evidence base, effective evaluation,
A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the Extreme Right and the Military
23
quality standards and training),
119
the military as one potential field of extremist
activities has fallen far behind developments in this regard. This comes as somewhat of
a surprise since highly publicised cases of military personnel with extremist ties create
immense pressure on military officials and policy makers to make sure the armed forces
are not abused by violent extremists and terrorists. Public scrutiny is therefore high.
Developing military-specific CVE programs should come as a logic step for policy makers
and military leaders. Furthermore, it is fairly well-known that extremists of all
background value skills trained in the military, as well as strategic and tactical
information, weapons of military grade and the access to a vast recruitment pool. Since
the military forms an essential part of any country’s security infrastructure, it must
develop adequate protective and countering measures against violent extremist
infiltration attempts. The same holds true for police and intelligence agencies, which is
the topic for another detailed assessment in the future.
120
This policy brief has started to
document significant cases and incidents, as well as recommend specific measures based
on lessons learned. Even though the CVE field has a long way to go before reaching
maturity and a well-established evidence base, experts in the academic and practitioner
field can already provide the military with essential insights, training and conceptual
assistance to close the most important current gaps. The first step is therefore to begin
an open exchange and debate about the role and form of CVE and de-radicalisation in
the military.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
119
Daniel Koehler, “How and why we should take deradicalization seriously,” Nature Human Behaviour 1,
no. 0095 (2017).
120
For first overview, see: Adam Potočňák and Radka Vicenová, eds., Radicals in Uniform: Case studies of
Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Slovakia (Bratislava: Centre for European and North Atlantic
Affairs, 2015).
ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
24
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ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
26
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ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
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ICCT Policy Brief Daniel Koehler
30
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A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the Extreme Right and the Military
33
About the Authors
Daniel Koehler
Daniel Koehler studied comparative religion, political science and economics at
Princeton University and Free University Berlin. After finishing the postgraduate ‘Master
of Peace and Security Studies’ at the University of Hamburg he specialised on terrorism,
radicalisation, and deradicalisation. Daniel is also the co-founder of the first peer
reviewed open access journal on deradicalisation, which he created together with the
"German Institute on Radicalization and De-Radicalization Studies" (GIRDS) in 2014. In
June 2015 Daniel was named a Fellow of George Washington University’s Program on
Extremism at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security. In 2016 he was appointed to
be the first court expert on deradicalisation in the United States of America at the District
Court in Minneapolis and started to work with the Ministry of the Interior in Baden-
Württemberg, Germany to help coordinate a state-wide CVE network. In July 2017 Daniel
became a member of the Editorial Board of the International Centre for Counter-
Terrorism in The Hague.
A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the
Extreme Right and the Military
Daniel Koehler
September 2019
About ICCT
ICCT The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague (ICCT) is an independent think and
do tank providing multidisciplinary policy advice and practical, solution-oriented implementation
support on prevention and the rule of law, two vital pillars of effective counterterrorism.
ICCT’s work focuses on themes at the intersection of countering violent extremism and criminal
justice sector responses, as well as human rights-related aspects of counterterrorism. The major
project areas concern countering violent extremism, rule of law, foreign fighters, country and
regional analysis, rehabilitation, civil society engagement and victims’ voices.
Functioning as a nucleus within the international counter-terrorism network, ICCT connects experts,
policymakers, civil society actors and practitioners from different fields by providing a platform for
productive collaboration, practical analysis, and exchange of experiences and expertise, with the
ultimate aim of identifying innovative and comprehensive approaches to preventing and countering
terrorism.
Contact ICCT
T: +31 (0)70 763 0050
