EXCLUSIVE: More than two dozen members of the House Armed Services Committee demanded answers from the U.S. Army after it acknowledged the veracity of slides in a domestic counterterrorism training module that referenced pro-life groups.
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., chairman of the Subcommittee on Military Personnel, led the letter to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth expressing outrage and calling for a more thorough explanation for the use of the teaching tools at Fort Liberty, formerly Fort Bragg, in North Carolina.
The letter said the slides indicated members of pro-life organizations could be threats to the safety of military installations and that regalia of such groups, like a pro-life license plate, could potentially indicate terrorism.
“This is truly shocking for an organization that insists on treating everyone with ‘dignity and respect’,” Banks wrote of the slide deck, which was used as part of a larger training for military police tasked with manning base access points.
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The Army Black Knights’ endzone logo prior to the 122nd game between the Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen Dec. 11, 2021, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Banks told Fox News Digital Friday the slides date back to the summer of 2023, suggesting they’re not a case of sudden mistaken entry.
“For over a year, someone at Fort Liberty has been teaching our troops that pro-life Americans are terrorists, and the Biden Pentagon didn’t stop it until House Republicans and the public raised the alarm,” Banks said.
“I’m an Afghanistan war veteran, and it sickens me to see far-left radicals poisoning our military with this extremist hate. We must get woke activists out of our Armed Forces so that we have a military that’s focused on countering foreign terrorists overseas and not on targeting conservative Americans.”
Officials at the Fayetteville, N.C., garrison said the person using the slides remains employed at the facility.
The situation was subject to a formal commander’s inquiry, he said, adding the slides were “not vetted by the proper authorities.”
“The slides do not reflect the views of the 18th Airborne Corps, Fort Liberty, the U.S. Army or Department of Defense,” the officer added.
In their letter, the lawmakers said the slide usage “confirmed our fears” about a recent protest and extremism-related directive from Army brass.
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The Pro-Life Flag, which was designed to be a unifying symbol for those who oppose abortion. (The Pro-Life Flag Project)
“That is, the Army is utilizing an overly broad policy to police the speech of conservative servicemembers, quiet dissent, and require servicemembers who believe in conservative ideals to hide their identities for fear of retaliation from their commands,” the letter states.
“But because the Army has yet to provide the training materials to Congress in contravention of their obligation, we can only assume that the training interpreted the Army’s definition of extremist activities to include pro-life organizations as ‘advocating or engaging in unlawful force or violence to achieve goals that are political, religious, or discriminatory or ideological in nature.'”
The letter went on to claim the use of such slides belies past testimony from defense officials that all viewpoints, including those on the political right, are welcome in the military.
Banks and the signatories demanded Wormuth’s branch immediately issue corrections to service members who received the slide-deck briefing.
In light of the response by Fort Liberty that the vetting process was conducted incorrectly, Banks’ letter asked Wormuth to explain what the proper procedures actually are.
The lawmakers also asked whether the Army believes pro-life activism or “abortion-related counseling” is considered terrorist activity.
“It is crucial that our military maintains political neutrality and respect for diverse viewpoints within the bounds of the law,” they wrote.
Also on Friday, an official from National Right to Life, which is mentioned on one of the slides, said in a statement that only under the current federal leadership could law-abiding activism be considered terrorism.
“One must wonder how a license plate that raises funds for pregnancy resource centers could be construed as a symbol of terrorism,” President Carol Tobias said.
“When in doubt, blame an underling,” a blog post on National Right to Life’s site said after U.S. military officials acknowledged the slides’ veracity and said they were incorrectly added to the program.
After the garrison previously acknowledged the authenticity of the slide decks, Banks said that even if the module wasn’t approved, it still exposed the Pentagon for creating a “politicized environment where far-left whack jobs feel they can get away with teaching our troops that conservative Americans are their adversary.”
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Fort Liberty, formerly Fort Bragg (Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)
In June, the U.S. Army revised some of its policies, with Wormuth announcing that “active participation in extremist activities can be prohibited even in some circumstances in which such activities would be constitutionally protected in a civilian setting.”
Service members are now prohibited from liking, sharing or engaging with content supporting extremism, according to the American Legion.
Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., signed the letter with representatives Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla.; Clay Higgins, R-La.; Rob Wittman, R-Va.; Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.; Cory Mills, R-Fla.; and Richard Hudson, R-N.C. among others.
Hudson represents the base.
Correction: This article has been amended to state that the individual who used the training slides remains employed at the garrison.