Armed and Explosive? An Explorative Statistical Analysis of Extremist Radicalization Cases with Military Background

Abstract

Extremist infiltration of armed forces, and the spread of violent radicalization among service members and former soldiers, are a growing international concern. With an increased number of active duty and former soldiers involved in extremist and terrorist milieus, the public fears that national security might be compromised by potential terrorists using their training, equipment, and networks against the countries they swore to protect. This is a serious impediment to the trust in authorities for many nations. However, little empirical research exists on either the scope of the problem, or the specific risk factors that might be involved in turning military personnel toward extremism. In this paper, we utilize the "Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States" (PIRUS) dataset to shed light on the vulnerability and risk factors into the extremist radicalization of military personnel. Our findings indicate that far-right radicalized individuals with military backgrounds are more likely to suffer from trauma, a diminution of social standing, having difficulties in romantic relationships, and exclusion from participation in social groups or organizations, compared to far-right radicalized individuals without military backgrounds. Mental illness, grievance, and anger toward society are also more present in the far-right military group compared to the non-military group.

Mental disorder, psychological problems and terrorist behaviour: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…We considered this as part of our Risk of Bias (p. 112). Others observed interactions between mental health difficulties and past non-terrorist criminality (Thijssen et al, 2021), exposure to military-related trauma (Haugstvedt & Koehler, 2021) and grievances such as poverty and oppression (Candilis et al, 2021 In summary, the findings across our three review objectives converge with the theoretical positions set out in the papers. We don't see indications/tentative evidence of a causal relationship between mental health difficulties and risk of engagement in the pooled prevalence rates.…”

“…They suggest that background predisposing factors like mental health difficulties and ‘deviant conduct’ interact with exposure to radicalising content and networks to ‘set up a potential pathway to violent extremism’ (p. 112). Others observed interactions between mental health difficulties and past non‐terrorist criminality (Thijssen et al, 2021), exposure to military‐related trauma (Haugstvedt & Koehler, 2021) and grievances such as poverty and oppression (Candilis et al, 2021).…”

Who Controls the Code, Controls the System: Algorithmically Amplified Bullshit, Social Inequality, and the Ubiquitous Surveillance of Everyday Life

“…The narratives leading up to January 6 built on long-running narratives of weaponized patriotism, effectively turning love of country into hatred of government (Goldsmith 2019a(Goldsmith , 2019bWeinberg and Dawson 2021). In attempting to understand why veterans were part of the violent vanguard at the January 6th riot, there has been a tendency to focus on individual factors like post traumatic stress disorder, family instability, lack of meaningful integration/reintegration into society, or a history of abuse (Haugstvedt and Koehler 2021;Jensen et al 2022). But hundreds of thousands of veterans have these same individual variables and did not join the antidemocratic violence at the Capitol or any other violent extremist group.…”

The influence of demographic, situational, psychological, and motivational factors in mass murder attacks

“…Military service of the perpetrator has been linked to the number of people killed and injured in a mass murder attack due to the weapons training they received during basic training and throughout their military career (Gill & Corner, 2013;McCauley et al, 2013), though military weapons training is not the only connection to mass murder incidents. The U.S. armed forces has a long history of affiliation with right-wing extremist groups dating back to the Civil War (Haugstvedt & Koehler, 2021). The Ku Klux Klan was founding by officers who served in the Confederate army (Koehler, 2019).…”

“…It is also important to note that the armed forces are a massive organization, both in terms of military branches and personnel. Military leaders and policy makers in the U.S. also correctly emphasize that relative to the overall number of people serving in the armed forces, occurrences of right-wing extremism are extraordinarily low (Haugstvedt & Koehler, 2021;Koehler, 2019).…”