Congressman Anthony Brown: We Must Act To Root Out Violent Extremists From Our Ranks

Statement

Congressman Anthony G. Brown (MD-04), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, released the following statement on the arrest of the first known active-duty military member charged for the January 6th insurrection:

"Our national security is tied to the values we set for our military. Violent extremism, white supremacy and hate groups run counter to our Constitution and have no place in the armed services. For far too long, these toxic ideologies have spread throughout our ranks and culture and disrupted unit cohesion, posing a threat to our military's readiness and diminishing our ability to deter our adversaries around the globe.

"Independent of the civil process, the Department of Defense must take immediate action to separate this individual and others who have betrayed their oath to the Constitution through their unbecoming actions. We cannot rest until these violent extremists are rooted out from our ranks and the Department of Defense establishes both the processes and culture necessary to ensure that our armed forces fully and completely represent the values to which we aspire as a nation."

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