Trump's Pentagon choice was flagged by one of the services as possible 'Isider Threat'

WASHINGTON (AP) – Pete Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran and Fox News host nominated by Donald Trump to lead the Defense Department, has been flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a service member because of a tattoo he has associated with him. and white groups.

Hegseth, who reduced the role of military members and veterans in Jan. 6, 2021, attacking and disparaging the Pentagon's subsequent efforts to deal with extremism in the ranks, he said he was pulled over by his District of Columbia National Guard unit for surveillance. Joe Biden's inauguration in January 2021. He said he was unfairly labeled as an extremist because of a tattoo on his chest.

However, this week, another guard member who was the unit's security manager and on the anti-terrorist team at the time, shared with the Associated Press an email he sent to the unit's leaders flagging a different tattoo used by white people, The concern was the reference to “Insider Threat.”

If Hegseth takes office, it would mean that the man who has said it is a hoax that extremism is a problem in the military will preside over a department full of bureaucrats whose leadership reacted with shock when people in tactical gear stormed the steps of the US Capitol on January 6 in a military-style stack formation. He also showed support for members of the military accused of war crimes and criticized the military justice system.

Hegseth and Trump's transition team did not respond to emails seeking comment.

As the AP reported in an investigation published last month, more than 480 people with a military background were suspected of corruption charges from 2017 to 2023, including more than 230 arrested in connection with the coup of January 6, according to the data collected. and analyzed by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START, at the University of Maryland. While those numbers represent a small fraction of those who have served with honor in the military — and Lloyd Austin, the current defense secretary, has said discrimination is widespread in the U.S. military — an AP investigation found that conspiracies involving people with military backgrounds are far more common. which may involve multiple casualties.

'People who love our country'

Since Jan. 6, Hegseth, like many Trump supporters, has downplayed both the seriousness of the riots and the role of military personnel. Amid the widespread condemnation the day after the attack, Hegseth took a different approach. On the Fox News panel, Hegseth described the crowd as patriotic, saying they were “freedom-loving” and “patriotic” people who had been “reawakened to the reality of what the left is doing” to their country.

Of the 14 people who were convicted of the attack on the Capitol with conspiracy to treason, the most serious case was created on Jan. 6, eight who had served in the military. Although most of those with military backgrounds who were arrested after January 6 are no longer active, more than 20 were in the military at the time of the attack, according to START.

Hegseth wrote in his book “The War on Warriors,” which was published earlier this year, that “a handful” or “a handful” of active and reserve soldiers had been at the Capitol that day. He did not speak to the hundreds of war veterans who were arrested and charged.

Hegseth has challenged the Pentagon to take action against extremism, and has taken leadership to task for the military's efforts to remove white supremacists and violent extremists from the ranks. Hegseth wrote that the issue is “fake” and “manufactured” and described it as “selling the lie of military racism.” He said that efforts to end apartheid have removed “high-level fanatics from their organizations.”

“America is not that safe, and our generals don't care about the oath they swore to keep. “The generals are busy assessing how domestic 'extremists' in Carhartt jackets will usurp our 'democracy' from gateposts or flagpoles,” he wrote in “The War on Warriors.”

In a Fox News segment last year about Jacob Chansley, the Navy veteran known as the “QAnon Shaman” who walked through the Capitol wearing a fur hat with horns, Hegseth played a misleading video clip from then-colleague Tucker Carlson who wanted to portray Chansley as a bystander.

In fact, Chansley was among the first rioters to enter the building and pleaded guilty to a felony count of obstructing legal process in 2021. Chansley admitted that he used a bullhorn to disperse the crowd, and thanked him in prayer while in the Senate chamber. to have the opportunity to eliminate traitors and write a threatening note to Vice President Mike Pence saying, “It's Only a Matter of Time. Justice Is Coming!”

In a Facebook message with the video clip, Hegseth called Chansley's treatment by the justice system “disgusting.”

“Trump, Chansley, and many others… the Left want us all locked up,” Hegseth wrote.

Support for convicted war criminals

Hegseth served nearly 20 years and was deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. He has two Bronze Stars. Speaking about his work and advocating for other service members and veterans, he has taken steps to support convicted war criminals and recently said he told his team not to ignore orders on when to shoot.

In a podcast interview released earlier this month, Hegseth described receiving a briefing from a military attorney in 2005 in Baghdad about the rules of engagement. Hegseth said the lawyer told them that they could not shoot someone with a rocket-propelled grenade unless it was pointed out to them.

“I remember coming out of that meeting, getting my team together and being like, 'Guys, we don't do that. You know, like if you see the enemy and you know they're engaging before they can point their weapon at you and shoot, we'll have your back,” said Hegseth.

“All they do is take one incident and shout 'war criminal,'” he said, referring to the New York Times, the left and Democrats, adding, “Why do we support these guys even if they weren't perfect. ?”

He said he was proud of his role in getting a pardon from Trump in 2019 for a former US Army commando who was going to face a murder charge accused of making an Afghan bomb, and a former Army lieutenant who was convicted of killing by ordering his men. shooting three Afghans, killing two. At Hegseth's urging, Trump also ordered the promotion of Eddie Gallagher, a Navy SEAL convicted of talking to a dead Islamic State prisoner in Iraq.

Biden's inauguration

Hegseth complained that he himself was labeled an extremist by the D.C. National Guard and said he was barred from working during Biden's inauguration, just weeks after the Jan. 6 Capitol, because of the cross tattoo on his chest. He said he decided to end his military service soon after in disgust.

But one Guardsman member who served as a security officer before the agency's inauguration provided the AP with an email he sent that showed him expressing concern about a different tattoo.

Retired Chaplain Sgt. DeRicko Gaither, who served as the physical security manager for the D.C. Army National Guard and its anti-terrorist task force in January 2021, told the AP that he received an email from a former member of the D.C. Guard that included a screenshot of the social media post. a post that includes two photos showing several of Hegseth's tattoos.

Gaither told the AP that he researched the tattoos — including one of the Jerusalem Cross and the context of the words “Deus Vult,” Latin for “God loves,” on his bicep — and decided they had enough connections to fringe groups to warrant an email. to his superiors.

Several of Hegseth's tattoos are associated with expressions of religious faith, according to Heidi Beirich of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, but they have also been taken by some groups far from violent extremists. Their meaning depends on the context, he said.

Some religious extremists invoke their association with Christian crusades to express anti-Muslim sentiment. The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism notes that in 2023 the names on the notebooks of Allen, Texas, shooter Mauricio Garcia. Anders Breivik, the former dictator who killed 77 people in 2011, had similar symbols in his manifesto.

In an email Gaither sent on Jan. 14, 2021, which he provided to the AP, expressed concern about Hegseth, who was an officer at the time, and listed only the “Deus Vult” tattoo. In an email sent to then-Maj. Gen. William Walker, who commanded the DC National Guard, Gauther expressed concern that the speech is associated with white extremists who use the concept of white medieval Christianity and Christian wars.

“MG Walker, Sir, with the information provided it falls on the line of Insider Threat and this is what we as members of the US Army, District of Columbia National Guard and the Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection Team are trying to prevent,” Gaither. he wrote.

“I said, 'You guys need to look into this,'” Gaither said in a telephone interview with the AP on Thursday. “Later I got an email telling him to leave.”

Biden's inauguration came just two weeks after the coup, and the Army was taking no chances. More than 25,000 members of the security forces are pouring into the city and each one is undergoing additional screening, depending on how close they will be to Biden.

12 members of the National Guard have been told to stay home, former Pentagon press secretary Jonathan Hoffman told reporters at a press conference the day before the inauguration. At least two have been flagged for potential overshooting concerns; some were due to other background check problems identified as related to the Army, FBI or Secret Service. It was unclear whether Hegseth was among the 12 Hoffmans in question at the time.

Hegseth also speculated in podcast interviews that he was asked to resign because of his political views, his role as a reporter covering Jan. 6 or because he works for Fox News.

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Smith reported from Providence, RI, and Dearen reported from Los Angeles.

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Contact AP's global investigative team at investigative@ap.org