Leading Republican lawmakers are demanding answers from the Army after gate security at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, was given an anti-terrorism briefing that lumped mainstream anti-abortion groups in with extremist groups.
The slide presentation was botched in many ways, including also labeling non-violent, left-wing groups as terrorists. But Republicans are homing in on the anti-abortion slide to charge that the Army is targeting conservative political beliefs.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., personnel subcommittee Chairman Jim Banks, R-Ind., and other committee Republicans sent a letter to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth over the weekend calling for answers by July 25 on how the slideshow came to be.
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“It is crucial that our military maintains political neutrality and respect for diverse viewpoints within the bounds of the law,” the 25 lawmakers wrote in the letter to Wormuth. “Regardless of any base commanders’ concern for protests from potential groups, the idea that such protected constitutional activities by lawful organizations qualifies them as terrorists is absurd.”
The lawmakers pressed the Army for a more substantial response after it said the presentation would no longer be used last week.
“We urge the Army to immediately issue a correction to all service members who received this briefing, to implement rules to ensure officials do not make similar claims in the Army’s name in the future, and to discipline those individuals responsible for spreading such false and divisive claims,” they added.
Another group of more than 80 Republicans in the House and Senate, led by Sen. Ted Budd and Rep. Rich Hudson, both of North Carolina, also sent a letter to Wormuth on Friday, calling the slideshow’s inclusion of anti-abortion groups “despicable.”
Asked about the letters, an Army spokesperson declined to comment, telling Military.com that “as with all congressional correspondence, we will respond directly to the authors.”
At issue is a presentation that was given to troops in charge of gate security at Fort Liberty last week on terrorism awareness. One of the slides was about anti-abortion groups and specifically identified two organizations, National Right to Life and Operation Rescue, and included a picture of a “choose life” license plate that abortion opponents in several states can get.
After that slide went viral and stoked outrage among conservatives, the Army distanced itself from the presentation and said it would review such briefings going forward. The Army also launched a 15-6 investigation, which can be wide-ranging probes to fact-find and possibly lead to disciplinary action, into the presentation, a source told Military.com last week.
While neither National Right to Life or Operation Rescue advocates violence, there is a lengthy history of anti-abortion violence in the U.S., including an uptick in recent years after the Supreme Court ruled in 2022 to allow states to ban abortion.
The full slideshow also appeared out of touch with left-wing groups. It conflated PETA, the animal rights group known for stunts but not violence, with Animal Liberation Front, which does have a history of violence. And it cited several violent groups irrelevant in the modern age, such as eco-terrorist groups Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front, militant group Weather Underground and the Black power group Black Panthers.
The GOP letters to Wormuth, though, focused only on the anti-abortion slide.
The letter from House Armed Services Committee Republicans argued that the slideshow “confirmed our fears” about the Army’s recently updated extremism policy.
“That is, the Army is utilizing an overly broad policy to police the speech of conservative service members, quiet dissent, and require service members who believe in conservative ideals to hide their identities for fear of retaliation from their commands,” they wrote.
The lawmakers want to know who approved the slideshow, where else the presentation has been given and what groups current anti-terrorist guidance considers to be threats.
Related: Botched Army Security Briefing Labeled Anti-Abortion, Animal Activist Groups as Potential Terrorists