U.S. Department of Defense now monitoring alleged “extremism” among Americans’ internet searches.
QUICK FACTS:
- The Pentagon is working with a U.K.-based contractor called Moonshot CVE (Countering Violent Extremism) to track Americans’ web searches that it describes as indicators of interest in or engagement with White supremacism, according to Fox News and Defense One.
- The project aims to uncover networks of domestic extremists within the military.
- Moonshot says it has “monitored a list of almost 1,600 indicators of interest in or engagement with White supremacism.”
- It is “unclear why the Pentagon chose a U.K.-based company for monitoring purported U.S. extremism,” according to Fox, neither Moonshot nor the Defense Department responding to a request for comment.
WHAT QUALIFIES AS ‘WHITE EXTREMISM’:
- Searching the phrase “the truth about black lives matter” is cited as one example of extremism, indicating a belief “that the BLM movement has nefarious motives.” Moonshot says the idea that BLM might have nefarious motives “is a disinformation narrative perpetuated by White supremacist groups to weaponize anti-BLM sentiment.” Because it has been used to suggest the BLM movement “is in line with the burning and looting of Antifa,” the phrase is “[not] innocuous” but dangerous. “These sources echo White supremacist disinformation narratives alleging that BLM protesters are trying to ‘overthrow the republic’ and ‘harm American citizens in a Marxist coup,’ as a means of delegitimizing it,” says Moonshot.
- The above search is considered as extreme as phrases such as “George Floyd deserved to die,” “Jews will not replace us” and “the truth about black lives matter.”
- Labelling BLM as “Marxist” also indicates extremism, even though BLM co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors says she and her fellow organizers are “trained Marxists.”
ABOUT MOONSHOT:
- Moonshot has ties to the Obama Foundation, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and George Soros’ Open Foundation.
- The Center for Security Policy raised concerns about the company in an article last month in which it highlighted how Moonshot CEO Vidhya Ramalingam served as a leader in the Obama Foundation’s Europe program, according to Fox.
TUCKER CARLSON’S COVERAGE OF MOONSHOT:
- Editorial director of The Daily Caller appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show discussing Moonshot’s contract with the Pentagon, noting that there is “a sustained move within the Biden government to label everything as domestic extremism.”
- “It’s completely out of control,” said Coglianese, adding that “[a]sking questions, now extremism. Free inquiry, now extremism. It’s getting worse.”
- Carlson said that Joe Biden has already “gone much farther than any other president, however, to politicize every federal agency. And that includes, terrifyingly, the military.” “Biden has directed the defense department, the department that is supposed to work on keeping us safe from foreign threats, to instead turns its attention on American citizens,” Carlson went on to say.
- “Notice he never defined white supremacy,” Carlson said. “No one ever has. There is no actual definition for it. So it can apply to everyone who didn’t vote for Joe Biden. That’s why it is terrifying, that’s why you should resist it.”
Jon Fleetwood is Managing Editor for American Faith.
