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Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense, sat in front of a screen with the headline: “Study Disproves Military Extremism Problem.” It was Jan. 4 of this year and Hegseth told a Fox News audience the new study proved that the number of military service members and veterans involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection did not indicate a wider problem in the armed forces. The Pentagon-funded report to which Hegseth referred said there was no evidence the number of violent extremists in the military was “disproportionate to extremists in the general population.” “They knew this was a sham,” Hegseth said, referring to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other military leaders. “Then they do the study, which confirms what we all know.” Hegseth, who was working for Fox News at the time and had no involvement in the report, wasn’t alone. The Wall Street Journal’s opinion page highlighted the same report as evidence that extremists in military communities were “phantoms” created by a “false media narrative.” The X account for Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee posted that the study showed the focus on extremism in the military was a “witch hunt.” But The Associated Press has found that the study, “Prohibited Extremist Activities in the U.S. Department of Defense” conducted by the Institute for Defense Analyses , relied on old data, misleading analyses and ignored evidence that pointed to the opposite conclusion. In fact, the AP found that the IDA report’s authors did not use newer data that was offered to it, and instead based one of its foundational conclusions on Jan. 6 arrest figures that were more than two years out of date by the time of the report’s public release. As a result, the report grossly undercounted the number of military and veterans arrested for the Jan. 6 attack and provided a misleading picture of the severity of the growing problem, the AP has found. The number of service members and veterans who radicalize make up a tiny fraction of a percentage point of the millions and millions who have honorably served their country. Yet their impact can be large. Ordered by Austin after the Jan. 6 insurrection, the IDA research was published quietly just before Christmas 2023 — nearly 18 months late and with no announcement. Its key recommendation: the DOD should “not overreact and draw too large of a target” in its anti-extremism efforts, despite Austin’s promise to attack the problem head-on in the wake of Jan. 6. But IDA’s researchers based a key finding on an undercount of military service members and veterans who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection. The IDA — a longtime partner to the Pentagon that has received more than a billion dollars in contracts over the past decade to provide research and strategic consulting to the nation’s military — based this conclusion on arrests made as of Jan. 1, 2022, the year immediately following the attack. As of that date, 82 of the 704 people arrested had military backgrounds, or 11.6% of the total arrests, IDA reported. But in the months and years that followed, the number of arrestees with a military background nearly tripled. IDA’s report states that its research was conducted from June 2021 through June 2022. By June 2022, the number of active or former military members arrested had grown by nearly 50%, according to the same dataset IDA cited from the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. When IDA’s report was published a year and a half later, in December 2023, 209 people with military backgrounds who attended the insurrection had been arrested, or 15.2% of all arrests. That has since grown to 18%, according to data collected by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START, at the University of Maryland. It represents a significant statistical increase, and rises above the general population estimates IDA cited among its reasoning for recommending the Pentagon not overreact. START’s research was also funded by DOD, and other federal agencies. More broadly, as the AP reported in an investigation published last month , more than 480 people with a military background were accused of ideologically driven extremist crimes from 2017 through 2023, including the more than 230 arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to data collected and analyzed by START. Though those numbers reflect a small fraction of those who have served in the military — and Austin, the current defense secretary, has said that extremism is not widespread in the U.S. military — AP’s investigation found that plots involving people with military backgrounds were more likely to involve mass casualties. The IDA’s 199-page report conceded that there was “some indication” that the radicalization numbers in the veterans community could be “slightly higher and may be growing” but said its review found “no evidence” that was the case among active duty troops. In fact, data show that since 2017 both service members and veterans are radicalizing at a faster rate than people without military training. Less than 1% of the adult population is currently serving in the U.S. military, but active duty military members make up a disproportionate 3.2% of the extremist cases START researchers found between 2017 and 2022. Even that number is thought to be an undercount, according to Michael Jensen, START’s lead researcher. He noted that the military uses administrative discharges to quietly remove extremists from the ranks — such cases do not show up in START’s data because the military does not release information about them. Jensen, who was consulted by IDA for its report and is cited in it 24 times, said using the Jan. 6 arrest data alone, even if calculated correctly, was not a valid approach to measuring extremism among active duty military. “J6 is an absolutely terrible event to use to try to estimate the scope of extremism in the active service population since most active services members would not have had the opportunity to participate in that event even if they wanted to,” Jensen said. Jensen’s observation is underscored by records obtained by AP. One complaint filed to the DOD Inspector General’s whistleblower hotline on March 17, 2021, and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, said an active duty service member in Germany expressed an interest in heading to Washington for Jan. 6, but said he wasn’t able to go because of his military service. Screenshots from Facebook provided with the complaint show he told his cousin, “I would join you but my current tour is in Germany,” and said in another post on Jan. 3, 2021, he was considering buying a plane ticket. The complaint said the servicemember’s cousin was later arrested. An IDA spokesman defended the report, for which he said the company was paid $900,000, saying it remains confident that its findings were “solidly based on the best data available at the time the work was conducted.” The AP reached out by email and LinkedIn messages to several people listed as authors of the report. None provided comment. A defense official said the department “is committed to maintaining high standards for its data collection and transparency” and referred specific questions on the methodology and analysis of the report to IDA. Hegseth and Trump’s transition team did not respond to emails seeking comment. IDA’s researchers were offered START’s data, Jensen said, which is widely considered the most comprehensive look at the issue. IDA’s report even called it “perhaps the best effort to date” in collecting data on extremists in the military. But IDA never followed up to get it, he said. “We showed them data from over 30 years when they visited with us, so they knew the data were out there to look at a longer timespan,” Jensen said. “We offered it, and offered to help in any other way we could, but we never heard from them again after our one and only meeting.” The IDA spokesperson said its researchers relied on reports START published that summarized parts of their data through 2021. Those reports and the data that underlie them all found “a significant uptick” in such cases, but IDA failed to note those findings in its conclusions. And in some parts of the report, IDA cited START’s numbers from 2018, which were by then years out of date, and which did not fully reflect a significant increase that began the previous year. A footnote says there is more recent data, but fails to mention Jensen’s offer to provide access. AP also found several instances where IDA made assertions that were factually inaccurate or incomplete, leading to questions about the rigor of its work, and about whether the Pentagon provided adequate access to information. As one example, IDA states that “IDA found no evidence of participation in violent extremist events by DOD civilians or defense contractor employees.” But AP obtained records showing multiple allegations about Jan. 6 alone against contractors and a civilian employee. One, made to the Inspector General’s office on Jan 8, 2021, nearly three years before the report was published, said a contractor at the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center called in to meetings from the protest on Jan. 6, and had spread conspiracy theories including QAnon as well as others involving artificial intelligence and the DOD. This complaint resulted in the contractor’s termination. In addition, there were widely publicized cases of defense contractors who were accused of participating in Jan. 6, including a Navy contractor who was a Nazi sympathizer and a former Special Forces soldier who was a military contractor. And in one of the most notable violent extremist events in the years prior to Jan. 6, a defense contractor with a security clearance participated in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Michael Miselis, a member of the violent white supremacist group Rise Above Movement, pleaded guilty to federal rioting charges . The cases together raise questions about the rigor of the IDA’s report and why it would make such assertions. IDA did not explain why it missed those widely reported cases. Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism , said the AP’s review showed the IDA report was “a mess,” with “bad data, unsubstantiated conclusions, and false assertions.” That Hegseth, a former National Guardsman who himself had been flagged as a potential insider threat for a tattoo on his bicep that has been linked to extremist groups, doesn’t see the importance of rooting out extremism in the ranks is a disaster, she said. “It’s a shame that a shoddy report by the Pentagon gives an opening to views like Hegseth’s and will perpetuate a head-in-the-sand approach to a serious national security issue,” said Beirich, an expert in extremist movements who has testified before Congress about extremism in the military. “Too many terrorist attacks have been perpetrated by active-duty military and veterans, and ignoring this problem just makes the American people less safe,” she said. “Making light of the problem is ultimately a threat to the security of the American people, and politicizing the problem, which Republicans have done over recent years, means more violence.”

One held with ICDS ration stocksIn a filing made public Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers told Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan that dismissal is warranted because of the extraordinary circumstances of his impending return to the White House. “Wrongly continuing proceedings in this failed lawfare case disrupts President Trump’s transition efforts,” the attorneys continued, before citing the “overwhelming national mandate granted to him by the American people on November 5, 2024.” In the court filing, Trump’s lawyers cited President Joe Biden’s recent pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, who had been convicted of tax and gun charges . “President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ and ‘treated differently,’" Trump’s legal team wrote. The Manhattan district attorney, they claimed, had engaged in the type of political theater "that President Biden condemned.” Prosecutors will have until Dec. 9 to respond. They have said they will fight any efforts to dismiss the case but have indicated openness to delaying sentencing until after Trump’s second term ends in 2029. Following Trump’s election victory last month, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed his sentencing, previously scheduled for late November, to allow the defense and prosecution to weigh in on the future of the case. He also delayed a decision on Trump’s prior bid to dismiss the case on immunity grounds. Trump has been fighting for months to reverse the conviction, which involved efforts to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels, whose affair allegations threatened to disrupt his 2016 campaign. He has denied any wrongdoing. Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Merchan hasn’t set a timetable for a decision. A dismissal would erase Trump’s historic conviction, sparing him the cloud of a criminal record and possible prison sentence. Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted criminal to be elected to the office. Merchan could also decide to uphold the verdict and proceed to sentencing, delay the case until Trump leaves office, wait until a federal appeals court rules on Trump’s parallel effort to get the case moved out of state court or choose some other option.

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STATESBORO, Ga. — Jalen White had 125 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 18 carries to help Georgia Southern beat Appalachian State 29-20 Saturday night in the regular season finale for both teams. Georgia Southern (8-4, 6-2 Sun Belt) kept alive its hopes for a berth in Sun Belt Championship game on Dec. 7. The Eagles can win the East Division and play Louisiana-Lafayatte for the title if James Madison beats Marshall later Saturday. JC French threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Josh Dallas with 8:47 left in the first quarter. Holder Matthew Daniel, also Georgia Southern’s punter, took a snap in a swinging-gate formation and ran for the 2-point conversion to make it 8-0 and the Eagles never trailed. Joey Aguilar threw a 9-yard TD pass to Eli Wilson with almost 9 minutes left in the second quarter but Appalachian State failed to get the 2-point conversion and the Mountaineers trailed 8-6. White scored on a run from the 4 to cap an 11-play, 84-yard drive with 2:51 left in the second quarter and gave the Eagles a 15-6 lead at halftime. Aguilar hit Makai Jackson in the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown that made it a two-point game late in the third quarter but Georgia Southern responded when White ran for a 3-yard TD early in the fourth quarter. Appalachian State (5-6, 3-5) lined up for a short field-goal attempt but a high snap recovered at the Georgia State 43 gave the Eagles possession. On third-and-3, Nate Johnson jumped on a fumble caused by his strip-sack of French, Aguilar hit Jackson for 40-yard gain to the 1 and Ahmani Marsh ran it in to make it 22-20 with 8:16 to play.LONDON — French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to see out his current term until 2027 and name a new government in the next few days, amid a spiraling political criss that has threatened to engulf his leadership. Speaking Thursday at his official residence in the Elysée Palace in Paris, Macron thanked the outgoing Prime Minister Michel Barnier for his "dedication," after a majority of National Assembly lawmakers voted to remove Barnier Wednesday, forcing him to resign. Macron accused the opposition parties of choosing "chaos," saying they "don't want to build, they want to dismantle." The political instability in France — and simultaneously in Germany, where the governing coalition collapsed a month ago — could have wide-ranging consequences for European security, as well as trans-Atlantic relations, analysts tell NPR, just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. With a war still raging on Europe's doorstep, caretaker governments will now control two of the continent's most powerful economies. President Macron had appointed Barnier to head the government only three months ago, after snap elections this summer left no party with a majority in a deeply divided parliament. On Wednesday, legislators from opposing extreme flanks came together in a vote of no confidence against Barnier, over his proposed 2025 national budget. Now, with the government toppled and no approved budget, Macron knows he must act quickly, according to Mathieu Gallard, a pollster at Ipsos. "Regarding the adoption of the budget, everything is stalled, nothing can move in the parliament before we have a new government," says Gallard. "It's really uncharted territory, since we have never been in this kind of situation." The main challenge stems from the fact that none of the political groups in the French parliament have a clear majority, nor do any of them want to negotiate or compromise with one another, Gallard says, while the electoral system means there is very little incentive for that to change, even if Macron calls a fresh national vote in 10 months, which is as soon as the constitution allows after the last election. "Before the election of Emmanuel Macron, we had two blocks opposing in French politics, the left and the right, and it was quite simple." explains Gallard, who lectures on public opinion at Paris' top political science university, Sciences Po. "Now we have three blocks, a left-wing block, a center-right block and a radical right block, and it makes the situation way more complicated." Meanwhile, in neighboring Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost support from his previous political coalition partners, over economic and budget policies as well. Now he's limping along to a confidence vote later this month and federal elections in February . All this adds up to something that European leaders must soon take seriously, says Tanja Börzel, a political science professor at the Freie Universität, or Free University, in Berlin. While she doesn't believe the European Union "faces an existential threat, yet," she says, "it's a major challenge." And the timing of these twin political crises is particularly unfortunate, given that polarization and societal distrust of government has been rising on both sides of the Atlantic, Börzel says. "These two countries have always, very often, taken the lead in helping Europe to speak one voice. I think that's what is required more than ever with Trump taking over the presidency in the U.S." At the dawn of a second Trump term in the White House, a chief concern for many in the EU — even before this latest instability — has centered on the continent's security. "For the EU today, the No. 1 urgency is the Ukraine war," says Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, acting president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, speaking in a video call during a visit to Washington, D.C. "As we know, [there is] a certain dose of anxiety in terms of how the Trump administration will handle the war in Ukraine with the potential deal that might circumvent Europeans." There has been an ongoing debate in many European countries, known colloquially as the "guns versus butter" battle. It has pitted the need for increased defense spending — prompted not only by the Ukraine conflict, but also Trump's frustrated attitude with member states' NATO obligations — against domestic requirements amid an ongoing cost of living crisis. And it's the budget fights in both France and Germany that have recently helped topple their respective leaders. "At the end of the day, the EU is not united on Ukraine, and it's always European fragmentations that fuels European weaknesses," says de Hoop Scheffer, who previously worked for NATO as well as the French Defense Ministry. "The crisis of French-German leadership — that truly doesn't help," she says. And with Europe's two largest economies already spluttering, the new year may herald a new era for both the European Union and the United States.University of Phoenix Supports Arizona Diamondbacks® Annual Winter Classic Celebration