Army to Begin Probe on Reach of Hate Groups

The Army, shocked by last week’s arrest of two openly white-supremacist paratroopers in the murder of a black couple near Ft. Bragg, N.C., launched a new inquiry Tuesday to determine the extent to which soldiers are participating in hate groups.

The investigation, to be conducted by the Army inspector general, was announced by Army Secretary Togo D. West Jr. after he conferred with Defense Secretary William J. Perry and Gen. Dennis J. Reimer, the Army chief of staff. It is expected to be completed by March 1.

West told reporters at a briefing that participation in such hate groups is “simply inconsistent” with Army policy and vowed that “we will not have it” in the Army. Perry also said that there is “no place for racial hatred or extremism in the U.S. military.”

West parried questions about why commanders at Ft. Bragg did not take firmer action to deal with the two paratroopers when their sympathies with so-called skinhead groups were discovered, saying that the case still is under investigation.

Army officials have said repeatedly that field commanders can only go so far in taking action against free expression of views, no matter how distasteful, without violating an officer’s or soldier’s constitutional rights.

Thursday’s slaying, in which a black man and woman were shot as they were walking along a street in Fayetteville near Ft. Bragg, stunned both the military and the local community and sparked an FBI investigation of the incident as a civil rights case.

Local police said that they had found that one of the paratroopers, Pvt. James Norman Burmeister II, 20, of Thompson, Pa., apparently was open about his white supremacist views, hanging a Nazi flag over his bed and often wearing neo-Nazi garb.

Pvt. Malcolm Wright, 21, of Lexington, Ky., also was charged with first-degree murder. A third paratrooper, Spec. Randy Lee Meadows Jr., 21, of Mulkeytown, Ill., was also linked to the crime and was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder.

Fayetteville police told reporters last week that, in searching Burmeister’s mobile-home apartment, they found a Nazi flag, white supremacist literature, pamphlets on Adolf Hitler and a videotape of the movie “Natural Born Killers.”

Although the military generally has been praised for the progress it has made in providing opportunities for blacks and other minority groups, the Army has been plagued by a series of hate-related incidents in recent years that has tarnished its image.

Nevertheless, West rejected suggestions that he order an Army “stand-down” to stop all training and activities for a day of lectures about Army policy on extremist activities, as the Marine Corps and the Navy have done in response to sexual harassment incidents.

With the service getting ready for deployment to Bosnia, he indicated he was “not prepared to stand down Army activities.”

“I don’t think that is what is called for here,” West said.

Army regulations prohibit soldiers from “participation” in organizations that espouse supremacist causes, seek to create illegal discrimination or advocate violence. But “passive” activities, such as membership or receiving literature, are merely discouraged.

West said Tuesday that in addition to the Army inspector general, the team that will investigate participation in hate groups will include senior officers from all branches of the Army. The group is expected to visit several large bases.

Despite West’s assertions on Tuesday, however, there appeared to be some differences within the Army hierarchy. Just 24 hours before West announced the new inquiry, Reimer told the Associated Press that he saw no reason for an Army-wide investigation of hate group influence.

Asked about that Tuesday, West said that he and Reimer are now in agreement that a broad review is advisable.