We investigated extremism among members of the U.S. military and veterans for The Associated Press. Ask us anything.

We're Jason Dearen and Michelle R. Smith, investigative reporters with the AP, and Aaron Kessler, a data journalist and investigative reporter with the AP.

Jason and Michelle have covered extremism for years, and it grabbed our attention when University of Maryland researcher Michael Jensen, a leading extremism researcher, found a “huge spike” in the number of extremists with a military background starting in 2017. Jensen agreed to provide his group’s exclusive data to AP for deeper analysis. We've interviewed dozens of researchers, service members, advocacy groups and extremism experts to understand the problem. We found that since 2017, more than 480 people with a military background were accused of ideologically driven extremist crimes, while nearly 100 people were killed or injured in plots involving current or former military members, most in service of a far-right agenda. Among the findings was that extremist plots involving service members or veterans were more likely to involve weapons training or firearms than plots that didn’t include someone with a military background. And that such attacks were more deadly.

The AP’s main story focused on Chris Arthur, a former National Guardsman and Iraq War veteran, who began preparing for civil war and training civilians, one of whom got into a gun battle with police. Our story presented new evidence that countered official accounts of the growth of extremism among the nation’s military service members and veterans, and painted a damning picture of years of inaction by the Pentagon and federal law enforcement. A follow-up story looked into a study the Pentagon funded into extremism in the military after veterans and service members were among the crowd that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The study’s findings downplayed the issue, but our reporting found that it relied on old data, misleading analyses and ignored evidence. As a result, the AP found the study grossly undercounted the number of military and veterans arrested for Jan. 6 and provided a misleading picture of the severity of the growing problem.

We're here to talk about this project and how we were able to tell this story. Who is here: - Jason Dearen and Michelle R. Smith, reporters for AP’s global investigations team - Aaron Kessler, a data and investigative journalist for AP

Read the full investigation: https://apnews.com/article/military-extremism-pentagon-veterans-terrorism-capitol-riot-jan-6-0c1fdd7b6b761e9c9e8556a9b9e45dc9

The follow-up: https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-military-extremism-jan-6-pete-hegseth-ea43535cd37abded5a0ed6aaba514115

Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9O9A832Qmo

PROOF: https://bsky.app/profile/apnews.com/post/3lcobm7qjys2q