The Huffington Post reports that leaked chat logs identify seven members of the U.S. military as part of a white nationalist organization. The news source says that “Two Marines, two Army ROTC cadets, an Army physician, a member of the Texas National Guard and one member of the Air Force” are identified as members of Identity Evropa on the group’s chat app. The news comes a month after a Coast Guard officer, who was stockpiling weapons for white nationalist terrorism, was arrested by the authorities. Coast Guard Lt. Chris Hassom is facing trial in Federal Court in Maryland.
Identity Evropa was founded by an Iraq War veteran in 2016. It was a prime organizer of the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville. Its founder says that “America was founded as a white country — as a country for people of European heritage.” Members want to maintain a “white super-majority” in the United States.
The group has made opposition to non-white immigration a major part of its platform. Its slogans include “Secure Our Border Secure Our Future” and it has disrupted immigrant events. While most of its in-person recruitment has been on college campuses, there are concerns that it is branching out to try to bring in more active-duty military personnel. In fact, a 2008 FBI report said that white supremacist groups were recruiting in the military and a quarter of service members said that they encountered white nationalists in the military, according to a 2017 survey.
