CV NEWS FEED // The U.S. Army at Fort Liberty has trained around 10,000 American soldiers, over the course of the past 7 years, to classify pro-life organizations as terrorist groups, according to testimony this week in Congress.
As CatholicVote previously reported, an Army anti-terrorism training presentation conducted for soldiers stationed at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, included pro-life organizations, crisis pregnancy centers, pro-life mass demonstrations, sidewalk counseling, and “Choose Life” license plates as “Terrorist Groups,” alongside organizations such as ISIS. On July 11, a photograph of the controversial slide from the Fort Liberty anti-terrorism training went viral.
In a September 19 Congressional hearing, Army personnel revealed that an official investigation conducted by the U.S. Army, which concluded on July 29, found that the controversial slides were “locally developed at Fort Liberty,” and that “the slides have been used for training since 2017.” It was also revealed they “were not reviewed or approved by Fort Liberty leadership because local policies were not in place for reviewing and approving such training slides.”
According to testimony from Lt. Gen. Patrick Matlock, Deputy Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, and Dr. Agnes Schaefer, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, who provides oversight for both the Army’s anti-terrorism policy and extremism policy and their respective training requirements, an estimated 10,000 American soldiers went through the anti-terrorism and extremism training at Fort Liberty between 2017 and this summer.
Subcommittee on Military Personnel Chairman Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) grilled Schaefer and Matlock on how it was possible that the Army had engaged in such training for so long without higher personnel knowing.
“This training started in 2017. It lasted until a few months ago. 10,000 soldiers were taught that National Right to Life was a potential domestic terrorist threat or that soldiers with State-issued pro-life license plates were a threat. How in the world does something like that go on for so long and neither of you or anyone in leadership ever catches it?”
When Matlock refused to answer whether anyone within the Army had been held accountable, saying it was the responsibility of the proper chain of command, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) excoriated the officer for dodging the matter.
“We don’t believe that your chain of command approach is going to be sufficient to deal with this if you play hide the ball on what the consequence was. And it sort of seems to be a DOD-wide problem that people who express policy or Scripture aligned with Christian faith get demonized and attacked,” Gaetz said.
In a press release on the hearing, Banks noted that the Fort Liberty training “labeled several prominent and well-respected pro-life groups, that count millions of everyday Americans as members, as violent extremists.” “The training accused the members of these organizations of being threats to the safety of military installations and designated symbols of pro-life groups, including state-issued pro-life license plates, as indicators of terrorism,” he said.
Calling the training “disturbing,” Banks said the Army’s wider policy contained in its July 2024 Directive, titled, “Handling Protest, Extremist, and Criminal Gang Activities,” was “overly broad” and was being used “to police the speech of conservative service members, quiet dissent, and require service members who believe in conservative ideals to hide their identities for fear of retaliation from their commands.”
“But the Army isn’t simply targeting conservative speech and values,” Banks added. “At any time, the administration could weaponize this policy against any Army soldier with values different from the administration.”
Following the exposure of the Fort Liberty training session, National Right to Life President Carol Tobias denounced the targeting of peaceful pro-lifers as terrorists, juxtaposing it with the Biden Administration’s aggressive promotion of the killing of the unborn.
In a July statement to the Washington Examiner, she said, “In a presentation that is deeply offensive to pro-life Americans across the nation, Fort Liberty promoted outright lies about National Right to Life in a demonstration of lazy scholarship. In our over 50-year history, National Right to Life has always, consistently, and unequivocally, condemned violence against anyone.”
“Only under the Biden Administration can peaceful law-abiding citizens and their peaceful activities be considered ‘terrorism.’ The Biden Administration promotes the deaths of preborn babies and advocates for unlimited abortion, but peaceful pro-life Americans are labeled ‘terrorists,’” she added.
This week’s hearing followed a July demand of over 80 congressmen, including Sen. Ted Budd, R-NC, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, who signed a letter penned to Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth calling for the investigation of the Fort Liberty incident to determine how long this material has been utilized and to ensure that similar materials are not being used at other Army installations.