Two Republican lawmakers introduced a bill this week aimed at protecting Veterans from increasing online threats, including scams and disinformation campaigns from extremists.
Rep. Mike Bost, R-Illinois, ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, introduced the Veterans' Cyber Risk Awareness Act to increase cyber safety for Vets.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, the lawmakers argued, should proactively provide Veterans with information about how they can protect themselves online and assess risks unique to the Veteran community.
The new legislation would specifically direct VA's Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs to conduct a communications and outreach campaign to educate Veterans about online risks. VA would be required to coordinate with experts in government and the private sector in the campaign.
VA would also be required under the legislation to enter an agreement with a federally funded research and development corporation to study Veteran vulnerability to online risks, the availability of resources for combatting those risks among Vets and the effectiveness of VA's communication and outreach campaign. That study, lawmakers said, will provide information necessary to inform further actions to protect Veterans online.
“Veterans are as vulnerable as anyone to cyber risks like identity theft and disinformation campaigns," Bost said. “Our bill will make sure Veterans have the information and resources they need to protect themselves. It will also provide an objective look at the potential dangers they face online. It is a commonsense first step to keep Veterans and their families safer.”
Earlier this month, Rep. Mark Takano, D-California, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, ordered a congressional investigation into the efforts of extremists groups to target and recruit Veterans and service members, often through disinformation campaigns.
“Over the past several months, we've learned a great deal about the prevalence of violent extremist groups in our country and their efforts to prey on our nation's Veterans,” Mace said. “Veterans are not only targets of scammers and con artists for financial purposes, but also victims of extremists looking to take advantage of our retired troops. Our Veterans served and defended our country against those looking to harm us. It's our responsibility to ensure they're not abused by those looking to rob or use them.”
Extremists targeting Veterans online and through social media was initially revealed by an investigation by Vietnam Veterans of America and Army Veteran and advocate Kristofer Goldsmith.
The months since the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol have revealed a number of highly trained Veterans who participated in the assault, including Air Force Veteran Ashli Babbitt, who was an apparent QAnon believer, according to her social media accounts. Babbitt was shot by law enforcement as police confronted the mob inside the Capitol. She later died in a hospital and the shooting remains under investigation.
Other Veterans implicated in the Jan. 6 insurrection include retired Air Force Lt. Col. Larry Brock, Army Veteran Jessica Watkins, Marine Veteran Donovan Crowl, retired Navy officer Thomas Caldwell and Army PSYOP Capt. Emily Rainey, among others.
During a White House briefing on earlier this month, VA Secretary Denis McDonough said that the Veterans who participated in the insurrection do not give a "full picture" of the Veteran community, but added that the department will examine the issue and weigh any potential policy changes.
"I also saw Veterans, including members of Congress ... and members of the DCPD doing remarkable things," McDonough said.
A Special Forces meme also ended up on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's door the day prior to the riot at the Capitol, and Veterans were seen to have visited the Capitol complex the day before the assault.
Some of the Veterans charged for their alleged involvement in the insurrection could face up to 20 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.
Conspiracy theories and other forms of misinformation -- which many have blamed for the assault on the Capitol -- aren't new for the Veteran community. Extremist groups have used disinformation campaigns to recruit members for years. Veterans and service members have been represented in anti-government extremist groups before, which offer a sense of belonging, camaraderie and mission focus Veterans often lose when they leave military service behind.
Veterans are also often influential and trusted in their communities, making them ideal targets for those with disinformation agendas, Goldsmith found in his two-year study with VVA on the subject. Goldsmith even briefed Congress about the threats Veterans face from foreign and domestic actors seeking to spread disinformation more than a year ago.
Goldsmith has warned about disinformation campaigns targeting Veterans for years, but lawmakers took no substantive action following his damning report, and some Republican members dismissed it, arguing Veterans must take personal responsibility to avoid disinformation and online threats.
Read the full text of the bill.
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