Troops can still be members of hate groups like the KKK as long as they're not 'active,' per new DoD extremism rules

• Under the Pentagon's new anti-extremism policy, troops are still not barred from membership in extremist groups.
• For the first time, the Department of Defense is including participation in online activities support "the overthrow of the government of the United States."

Troops can now be punished for "liking" or "retweeting" content from extremist groups, according to a new Pentagon policy released Monday. But the Department of Defense still has not banned troops from being members of extremist groups, like the KKK.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby defended the new policy on CNN, saying that "membership alone is not prohibited" but active participation is.

"If you look at the list of active participation activities you can see it would be very difficult for you to be a member of a group and still be in compliance with this instruction," Kirby said.

The Pentagon's new policy expands an existing list of prohibited activity and for the first time includes rules that govern troops' activity on social media. Troops who "like, post, share or retweet" content from extremist groups will be subject to military punishment.

"The physical act of liking is, of course, advocating, right? Liking is an advocation and that's laid out clearly in the instruction," Kirby told reporters on Monday.

Rather than specifically ban groups like the KKK or the Oath Keepers, the Pentagon chose to ban specific messaging.

"We were very conscious of not focusing on any particular ideology, or any political organization, focusing exclusively on actions," one official told reporters at a briefing on Monday.

As part of the review that resulted in the new policy, the Pentagon found over 100 troops currently being investigated for engaging in extremist behavior, including the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. The review also looked at ways the DoD could screen potential recruits without violating their First Amendment rights, which means they do not currently monitor the social media activity of any recruits.