Lisa McCormick demands better military screening

In the wake of the recent sentencing of Tyler Bradley Dykes, a former active-duty Marine involved in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot and the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Lisa McCormick is calling for immediate reforms to the screening processes for military recruits to prevent extremists from infiltrating the United States Armed Forces.

On Friday, July 19, U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell sentenced 26-year-old Dykes of South Carolina to four years and nine months in prison.

Federal prosecutors who recommended a prison sentence of five years and three months for Dykes wrote: "He directly contributed to some of the most extreme violence on the Capitol’s east front."
Dykes, who was 22 at the time of the Capitol insurrection, was an active-duty Marine during the failed coup d'etat, who used a police riot shield as a dangerous weapon against law enforcement officers.

The riot incited by then-President Donald Trump was not Dykes' first encounter with extremist activities; he had previously attended the neo-Nazi “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, where he was convicted of felonious conduct.

"At the time Tyler Dykes joined the terrorist mob that stormed the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, he was serving in the Marine Corps and attacked police with a commandeered riot shield," said McCormick. "Our nation cannot afford to train disloyal, lawless white supremacists and arm them as members of the US military any more than it can employ rabid guard dogs. There are enough problems with rogue cops and others who abuse their power, but allowing maniacs like this to join the military is unconscionably reckless."

"The recruitment of deranged criminals like Dykes in the military poses a severe threat to national security and undermines the integrity of the armed forces," said McCormick. "His prior conviction for felonious conduct during the Charlottesville rally, where a white supremacist attack resulted in the tragic death of civil rights activist Heather Heyer, highlights the critical need for thorough background checks and continuous monitoring of military personnel."

Lisa McCormick is calling for the implementation of more rigorous background checks and psychological evaluations for all military recruits to identify and exclude individuals with extremist affiliations or violent tendencies.

She also advocates for the establishment of protocols for continuous monitoring of active-duty military personnel to detect and address any signs of radicalization, along with regular training on ethical conduct, diversity, and inclusion.

During the sentencing hearing, Dykes said that he still supports Trump "to be the next president of our country."

"It was not impulsive conduct that can be explained by an underdeveloped brain," Howell said. Prosecutors noted that Dykes quoted Adolph Hitler before the Jan. 6 attack and said during the hearing that Dykes had participated in training with the neo-Nazi accelerationist group, The Base.

McCormick insists on the enforcement of a zero-tolerance policy for any un-American form of extremism within the military, with immediate disciplinary action against those found engaging in or supporting fanatical political or religious activities. She underscored the need to strengthen collaboration between military and civilian law enforcement agencies to share information and prevent individuals with criminal backgrounds or extremist ties from enlisting.

"By implementing common sense security screening measures, the U.S. military can ensure that it remains a force for good, dedicated to upholding the Constitution and protecting the nation from all threats, foreign and domestic," said McCormick, who was the grassroots challenger in the 2018 Democratic primary election who took nearly four of ten votes cast away from US Senator Bob Menendez.