Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is establishing a domestic extremism working group at DOD, Military Times reported. The move follows a 60-day force-wide stand down to allow for dialogue on the topic.

Austin met last week with the service secretaries.

“They believed their people took it seriously across the force, that the listening sessions that the secretary asked for [were] particularly fruitful and valuable,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

Austin has tasked the new Countering Extremism Working Group with defining the terms of what the department considers extremist activity and what is allowable.

Kirby said the service secretaries’ listening sessions did not find concerns that a crackdown on extremist behavior would infringe on service members’ religious beliefs, as some Republicans in Congress say they fear.

“This is not about being the thought police,” Kirby said, according to The Washington Examiner. “It’s about the behavior and the conduct that is inspired by or influenced by this kind of ideology. This is largely about helping us latch up better with civilian law enforcement and what they’re seeing.”

The Center for Strategic and International Studies released a report Monday showing a rise in the number of domestic attacks by members of the military.

“U.S. military and law enforcement agencies need to better understand the scope of the problem through better data collection and analysis,” the CSIS study said. “The U.S. military has already taken steps along these lines in such areas as sexual assault and suicides.”

Army photo by Marie Pihulic