The U.S. Army is once again under fire after admitting that for over seven years, soldiers at Fort Liberty—formerly Fort Bragg—were trained using slides that labeled mainstream pro-life organizations as terrorist threats.
The training materials, which included logos of groups like Operation Rescue and National Right to Life, as well as “Choose Life” license plates, were shown to more than 9,000 soldiers as part of access control and anti-terrorism instruction. The slides presented peaceful political advocacy as indicators of domestic extremism—raising concerns about ideological bias in military education.
A Longstanding Problem Ignored for Years
The controversial materials were developed and circulated internally by a local Directorate of Emergency Services (DES) employee, without approval from Army headquarters. An internal review confirmed the content was never vetted through proper channels but was used as recently as 2024.
After the slides were exposed publicly in July 2024, congressional Republicans—including Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL)—sent a letter to then–Army Secretary Christine Wormuth demanding accountability. However, Wormuth never directly responded to lawmakers or the affected advocacy groups.
Instead, the formal response came a year later from her successor, Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, who was sworn in on February 25, 2025.
“This characterization was not only inaccurate but also deeply inappropriate,” Driscoll wrote in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, referring to the inclusion of pro-life groups in the training. He described the prior administration’s handling of the situation as “wholly unacceptable,” citing failures of transparency and oversight.
No Consequences for Misleading Content
Fort Liberty’s public affairs office quickly issued a statement in July 2024 acknowledging the training slide was never authorized by command staff or the Department of Defense. A commander’s inquiry concluded the content violated Army policy and would be immediately removed from circulation.
In September of 2024, Agnes Schaefer, then serving as the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, testified before Congress that the slide was “inconsistent with Army antiterrorism policy.” She claimed there was “no evidence” of political intent behind its creation.
“Approximately 9,100 Soldiers augmenting installation access control points were trained using the presentation between 2017 and July 10, 2024. As part of the 15-6 investigation, samples of Soldiers were queried on training content, and customer feedback cards were sampled,” her testimony stated. “The majority of Soldiers sampled either provided no feedback or did not recall the specifics of the terror awareness presentation. As a result, the investigation concluded that the impact of the incorrect training was limited, and retraining Soldiers on these topics would likely cause confusion.”
Her testimony failed to satisfy lawmakers, particularly Rep. Banks, who said it was “ridiculous” that no disciplinary action was taken.
Driscoll Wastes No Time Cleaning House at the Pentagon
Upon taking office in 2025, Driscoll launched a broader review of Army-wide training content. He confirmed that all references to advocacy groups—pro-life or otherwise—were scrubbed from Army anti-terrorism programs, including mentions of unrelated organizations like PETA and Earth First.
“Please be assured that I am firmly committed to rigorous oversight of all Army training materials,” Driscoll said in his letter, promising that no such materials would be used again.
Critics argue these reforms came only after intense public backlash, a Fox News investigation, and multiple congressional inquiries. And they say the review does little to address how unvetted content remained in use for more than seven years—across multiple commands and administrations.
Legal and Political Fallout Still Unfolding
The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) has since filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking all documentation related to the unauthorized slides. They’re demanding to know how the material went undetected for so long, and whether similar missteps occurred elsewhere.
Other advocacy groups, including Catholic Vote, Students for Life Action, and Concerned Women for America, have signed onto letters demanding full accountability.
Operation Rescue President Troy Newman blasted the Army’s actions, saying:
“The only purpose of inserting pro-life organizations into anti-terrorism training is to fulfill a political agenda and indoctrinate soldiers.”
Still No Accountability
To date, no Army employee has been disciplined for producing or distributing the offensive training materials. Lawmakers continue to press for answers about how such slides were created and who approved them.
During a congressional hearing, Lt. Gen. Patrick Matlock (Army’s director of operations) declined to say whether anyone had been disciplined for creating or distributing the slides. He stated the person “received corrective training, has been retrained as a trainer and continues to perform his job” but refused to provide details. Lawmakers, including Rep. Jim Banks, expressed frustration that there appeared to be no meaningful accountability
“General, I respect you. I respect the uniform that you wear, but your inability to discuss accountability with us today, I think, greatly undermines your position, your authority, your leadership,” Banks said at the conclusion of the hearing. “I think the reason that you can’t answer the question is because you know, and we know, that no one has ever been held accountable for this training that started in 2017 and occurred until a few months ago.”
That request, more than a year later, remains unanswered.
A Wake-Up Call for Civil-Military Trust
The Fort Liberty controversy has become a flashpoint in the broader debate over political neutrality in the U.S. military. The fact that peaceful American advocacy groups were grouped with violent extremists in official Army training is more than a clerical error—it’s a warning about bureaucratic inertia, lack of oversight, and creeping ideological influence.
While Secretary Driscoll’s actions suggest a course correction is underway, critics say real accountability—and the restoration of public trust—will require far more than updated PowerPoint slides.
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