In 2024, the story emerged that Ft Liberty’s anti-terrorism training to base security included slides that designated pro-life groups as terrorists. In early July 2024, Ft Liberty’s public affairs posted the following on its Facebook page:
“After conducting a commander’s inquiry, we determined that the slides presented on social media were not vetted by the appropriate approval authorities, and do not reflect the views of the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Liberty, the U.S. Army or the Department of Defense. The slides were developed by a local garrison employee to train soldiers manning access control points at Fort Liberty. These slides will no longer be used, and all future training products will be reviewed to ensure they align with the current DoD anti-terrorism guidance.”1
On July 12th, 2024, US Representative Richard Hudson and US Senator Ted Budd sent a letter signed by 80 elected members of the House and Senate to Secretary of the Army Christine Wormouth for answers concerning Ft Liberty labeling Christian pro-life groups as terrorists.2
On September 19, 2024, the Army released a statement that refused to disclose if anyone had been punished for the slides designating Christian pro-life groups as terrorists was punished.3 Also in September 2024, Agnes Schaefer, assistant Secretary of the Army for manpower and Reserve Affairs stated that local policies were not in place (at Ft Liberty) to review the slides.4
On October 15, 2024, Judicial Watch posted the following on their website concerning a lawsuit they filed to obtain information into the debacle:
“Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense for details of U.S. Army training materials that designate pro-life organizations or individuals as “terrorists” (Judicial Watch Inc. v U.S. Department of Defense (No 1:24-cv-02895).”5
GEN Donahue was stationed at Ft Liberty from March 2022 to December 2024. His job title during that time was “Commanding General and Senior Mission Commander XVIII Airborne Corps and Ft Liberty.” Army commanders are responsible for everything that happens under their command. Therefore, Donahue was directly responsible for what happened in the anti-terrorism training at his base. The issue became public two years into his command. This means he had reasonable time to assess his entire base’s operations and imprint his command philosophy. The national visibility had to have gotten his attention. He had plenty of time to respond from July to December 2024.
The author could find not public statements or interviews from Donahue regarding the security slides during the time of the scandal. His actions and/or inactions are concerning on multiple levels.
First, since 9/11, base security has been extremely important at all DoD facilities all over the world. Almost all bases have access gates that screen everyone coming onto bases. If Donahue cared about base security, he would have reviewed the training and practices of Ft Liberty’s gates and the terror designation would have been obvious. Either he didn’t bother to check the security of his base, or he noticed the slides and didn’t care (ie tacitly approved the designation).
Second, commanders should have control of what goes on under their command. A base the size of Ft Liberty (over 47,000 active-duty soldiers as of January 2025) is impossible to control through direct contact of all members. Generals must rely on a strong command climate with expectations for performance and behavior. Humans being humans will err and sometimes will misbehave. When this happens, commanders are responsible for investigating and punishing those responsible. When a story reaches the national news and has 80 sitting members of Congress demanding answers and a national level lawsuit seeking answers, it would seem rational that a commander would give a statement to the public to explain the situation and actions taken to fix the issue. Donahue chose instead to hide first behind a Facebook post by his base public relations staff and then behind senior Army leaders. Doing so does not demonstrate personal courage or integrity. It merely displays a propensity to just wait out a crisis in hopes it will pass so he can get on with his career.
Third, Donahue’s obstinance to defy Congress and lawsuits to maintain silence is concerning regarding his core beliefs. Undoubtedly, he punished soldiers for breaking Army regulations, or his direct orders posted on his military installation. And yet, he refused to answer questions about actions that happened at his base. This is quite hypocritical and sets a poor command climate. It also questions whether he believed the terror designation was valid and only changed policy when he got “caught” and tried to play it off by running from the microphone. Another possibility is that he may have disagreed with the slides but let them stand for 2 years because he wanted to be “obedient” in the Biden regime. Obedience means rewards for good behavior – promotions and bigger jobs. Either way, his actions and/or inaction for 2 years on the issue and silence once the scandal surfaced shines a light on the questionable quality of his morality.
Publicly stating that the slides were wrong and taking personal responsibility as the commanding officer would have gone a long way to restoring his reputation. That would, of course, have required personal courage. It seems that GEN Donahue has a habit of sidelining his morality and ethics to get promoted: Kabul 2021 and then Ft Liberty in 2024. It does not bode well for the military and our national security if he somehow finds himself in command in a future war. Coming fresh off of nearly 20 years of lies from Army generals in Afghanistan, his actions are not surprising. Hopefully he can do better in his new job.
- https://www.wral.com/story/fort-liberty-responds-to-slide-calling-anti-abortion-groups-terrorist-organizations/21520553/
- https://hudson.house.gov/press-releases/hudson-budd-lead-letter-to-army-after-fort-liberty-training-labels-pro-life-orgs-as
- https://www.stripes.com/branches/army/2024-09-19/army-training-fort-liberty-terrorists-15235889.html
- https://www.fayobserver.com/story/news/military/2024/09/27/fort-liberty-training-slides-under-fire-by-congress/75347429007/
- https://www.judicialwatch.org/pro-life-groups-as-terrorists/
