Flowers are left as a memorial Jan. 2, 2025, on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, the day after an attack in the French Quarter. At least 14 people were killed and 30 injured on Jan. 1 when a vehicle plowed into a New Year's crowd.

An Army veteran and self-proclaimed supporter of the Islamic State drives a truck down crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans early New Year’s Day, killing 14 people and injuring 35 others.

Hours later, an active-duty Army Green Beret explodes a vehicle outside the main entrance to the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, injuring seven bystanders. His writings suggest he saw it as some kind of “wake-up call” to the nation about military leadership and Democrats.

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There are not isolated incidents. But you might not know it from the federal government’s yearslong hesitancy to address the issue of extremism among current and former members of the armed forces.

The military and Congress have taken a guarded approach to the issue. But while this is perhaps politically understandable, it protects neither society nor the very people in uniform who are just as endangered as the rest of us by radicalized service........

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