ATLANTA – The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has awarded a grant to Georgia State University. ONR is an executive branch agency within the Department of Defense, and supports the President’s budget, and provides technical advice to the Chief of Naval Operations and the Secretary of the Navy. The proposed grant will support a 1 year program of basic research to characterize the growing threat of RMVE (racially/ethnically motivated violent extremists) violence and recruitment and radicalization (leading to acts of violence) within branches of the US military. While anti-government and far right militias have included veterans in the past, the synergy between the contemporary far-right an militias and the military is unprecedented. The Grant (N00014-22-1-2777) is estimated at $175,000 over a duration of 12 Months for the program.
The Minerva Research Initiative supports social science research aimed at improving our basic understanding of security, broadly defined. Collaborators on this project include Georgia State University Professor of Communication and Middle East Studies, Dr. Mia Bloom, Georgia State University Partnered Faculty and Radicalization Expert, Sophia Moskalenko, Professor of Criminology and Director of Security Studies at UMass Lowell, Arie Perliger and his Graduate Student, Hope LaFreniere.
Bloom is a Transcultural Conflict and Violence Faculty Member. Bloom and Moskalenko are coauthors of Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon.