A provision in draft versions of the 2027 NDAA mandating a department-wide hate symbols policy was prompted by a Coast Guard effort to reclassify swastikas as ‘potentially divisive’
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Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Subcomittee on Cybersecurity, speaks during a hearing on Artificial Intelligence cyber capabilities, on Capitol Hill on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) wrote to the leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees on Thursday to urge them to ensure that a provision mandating the creation of a Department of Defense-wide policy on hate symbols remains in the final version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act.
Similar language was adopted in both the Senate and House versions of the bills, but the final NDAA remains under negotiation by lawmakers. The push comes largely in response to a back-and-forth last year in the Coast Guard over whether displays of swastikas and nooses would be considered banned hate symbols or only “potentially divisive.”
“Existing DoD hate symbol policies vary across our military service branches, creating inconsistent standards and potential enforcement gaps when it comes to addressing their display,” the three lawmakers said. “This lack of uniformity makes it harder to prevent, identify, and address symbols that promote hate, and can even allow displays to go unaddressed depending on branch-specific rules.”
They emphasized that such symbols in the military workplace “undermine unit cohesion, erode morale, and threaten … good order and discipline.” Bell’s amendment adding the hate symbols provision was adopted by a voice vote in the House Armed Services Committee’s NDAA markup.
The lawmakers emphasized that it was only sustained pushback from lawmakers that prompted the Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security, which has oversight over the Coast Guard, to reverse course.
“The swastika is not potentially divisive,” the lawmakers continued. “It is one of the most universally recognized symbols of hatred in human history. It represents antisemitism, racial supremacy, violent extremism, and the systematic persecution and murder of millions.”
The lawmakers similarly said that the noose is a “symbol of racial terror,” representing the lynching and terror used to threaten and deny the rights of Black Americans.
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