SNAFU

National Guard Brigade Skipped Checks Before Soldiers' Terrorism Charges: Report

Two members of the Ohio National Guard were accused of making terror threats against a beer company and a Jewish school.

Two soldiers arrested on separate domestic terrorism charges—both happening within a month of each other—belonged to a National Guard brigade in Ohio that has seemingly failed to conduct a key type of unit review for years, according to an investigation by Military.com. No records exist to reflect that leaders of the state’s 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team have performed a command climate survey, an congressionally-mandated oversight procedure, in the last four years, a Freedom of Information Act officer told the outlet. In 2022, Thomas Develin and James Meade II, two members of one of the brigade’s units, were separately found to have talked about committing terror attacks—Develin against a local Jewish school and an Air Force base, and Meade against an Anheuser-Busch beer plant in the state, according to court records. Both the Ohio National Guard and the National Guard Bureau did not respond to Military.com’s attempts to seek clarification on the state’s history of performing the surveys.