The purpose of this survey note is to examine the experiences of harassment, discrimination, and related harms among Jewish and Muslim military members, pursuant to the White House’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. While no scientific survey exists that purports to measure the prevalence of anti-Semitism or anti-Muslim sentiment in the military, the Workplace and Equal Opportunity (WEO) surveys do collect information on Service members’ religious affiliation and experiences with various forms of harassment or discrimination that could be leveraged to glean insight into the experiences of Jewish and Muslim military members.
In particular, the 2017 Workplace and Equal Opportunity Survey of Active Duty Members and the 2019 Workplace and Equal Opportunity Survey of Reserve Component Members included questions regarding perceived religious-based harassment and discrimination in the military workplace that were analyzed for this survey note. The WEO surveys also include detailed assessments of racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination—the primary purpose of the WEO—as well as other measures of workplace climate. and culture, all of which can be examined separately by religious affiliation. By leveraging these existing WEO data, we can begin to understand the experiences of Jewish and Muslim military members to get a sense for the extent to which potential anti-Semitism or anti-Muslim sentiment exist within the Armed Forces.