Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put eradicating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the Pentagon as one of his top priorities.
Hegseth will begin his work as defense secretary on Monday morning after a tense confirmation process that drew in Vice President JD Vance to break the 50-50 tie. One of his first focuses will be rolling back the DEI programs initiated by the Biden administration, which quickly became the subject of much criticism from President Donald Trump and Republicans.
“The President’s guidance (lawful orders) is clear: No more DEI at @DeptofDefense. The Pentagon will comply, immediately. No exceptions, name-changes, or delays,” Hegseth posted on X.
Attached to the post was a picture of an apparent handwritten note from Trump that says, “DOD ≠ DEI.”
“Those who do not comply will no longer work here,” Trump added.
Among the first executive orders signed by Trump was one calling for the dismantling of all DEI programs in the federal government, including the military.
“The previous administration has embedded deeply unpopular, inflationary, illegal, and radical practices within every agency and office of the Federal Government,” the order states. “The injection of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) into our institutions has corrupted them by replacing hard work, merit, and equality with a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy.”
According to the Associated Press, the DoD doesn’t have full-time dedicated DEI personnel, meaning they won’t need to fire anyone as other federal agencies have. However, Hegseth has pledged previously to fire any “woke” generals.
One of his moves will likely include the renaming of military bases back to the names of Confederate generals. Numerous military installations had their historical names changed, with the process completed in 2023.
Hegseth faces a daunting task in weeding out DEI programs, as the DoD boasts 2.1 million service members, nearly 780,000 civilians, and a budget of about $850 billion.
The Biden administration undertook a massive effort to inject DEI programs into the military, enthusiastically supported by former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley. In a February 2022 letter to Congress, Milley revealed that the military spent $1 million and 5.8 million man-hours on DEI efforts in 2021 alone.
In a June 2021 hearing, Milley was asked by then-Rep. Mike Waltz about a seminar at the United States Military Academy at West Point called “Understanding Whiteness and White Rage.”
Milley vigorously defended the course and other DEI efforts, responding, “I want to understand white rage. And I’m white. And I want to understand it.”
Chief of Naval Operations Michael Gilday urged sailors in 2021 to read the book How to Be an Antiracist by the author Ibram X. Kendi. When questioned by Congress, Gilday decried racism in the Navy and said that reading Kendi’s book would help sailors.
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“In talking to sailors over the past year, it is clearly obvious to me and others that the murder of George Floyd and the events surrounding that, the discussions in this country about racism which go back for years and years and years, are still a painful part of our culture. And that talking about them, understanding them, is the best approach,” he said during questioning by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).
Hegseth and the broader Trump administration have been immensely critical of the sentiment, arguing that it sowed division in the military based on race and identity.
