Pentagon Guts DEI Programs From U.S. Military

 The Department of Defense (DoD) announced Wednesday that it is scrapping diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies implemented by the Biden administration because they are “incompatible” with the mission of the U.S. military.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that President Donald Trump’s goal is to return the organization to being focused on winning wars and nothing else.

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEl) policies, as defined in the January 27, 2025, Executive Order, are incompatible with the values of DoD,” Hegseth wrote. “The DoD will strive to provide merit-based, color-blind, equal opportunities to Service members but will not guarantee or strive for equal outcomes.”

The DoD was tasked with establishing a new task force, dubbed “Restoring America’s Fighting Force Task Force,” that will oversee the Pentagon’s efforts to find and abolish DEI offices and divisive DEI policies that “subvert meritocracy, perpetuate unconstitutional discrimination, and promote radical ideologies related to systemic racism and gender fluidity.”

Hegseth outlined the following changes that will be made:

• Promotion and Selection Reform. The DoD will not consider sex, race, or ethnicity when considering individuals for promotion, command, or special duty. DoD Components and the Secretaries of Military Departments, may designate categories of assignment that require exceptions to this policy due to clear operational need.
• Elimination of Quotas, Objectives, and Goals. No DoD Component will establish sex-based, race-based, or ethnicity-based goals for organizational composition, academic admission, or career fields.
• Prohibition on Instruction on Critical Race Theory, Gender Ideology, and DEI. No element within DoD will provide instruction on Critical Race Theory (CRT), DEl, or gender ideology as part of a curriculum or for purposes of workforce training.
• Instruction to Promote a Lethal Force. The U.S. Service Academies and other defense academic institutions shall teach that America and its founding documents remain the most powerful force for good in human history.
• Boards and Councils. All advisory boards, councils, and working groups will cease operations related to gender ideology, DEI, and CRT.

The secretary said that the strength of the U.S. military comes from its unity and shared purpose.

“We will focus on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards, and readiness,” he added. “Providing Service members an equal opportunity to excel will help us remain the strongest and most lethal fighting force the world has ever known.”