A government watchdog agency this week confirmed that all diversity, equity and inclusion positions inside the Pentagon have been eliminated. The move marks a major milestone in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s campaign against an undue focus on race and gender programs in the military.
The purge in the armed forces began with the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2024, which required the Defense Department to make changes to its DEI workforce.
Executive orders issued in January following President Trump’s return to the White House further directed the termination of federal DEI programs, including inside the Pentagon.
“As we said from day one: DEI is DEAD at DoD,” Mr. Hegseth posted Friday on X.
After the Defense Department restructured its DEI workforce in response to the 2024 NDAA, the Pentagon abolished or restructured the 41 remaining civilian and military positions primarily focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. The military also disbanded a DEI advisory committee and initiated a task force to oversee the elimination process, the Governmental Accountability Office said Thursday in its report.
“This task force reported that the military services, the Joint Staff and the other [Defense Department] components conducted evaluations and certified that there is no use of gender, race or ethnicity-based goals for organizational composition, academic admissions or career fields,” the GAO analysts said in their report.
The Defense Department during the Biden administration routinely touted its DEI focus, saying diversity made the military stronger. It’s a philosophy now decidedly out of favor inside the Pentagon.
“The dumbest phase in our military history is, ’Our diversity is our strength.’ Our strength is the American warrior,” the Defense Department’s new rapid response social media account posted this week on X.
According to the report, the Department of the Air Force employed 19 personnel — all military — in its DEI programs during the Biden administration. The Army had 12, a mix of military and civilians. Meanwhile, the Air Force had a contract for the “Leading Inclusively Virtual Experience.”
That’s changed under Mr. Trump.
“There is no civilian job series or military occupational specialty for DEI positions,” the GAO said. “Most federal civilian DEI positions were in the ’Miscellaneous Administration and Programs’ occupational series.”
Army officials identified one part-time contract DEI employee and said they didn’t exercise an option to renew the contract in December, according to the GAO report.
Before Mr. Trump took over, the Pentagon maintained at least 44 contracts for DEI services in 2023. The Office of the Undersecretary of Personnel and Readiness had contracts for DEI training and DEI subject matter experts. The Navy had a contract for a DEI summit while the National Guard Bureau signed up for DEI-related database services, the GAO report stated.
