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.
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