For more than half a century, the U.S. military has fielded programs to promote a more cohesive workplace of people from different backgrounds, with the mantra that diverse backgrounds and experiences set America’s force apart and make it the best in the world.
Never have senior officials beat that drum more loudly than in recent years, as the number of American youth both qualified and interested in serving has fallen off a cliff, forcing the military services to tap into regions and demographics they’ve not traditionally focused on.
But at the same time, a growing conservative movement is deriding diversity, equity and inclusion programs as overtaking national security priorities, or alienating troops who did not expect conversations about racial justice to figure into their military service and discouraging Americans from sending their children to the recruiters’ office.
Pentagon leaders spent a lot of time on Capitol Hill in recent weeks talking about threats to the United States – not China’s military build-up, North Korean missile launches or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Instead, Republicans have argued that Pentagon programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion are taking over Defense Department priorities.
They aren’t happy that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a DoD-wide stand-down back in 2021 to discuss extremism’s corrosive effect on the military, either.
Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of...
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