CV NEWS FEED // Three military experts slammed the armed forces’ ongoing embrace of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices, arguing that the policies are weakening the nation’s ability to defend itself.
In a panel discussion hosted by The Heritage Foundation, Army Ranger Will Thibeau noted that the precursors to the military’s modern-day DEI programs began in the 1960s under the leadership of then-Defense Secretary Robert McNamara.
Thibeau explained that the military began to institute a “rights-based quota regime based on race in the 60s that’s continued and now [is] based on sex.”
“And that is the essence of it,” he continued:
It is not the drag shows we see on aircraft carriers or the books in military libraries.
It’s the fact that throughout the military starting at the office of the Secretary of Defense, continuing to places like West Point and the Air Force – those military institutions have quotas that mandate proportional representation … based on … your race or your sex.
“We should look no further than those quotas that undermine the merit that the military exists to continue,” he noted.
Army Kiowa helicopter pilot Amber Smith agreed. “DEI is extremely prevalent throughout military culture,” she said. “We see it at the lowest level all the way up to the highest level.”
“It is now to the point where it is no longer trying to be hidden by senior leaders,” Smith emphasized. “It is something that is openly talked about.”
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“You see classes taught at West Point called ‘Whiteness’ and ‘White Rage,’ and how people, cadets, these future military leaders leading our troops in battle in future conflicts … need to learn about these ‘issues,’” Smith continued. “It’s creating weak leaders. And it is creating a divisiveness that is absolutely damaging to the military as a whole, for an organization that runs on cohesion, and morale, and teamwork.”
Smith reported that while some senior leaders are “openly embracing” DEI, others are “almost playing dumb and acting like they don’t know what the big deal is.”
Former acting General Counsel of the Department of the Army Earl G. Matthews stated that “the core mission of the Department of Defense and especially the Army is to fight and win our nation’s wars.”
“That’s what we should be focused on,” he said.
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Matthews, who is African American, noted that the “military has been diverse for decades,” since President Harry S. Truman integrated the armed forces in 1948.
“The military seeks uniformity and conformity,” the former Trump administration official explained. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a black kid from the ghettos of Philadelphia or Detroit, or you’re a white kid from rural Alabama. You guys meet at basic training, you become friends and comrades and you go to war together.”
Readers can find The Heritage Foundation’s full panel series, “Seizing the Moment to Defeat DEI,” here.
