Gilbert Cisneros, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, speaks Sept. 30, 2022, during a briefing on economic security in the military community at the Pentagon. (Jack Sanders/Defense Department)
WASHINGTON — Gilbert Cisneros, a top military personnel official who has been the Pentagon’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, will retire after two years in the post, the Defense Department said Monday.
President Joe Biden appointed Cisneros to be undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness in early 2021 and he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate four months later. Cisneros has been a top adviser to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on issues such as operational readiness, troop development, quality-of-life issues, and pay for service members, among others.
“I am grateful for Mr. Cisneros' dedication to public service, mission readiness and the service members, their families and our [military] civilians who sacrifice for this nation,” Austin said. “He will step down from his position in early September.”
As undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, Cisneros has been the force behind several high-profile, military-wide changes in the past two years. Earlier this year, for example, he signed the Pentagon’s Brandon Act to give all American service members more access to mental health services. Also this year, Lloyd tasked Cisneros with visiting each service academy and leading on-site evaluations after a military report showed a concerning rise in sexual assaults among students.
“Our greatest strength is our people,” Cisneros, 52, who served in the Navy in the 1990s, said in May.
In his time at the Pentagon, Cisneros has repeatedly voiced support for providing more mental health services and giving military families more resources to find child care. In February, he also called for making drug addiction and overdoses a “high priority” in the military.
The California native has been involved in addressing dozens of recommendations made by an independent commission on sexual assault in the military. After the commission report was issued in 2021, Cisneros said the Pentagon would hire 2,000 civilian therapists to help victims. In February, he similarly fielded numerous recommendations from the Independent Review Commission on Suicide Prevention to get a better handle on suicides in the military. The Pentagon is evaluating those suggestions.
In 2022, Cisneros was named the Pentagon’s chief diversity and inclusion officer — a post created to ensure the defense workforce is “representative and inclusive.”
Cisneros’ presence in the role prompted congressional Republicans to call him in March to testify about Kelisa Wing, a teacher and author who at the time was diversity chief at the Department of Defense Education Activity. In the job, she oversaw diversity, equity and inclusion efforts within the Pentagon’s K-12 federal school system. Cisneros criticized Wing at the House hearing and said a racially charged remark she had posted to social media was “not acceptable” and “not condoned” by the Pentagon. She was reassigned to a different position.
Before working at the Pentagon, Cisneros served for two years in the House as a Democratic congressman from California. Biden is expected to nominate Cisneros’ successor in the coming weeks.
