Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to reporters Jan. 27, 2025, upon his arrival at the Pentagon for his first day on the job. (Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza/Defense Department photo)
WASHINGTON — Race and sex will no longer be considered in military promotions and academy admissions as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth moves to weed out diversity and equity-based programs across the U.S. military.
“The [Defense Department] will strive to provide merit-based, color-blind, equal opportunities to service members but will not guarantee or strive for equal outcomes,” Hegseth wrote in a memo released Wednesday titled “Restoring America’s Fighting Force.”
According to the memo, the Defense Department will not take into account sex, race or ethnicity when considering troops for promotions or special duty. Additionally, no department component will establish sex-, race- or ethnicity-based goals for academic admissions, career fields or organizational composition.
Hegseth’s memo also prohibits elements of the Defense Department from teaching people about critical race theory, DEI, or gender ideology as part of a curriculum or workforce training. Advisory boards, councils and working groups will cease operations related to diversity, equality and inclusion.
DEI policies, Hegseth wrote in the memo, are incompatible with the values of the Defense Department.
“We will focus on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards and readiness,” Hegseth wrote. “Providing service members an equal opportunity to excel will help us remain the strongest and most lethal fighting force the world has ever known.”
The memo was released two days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order canceling DEI programs across the military. The order calls for the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security to provide detailed guidance for the implementation of this order to their respective agencies within 30 days of the order signing. Within 180 days, the secretaries must submit a report through the White House deputy chief of staff for policy documenting the progress of implementing the order, along with any recommendations for action to fulfill the objectives of this order.
In line with this, the Pentagon is creating a task force to oversee the abolishment of DEI offices, as well as “any vestiges of such offices that subvert meritocracy, perpetuate unconstitutional discrimination and promote radical ideologies related to systemic racism and gender fluidity.” The task force, which will report to the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, will provide an initial report by March 1 of actions taken by the Defense Department to end DEI initiatives. A final report is due by June 1.
Officials have said the Defense Department doesn’t have any full-time workers assigned to DEI so they don’t expect to have to fire people, as other federal agencies have. But senior defense leaders have been poring over their websites to delete pages that mention diversity. Lacking clear guidance, staffers were pulling websites down in often inconsistent ways.
The Army temporarily removed its sexual assault guidelines before they later came back online.
The Air Force last week was told to eliminate barrier analysis working groups, which aim to improve equal employment for women, minorities, LGBTQ+ and disabled service members. Courses featuring videos about the Tuskegee Airmen and Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, disappeared from its basic training curriculum but were later restored.
Gen. David Allvin, Air Force chief of staff, in a statement Monday said he directed the service to implement the president’s orders swiftly — “no equivocation, no slow-rolling, no foot-dragging.” But Allvin said while staff are reviewing training courses to ensure compliance with the orders, no curriculum featuring the Tuskegee Airmen or Women Air Force Service Pilots has been removed.
Last year, service academies came under legal fire for race-conscious admissions after the Supreme Court rejected affirmative action in college admissions, ruling in cases brought by Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But the decision included a notable exception for the country’s military academies, with a footnote that mentioned “the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present.”
The U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy have faced lawsuits for considering race in admission processes. In the case of the Naval Academy, a federal judge ruled in December that the academy can continue using affirmative action.
“Over many years, military and civilian leaders have determined that a racially diverse officer corps is a national security interest,” U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett wrote in his ruling. “The Naval Academy has established a compelling national security interest in a diverse officer corps in the Navy and Marine Corps.”
