Military diversity call spurs backlash
GOP officials see changes as part of culture wars in US
WASHINGTON — At Fort Bragg, one of the nation’s largest military installations, plans are afoot for its first commemoration of Juneteenth, highlighting the role of the Union Army in emancipation.
The Defense Department recently added a deputy inspector general for diversity and inclusion and supremacist, extremism and criminal gang activity. In February, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the military to examine extremist activity in its midst and to ask troops for their views. Earlier, Austin had revoked a ban on diversity training for the military, and on Wednesday, he spoke at a Pride Month celebration at the Pentagon.
Its active wars ending, its ranks both smaller and more diverse and its talent needs shifting, the Pentagon is embracing ideas like inclusion and adopting many of the efforts long used in the private sector to recruit and retain women and people of color.
Yet some Republican lawmakers and
influential conservatives are mounting an inchoate but increasingly loud protest and promoting the idea that the armed forces are becoming the latest pawn in America’s culture wars.
They have taken aim at a variety of initiatives, including a possible Pentagon plan to increase monitoring of social media posts from service members and the addition of reading recommendations on “white supremacy and systemic racism” to military training guides.
In stoking opposition, those critics say the Pentagon’s policies amount to imposing a liberal, and in some cases unpatriotic, world view on the armed forces.
“Our military’s strength depends on the unity of our troops and their belief that America is a noble nation,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. “Critical race theory erodes both. Critical race theory and similar ideas teach our troops to obsess over race, and that America is an evil, oppressive country.”
How widely those views are held among service members in an increasingly politically diverse military is impossible to know. Military culture varies by service branches, rank and generations.
But the Pentagon’s leadership says its approach is necessary both to uphold the nation’s values and to assure that it can recruit people with the skills necessary for 21st-century warfare.
“The secretary has been very clear and fairly unapologetic about the fact that we want to get all the best talent that is available from the American people,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for Austin.
Even since President Harry S. Truman integrated the military, Americans have debated whether the services should lead or lag civilian society on social change concerning race, sex and sexual orientation, and the extent to which they are a threat to effective combat.
The newest efforts are driven in part by the participation of some active-duty military members and veterans at the U.S. Capitol riot Jan. 6, as well as by a desire to recruit and retain more Americans outside an increasingly narrow list of ZIP codes largely in the South and West. As national security needs shift from brawn to brains, some of the moves reflect the increased demand for science, technology and engineering skills.
The military’s moves toward inclusivity predate Austin and the 2020 election.
The Marine Corps issued a ban on displays of the Confederate battle flag at its installations last year. Congress last year moved to change the names of bases named after Confederate officers, a shift that former President Donald Trump resisted. The Army has prohibited photographs from promotion packets that could indicate race, ethnicity or gender. All service branches have looked at hairstyle and grooming policies that are biased against Black and female members.
Mark Esper, Trump’s defense secretary, also ordered Pentagon leaders to present ideas for diversity and inclusion.
But under President Joe Biden, some of Trump’s most ardent supporters are using those moves as a wedge issue, appealing to a portion of the conservative base by suggesting that Democrats are promoting far-left theories and potentially undercutting national security.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, with the help of Cotton, started a “whistleblower” page on his website, where service members can report overt complaints of “woke-ness.”
To some Democrats, it is the Republican critics who are endangering national security.
“This is an attempt to disrupt the chain of command and cause dissension in the ranks,” said Stephen Webber, a Marine veteran who is a former chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party. “This is the continuation of a lot of attempts made by Trump to drag the military into elections, which the military, to their great credit, resisted.”