Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI), Critical Race Theory (CRT), “Anti-Extremism and Wokeism in the Military

The Center for Military Readiness and many other organizations have grown increasingly active in countering wokeism in the military.  It is not difficult to define wokeism – As applied to many issues, wokeism takes progressive policies to extremes and imposes them with coercion, even if it hurts the institution.

DEI:

• CMR: Why the DoD Should Drop DEI and Affirm Meritocracy in the Military - CMR (cmrlink.org) (website condensed version)
• CMR Policy Analysis: Why the DoD Should Drop DEI and Affirm Meritocracy in the Military (14 pages)
• CMR: What the Supreme Court Said About Arbitrary Racial Categories
• Heather Mac Donald, Imprimis: Disparate Impact Thinking Is Destroying Our Civilization (hillsdale.edu), Feb. 2024.
• Steve Beynon, Military.com: Army Sees Sharp Decline in White Recruits, Jan.10, 2024, Micaela Burrow,
• Daily Caller: Army Struggles For White Recruits Amid Recruiting Crisis And Diversity Push, Feb. 13, 2024
• Micaela Burrow, Daily Caller: EXCLUSIVE: ‘A Huge Blow’ – Decline in White Recruits Fueling the Military’s Worst-Ever Recruiting Crisis, Data Shows, Feb. 13, 2024.
• Valerie Richardson, Washington Times: Is DEI DOA? Diversity, equity and inclusion regime hit with backlash in 'Oct. 8 effect'
• Wall Street Journal: Pop Goes the DEI Bubble - WSJ
• Elaine Donnelly, RealClearDefense and The Federalist: Our Military Needs Officers Chosen For Their Qualifications , Dec. 2, 2022.
• Red State: DEI Strikes Again: The FBI Hiring the Obese and the Barely Literate
• Memorandum for HQ AETC/CC, Department of the Air Force, Subject: Officer Source of Commission Applicant Pool Goals, Aug. 9, 2022, and Micaela Burrow, Daily Caller: EXCLUSIVE: Air Force Touts Plans To Track Promotions From A ‘Race, Equity And Gender Standpoint’.
• David E. Bernstein, The Modern American Law of Race, 94 S. Cal. L. Rev. 171 (2021) (available at https://southerncalifornialawreview.com/2021/08/24/the-modern-american-law-of-race-by-david-e-bernstein/

DEI programs in the military were in place even before publication of the Military Leadership Diversity Commission (MLDC) report in 2011, but they were greatly expanded by President Joe Biden’s Executive Orders mandating DEI programs:

• CMR Policy Analysis: Biden Executive Order Empowers Permanent Diversity Industrial Complex
• CMR: DEI Executive Order Expands Diversity Industrial Complex
• Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev, Uncommon Sense (Harvard) Why Doesn’t Diversity Training Work?
• WSJ Opinion: The Military Should Reject DEI and CRT
• CMR: “Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Plan” Will Weaken Special Operations Forces - Washington Stand: Naval Academy Seeks to Hire Gender and Sexuality Specialist
• Air Force Doubles Down On Diverse Workforce, Would Pay $180,000 For Top Job | The Daily Caller DOD spends $91,000 on diversity seminars for Air Force Band | Fox News
• Fox News: Air Force Academy promotes fellowship that bans ‘cisgender' men: ‘This program isn’t for you’
• Red State: Unexpectedly, the USAF Finds Itself With a Critical Shortage of Pilots While It Says It Has Too Many White Officers

 Critical Race Theory (CRT):

Critical Race Theory (CRT) instructions almost always accompany DEI and “Anti-Extremist” programs.  CRT instructions that divide personnel into “oppressors” and “the oppressed” are inherently divisive and demoralizing, especially in a military setting or in schools run by the Department of Defense (DoD Education Activity, or DoDEA schools)

Controversy intensified when it was learned in 2023 that far-left CRT “expert” Kelisa Wing was appointed as the chief DoDEA officer in charge of CRT programs and literature, including her own entry-level CRT polemics for children.  Wing was reassigned, but her ideology remains:

• The Federalist: DOD Secretly Doubles Down On DEI Initiatives In K-12 Schools
• Adam Andrzejewski, Open the Books, Substack: Pentagon Secretly Institutionalized DEI in Its K-12 Public Schools
• CMR: DoD Reassigns School Official Kelisa Wing and Disbands CRT-Promoting DEI Office
• Max Eden, AEI: Biden’s Defense Department is Trying to Hide Its DEI Agenda
• CMR Analysis: Racial Justice in America – A Series for Grades 4-6
• Elaine Donnelly, The Federalist, Pentagon Efforts To Root Out 'Extremism' Almost Entirely Ignore The Left Jan. 13, 2022
• Micaela Burrow, Daily Caller, Biden Pentagon’s Efforts To Crack Down On ‘Extremism’ May Have Harmed Military, DOD Study Finds, Dec. 27, 2023.
• Everett Piper, Washington Times: Why would young Americans defend a nation that needs to be 'dismantled'?
• Lt. Gen. Greg Newbold, USMC (Ret.) Critical Military Theory: Classic Principles Betrayed by Critical Race Theory and “Diversity” Taken to Extremes
• CMR: Keep “Woke” Ideology Out of the Department of Defense - CMR (cmrlink.org)
• The Conservative Action Project: President Trump is Right: Critical Race Theory Has No Place in Government
• Andrea Widburg, American Thinker: The West Point conundrum: How do you fight for a country you’re taught to hate?
• Rep. Chip Roy and Sen. Marco Rubio Congress Woke Military Report (2022)

 “Anti-Extremism” and Wokeism in the Military:

Programs that purport to find and eliminate “extremism” in the military have found no evidence of problems in the military disproportionate to the civilian world, and a recent study found they are counterproductive and harmful to morale.

According to this Roll Call report, General Mark Milley, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded to an inquiry from then-Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member James Inhofe with a letter indicating that training sessions focused on extremist issues since January 2021 cost the armed forces nearly 6 million hours and about $1 million in additional expenses. 

• Roll Call: GOP Decries Cost of Pentagon Anti-Extremism and Diversity Programs  

Gen. Milley tried to minimize the expense in terms of time and money, but Sen. Inhofe countered that fewer than one hundred cases of extremism in today’s forces worked out to 58,000 hours of training for each instance.

The Institute of Defense Analyses (IDA) finished another study of military extremism in June 2022 but did not release results in full until December 2023.  The IDA study also found “no evidence that the number of violent extremists in the military is disproportionate to the number of violent extremists in the United States as a whole…” 

• Micaela Burrow, Daily Caller: Biden Pentagon’s Efforts To Crack Down On ‘Extremism’ May Have Harmed Military, DOD Study Finds

Furthermore, the study “found reason to believe that the risk to the military from widespread polarization and division in the ranks may be a greater risk than the radicalization of a few service members.”