This edition of CMR E-Notes provides a promising progress report. The Biden Administration is getting more radical by the day, but the 118^th Congress is stepping up to confront several major issues on the CMR Challenge to Congress for 2023 list that we published in January.

I am pleased to tell you that the Center for Military Readiness took the lead in analyzing Executive Order 14091, signed in February, which institutionalized “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) mandates for discrimination on the basis of race.

We are also putting the spotlight on divisive critical race theory (CRT) instructions in military schools and academies. Kelisa Wing, a high-level CRT/DEI/Black Lives Matter activist, who directed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Defense Department schools for military dependent children, has been re-assigned and her former office disbanded.

In addition, CMR has examined the Defense Department’s expanded policies regarding military persons identifying as Transgender. Congress is considering legislation to override those policies, which target vulnerable children and adults.

Some sad news – CMR is mourning the loss of Lt. Gen. Richard G. Trefry, USA (Ret.), a close friend and advisor for many years, who passed away on February 25. General Trefry, a CMR Board Member since our founding in 1993, was one of the Army’s most respected officers.

When I organized CMR in 1993, following my time on the 1992 Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces, Gen. Trefry was an early supporter who opened many doors and provided constant advice. Were it not for his early support for CMR and guidance for me personally, there might not be a CMR today. It was an honor to know Gen. Trefry, and his legacy will live on.

-Elaine Donnelly

A. DEI Mandates or Meritocracy in the Military?

CMR's definition of woke-ism is simple: “Progressive policies taken to extremes and imposed with coercion, even if it hurts the institution.”  Exhibit A is President Biden’s radical Executive Order 14091, which is analyzed in this article published by both The Federalist and RealClearDefense:” 

• Elaine Donnelly: Biden's 'Racial Equity' Order Threatens the Meritocracy That Makes Our Military Great

This article on our website highlights even more details about the Biden Administration’s doubled-down efforts to institutionalize “diversity, equity, & inclusion” (DEI) mandates and bureaucracies in all departments and agencies of the federal government, including the Department of Defense:

• CMR Policy Analysis: DEI Executive Order Expands Diversity Industrial Complex

Enforcers of DEI policies, called Chief Diversity Officers (CDOs), are empowered to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates by approving or denying promotions to ensure that all candidates support DEI and woke mandates. 

What the 118^th Congress is Doing: 

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), together with many others, are co-sponsoring legislation to end woke diversity officers, practices, and power bases that impose woke ideology on all employees and troops:

• Restoring Military Focus Act

Passage of legislation like this would be very helpful in breaking the grip of woke-ism in the military.  There is an even greater need to defend and protect meritocracy in the military, which is under attack. 

Public opinion surveys do not support race-based discrimination. A Pew Research survey in April 2022, for example, found that 74% of people surveyed, including a majority of black respondents, opposed racial preferences in college admissions. 

The Heritage Foundation conducted a high-tech survey of active-duty personnel, which found that 65% of respondents were “Somewhat or Very Concerned” about “Growing politicization in the military.” Many legislators say they support meritocracy in the military, but the law is not clear.

Congress should consider a two-pronged strategy to defund DEI power bases and restore non-discrimination and recognition of meritocracy and mission accomplishment as paramount considerations. CMR will report future developments on this and other issues of concern. The military is in peril and all Americans should encourage Congress to intervene.

B. Congress Targets Woke Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Defense Department Schools

Controversies about woke-ism in the military are especially concerning when children are involved. This article updates the news about Kelisa Wing, a self-described woke activist who was appointed to head the Diversity & Inclusion office of Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools:

• CMR: DoD Reassigns School Official Kelisa Wing and Disbands CRT-Promoting DEI Office

CMR reviewed three of the six booklets in a series called Racial Justice, written by separate authors “with Kelisa Wing” as their “Content Advisor.” This is a brief analysis of excerpts from the 32-page color-illustrated booklets, titled “What is White Privilege,” “What is the Black Lives Matter Movement?” and “What is Anti-Racism?”

• CMR Analysis: Racial Justice in America – A Series for Grades 4-6

As the excerpts show, the booklets constitute entry-level CRT indoctrination for elementary school children. Each of them misleads students with half-truths, prejudicial stereotypes, CRT-influenced history lessons that misrepresent or omit essential facts, and disparaging comments about America’s Founding Fathers and documents such as the U.S. Constitution.

The exposure of military dependent children to toxic CRT ideology is worse than in civilian schools, since the messages conveyed could confuse children and cause them to question why their own parents are serving in defense of a nation that they learned in school was founded in “racism” by white supremacists.

Just before a recent House Armed Services Committee (HASC) hearing, members who had questioned Ms. Wing’s suitability to be Diversity & Inclusion Director of schools for military children learned that she had been re-assigned and her office disbanded. This is good news, but problems remain. 

Wing’s former boss Tom Brady, who fully supports Wing’s philosophy, announced that DEI specialists would be disbursed elsewhere as part of a “reconfiguration of talent.” 

What the 118^th Congress is Doing:

Several NDAA amendments were offered last year, and in the 118^th Congress, Sen. Tom Cotton (AR), together with Republican co-sponsors Sen. Steve Daines (MT), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (TN), Sen. James Lankford (OK) and Sen. Mike Lee (UT) plan to reintroduce legislation to defund critical race theory programs in DoDEA schools: 

• Combatting Racist Training in the Military Act of 2023

Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) is sponsoring companion legislation in the House.

Servicemember Parents Bill of Rights

Last year, House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) sponsored the “Servicemember Parents Bill of Rights.” Rep. Stefanik’s bill passed with a 39-19 bipartisan vote in Committee and again on the floor.  (Similar legislation sponsored by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) was defeated in committee on a 13-13 tie vote.)  

However, House/Senate negotiators watered down the Stefanik amendment, turning it into a “Sense of Congress” resolution, not binding law. Congress should revisit the issue in 2023. If Congress passes a law protecting parents’ rights to oversee their children’s education as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2024, civilian parents would be supported in their demands to do the same.

C. Congress to Consider Legislation Targeting Biden’s Military Transgender Policies

Despite denials and dissembling about what is going on, Defense Department documents that CMR has reported and analyzed are more extreme than transgender policies imposed at the end of the Barack Obama administration. 

This op-ed, published by RealClearDefense and The Federalist, summarizes our latest CMR Policy Analysis of policies affecting persons who identify as transgender or suffer from gender dysphoria: 

• Elaine Donnelly, RealClearDefense: Biden Pentagon Quietly Expands Woke Transgender Policies in the Military 

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, and other military officials keep denying or defending woke policies in the military, but those denials are belied by at least six significant changes that have been made incrementally since Biden took office in 2021: 

• CMR Policy Analysis: Biden Pentagon Quietly Expands Woke Transgender Policies in the Military (8 pages)

• CMR: Biden Pentagon Quietly Expands Woke Transgender Policies in the Military (4-Page Summary)

One of the Biden/Harris Administration’s changes opened the door to cross-dressing on military bases – an option that was only allowed off-base and off-duty under the Obama policy. 

Navy Goes Woke with Drag Queen “Digital Ambassador”

Four years ago, CMR wrote about Navy Yeoman Joshua Kelley, stage name “Harpy Daniels,” performing a drag striptease on the carrier Ronald Reagan. (See Navy Times photo above). CMR brought this to the attention of high-level Trump/Pence Administration officials but nothing, apparently, was done about it. 

More recently, CMR predicted that revised Biden/Harris Administration transgender policies would lead to more drag queen performances on military bases. Now we see the same sailor/drag queen, Harpy Daniels, posting videos on Chinese-owned TikTok as the Navy’s first “digital ambassador” to potential recruits. Here is our take on what is happening:

• Elaine Donnelly, The Federalist: The U.S. Navy Takes a Page from Bud Light With Drag Influencers

What the 118^th Congress is Doing:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) together with co-sponsors Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ted Budd (R-NC) Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Mike Braun (R-IN), are co-sponsoring legislation to counter the most extreme elements of the Biden/Harris transgender policy:

• Ensuring Military Readiness Act of 2023  

Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), the new Chairman of the House Armed Services Sub-Committee on Personnel, is sponsoring a similar bill.

• As stated in this Summary, the Ensuring Military Readiness Act would recognize that “The DoD has always taken the physical and mental characteristics of individuals into account when determining eligibility for service.” 

• With exceptions for certain people identifying as transgender but who serve in their biological sex, the bill “Disqualifies any individual who identifies as transgender or seeks or has already undertaken gender reassignment surgery.” 

• The bill also “Requires the [Defense] Secretary to change how DEERS (Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System) works to only allow biological sex to be taken into consideration for gender markers . . .” 

This proposal reflects common sense, not ideological theories that attempt to deny biological realities.

In addition, Republican Senators Ted Budd (NC), Tom Cotton (AR), Steve Daines (MT) Eric Schmitt (MO), Tommy Tuberville (AL), Cynthia Lummis ( WY), John Barrasso (WY), Ted Cruz (TX), Rick Scott (FL), Bill Cassidy (LA), Marco Rubio (FL), Markwayne Mullin (OK), Mike Lee (UT), and Roger Marshall (KS) signed a letter raising questions about the spectacle of a Navy sailor posting sexualized drag queen videos as a “digital ambassador” to potential recruits.  

The May 3 letter, addressed to Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, asked several questions about the 6-month pilot program that ended in March. For example, “[D]oes the Navy endorse drag shows?” and “Would the Navy enlist burlesque or exotic professional dancers to reach potential recruits? Such activity is not appropriate for promotion in a professional workplace or the United States military.” The letter requests responses by May 24.

D. In Memoriam ~ Lt. Gen. Richard Trefry, USA (Ret.)

CMR suffered a great loss on February 25, when retired Army Lt. Gen. Richard Trefry, 98, passed away peacefully at home in the company of his beloved wife “Jacque.” He was a dear friend and a mentor who taught countless military personnel and civilians about the importance of integrity, honesty, and loyal service to America, whether serving in uniform or not.

As reported by the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA), where he was a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Land Warfare, Trefry began his career as an enlisted soldier, toward the end of WWII, before attending the U.S. Military Academy. Commissioned in 1950 as a field artillery officer, he served in Germany, Vietnam, and Laos. 

He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Class of ’50, and was named a Distinguished Graduate in 2006. His illustrious career also included time as Army Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel and six years as the Army Inspector General. 

After retiring in 1983, Trefry co-founded Military Personnel Resources, Inc., a private military training firm. He served as military assistant to President George H.W. Bush and head of the White House Military Office during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

Following that assignment, Trefry was Program Manager at the Army Force Management School, at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, which taught students of all ranks “How the Army Runs.” Sections of Gen. Trefry’s monumental “Mother of All Charts,” which illustrated the Army’s complex organization, were displayed in part at annual AUSA conventions, which he rarely missed. His vast library of books, all of which he had read, was legendary and a source of personal pride. 

General Trefry was a lot of fun to be around. He had a huge circle of friends, and many of them came from miles around for many milestone birthday celebrations at his spacious home in Clifton, Virginia. And he was always cheerful, even when undergoing cancer radiation treatments. Later, he carried on with even more activities as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Military University and the American Public University System.

In March 2009, he was the first recipient of the Lt. Gen. Richard G. Trefry Army Lifetime Service Award. At the Pentagon presentation ceremony, attended by scores of peers and admirers, Secretary of the Army Pete Geren unveiled a large medallion portrait of General Trefry, and hailed him as “the conscience of the Army.” For his personal ethos of integrity and lifetime of extraordinary service to the Army, and to America, the honor for this very special man was well deserved.

* * * * * *

The Center for Military Readiness is an independent public policy organization, founded in 1993, which reports on and analyzes military/social issues.  More information is available at www.cmrlink.org.  Tax-deductible contributions to CMR can be made by clicking here.