Trump's Trials - How the White House's war on DEI is changing the Defense Department

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

White House's efforts to target the so-called "woke" military is impacting long-standing relationships and practices at the Defense Department, including recruiting of women and people of color. Support NPR and hear every episode sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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White House efforts to target what it calls the woke military are impacting longstanding relationships and practices at the Defense Department, including the recruiting of women and people of color. Steve Walsh with WHRO in Norfolk, Virginia reports. A year ago, Army Major General Jeff Wray was interviewed at the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference in Baltimore. I mean, the opportunity to meet individuals from a diverse background, I think that's just an important piece of what makes us all we can be.

The event has been a staple for military recruiters for decades. This year, all of the services pulled out at the last minute, says Tyrone Taburn, the conference organizer. They've been here every year. They're huge participants. The U.S. Navy Academy supplied buses to bring in high school kids. They canceled that on Sunday. Last year, even Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin attended. Taybord worries what will happen next year if government contractors also pull out.

You now have lost the critical recruiting year. The kids come here because the employers are here and the opportunity is here. On a recruiting side, you go to the place where the talent exists. In his first public meeting with the troops, Secretary of Defense Pete Hagsteth described the new way of thinking. I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is our diversity is our strength. I think our strength is our unity. Our strength is our shared purpose, regardless of our background. West Point shut down 12 clubs geared toward Black and women engineers, as well as clubs

geared toward Native Americans and Hispanic students. The Pentagon ended official celebrations recognizing a range of groups from Black History Month to people with disabilities. Chris Burdey, an Iraq war veteran, founded the Chamberlain Network to mobilize fellow veterans. Black History Month doesn't mean we're treating white people differently. It just means that we're celebrating the struggles and the sacrifices that service members who were discriminated against because of their race. He's worried that the military's public perception has been damaged. At the moment, the question is how much will the military pull back from initiatives highlighting women, people of color, or LGBTQ troops. The Navy and Marines are holding up

annual sexual assault prevention and response or SEPR training, including training new advocates. A defense official said, these changes in terminology required a thorough review and administrative edits to SIPR policy programs and training, but their critical work in the mission continues without pause. The courses have their roots in the aftermath of the 1991 Tailhook scandal when Navy and Marine fliers were accused of assault and harassment at their annual convention. Josh Conley is with Protect Our Defenders. One thing people could agree upon is as a baseline to have training programs in place

to try to minimize and address the prevalence of what virtually everyone agreed was a problem. Conley says advocates worry that it could be the first step to more permanent changes. Alison Jaslow, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, says the irony is that the new initiatives have the goal of creating unity, but they have made many people feel isolated. You know, I think it's something that's like building you as a member of the military is like you're not just going to be like super reactive, but like it's fair to be concerned as to whether current leadership has their backs.

And that's on a variety of fronts. And that makes me really sad. She says it's a particular problem in a military where roughly one-third of the troops describe themselves as members of a racial minority and nearly 20% are women. For NPR News, I'm Steve Walsh. Before we wrap up, a reminder, you can find more coverage of the incoming Trump administration on the NPR Politics Podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon.

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