WASHINGTON (AP) — While enhancing military readiness is a key focus for the new Trump administration, administrative tasks and bureaucracy have become the main challenge at the Pentagon. Service members and civilian personnel are now tasked with a wide-ranging mandate to clean up all social media platforms within the department and navigate through complex personnel reduction efforts.
In a recent development, the department’s top public affairs official issued a memo instructing all military branches to dedicate extensive time reviewing past website posts, photos, news articles, and videos to eliminate any references that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. Failure to comply by March 5 will result in the temporary removal of all content published during the Biden administration’s tenure, according to a leaked copy of the memo obtained by The Associated Press.
The new directive coincides with efforts by the military services to identify probationary employees targeted for dismissal as part of the government’s reduction in workforce initiative. There is also a push to assess the number of civilian workers opting for government-wide buyouts and whether those requests have been approved.
Several senior military leaders, including Gen. CQ Brown Jr., Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Gen. Jim Slife, and the judge advocates general for the services, were among those dismissed last week. While these removals were linked to the campaign against “woke” leaders in the military, the firings of the judge advocates general did not align with that narrative.
The recent social media purging directive follows a separate memo reminding military personnel to remain politically neutral and dedicated to executing their duties impartially. The memo, signed by Darin Selnick, acting undersecretary for personnel, stressed the importance of upholding public trust amid recent changes within the department.
The decision to erase diversity-related content stems from Trump’s executive order abolishing federal government diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. However, confusion has arisen within federal agencies, as Trump himself recognized Black History Month with an event at the White House featuring Tiger Woods.
Military leaders were initially given a tight deadline to review decades of website content highlighting achievements by women and minorities or commemorating cultural heritage. Due to resource constraints, they were later allowed to delete all posts from the past four years for a fresh start. Employees will then sift through this content to determine what should be removed or archived, potentially resulting in the deletion of the Biden administration’s online presence within the department’s history.
Issued by Sean Parnell, the department’s new chief spokesperson, the memo provides additional insights into the diversity, equity, and inclusion cleanup initiated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The directive to remove all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) content from military websites has been issued, causing a stir within the services and department sections as they scramble to find workers available to dedicate significant time to this detail-intensive task. Officials express their concerns that this new directive has created yet another distraction, diverting attention from meeting President Trump’s overarching goal of enhancing military lethality. They fear that the limited time available makes it challenging to thoroughly remove years of DEI-related content from military web pages, a process that necessitates reallocating staff from other essential warfighting and security responsibilities. Furthermore, there is ambiguity surrounding what constitutes “DEI-related” content, with the memo specifying that it encompasses materials promoting critical race theory, gender ideology, and preferential treatment based on gender, race, or ethnicity. It also includes any content conflicting with “merit-based or color-blind policies,” potentially encompassing news items highlighting an individual’s gender or race. Despite President Trump’s recognition of Black History Month, the directive also mandates the elimination of all content endorsing cultural awareness months, a move criticized in a previous memo titled “Identity Months dead at DOD.” In this previous communication, concerns were raised regarding divisive efforts that prioritize one group over another, undermining unity and mission effectiveness. The memo emphasizes the restoration of a warrior culture and ethos, suggesting that official resources should not be used to host events related to various heritage and awareness months. Instead, units and offices are encouraged to celebrate the achievements and valor of military heroes from diverse backgrounds. The implementation of this new directive raises questions about the criteria for content removal and sparks fears of potential overreactions, leading to the deletion of all images or videos featuring women and minorities to ensure compliance. Previous instances of overreach occurred following the initial order to purge DEI content from social media, where the Air Force hastily removed training courses featuring the Tuskegee Airmen, prompting criticism and accusations of “malicious compliance.” Subsequently, the Air Force swiftly reinstated the videos following backlash from the White House.
