Report Says Hunt For ‘White Supremacists’ In Military Led Nowhere
The report from Arizona State University’s Center for American Institutions highlights the ineffectiveness of the Pentagon’s programs aimed at identifying white supremacists within the U.S. military, stating these efforts have largely failed and been counterproductive. Initiated through executive orders in recent decades, these programs sought to find violent extremists but identified only 100 extremists among the military’s 2.1 million personnel. The report criticizes the military’s focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), claiming it undermines readiness and morale. It also notes a significant increase in funding for DEI programs, urging an end to what it calls DEI-based social engineering. The report suggests returning to merit-based policies and highlights the negative impact of these programs on recruitment and unit cohesion, as they foster suspicion instead of trust among service members.
A new report said Pentagon programs to sniff out “white supremacists” in the U.S. military came up empty-handed and were even counterproductive to military readiness and morale.
A zealous diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy has been established in the military and service academies, more recently “through mandated executive orders in the 2010s and 2020s,” the report, produced by the Arizona State University’s (ASU) Center for American Institutions, said. It also revealed that the efforts to “search for ‘violent extremists’ in the military,” have yielded rare and infrequent results.
The report uncovered that the military’s “search for white supremacists – seemingly the only extremists that interest the military – has come up short: only 100 members of the military were deemed to be extremists out of a force of 2.1 million.”
The military has actively pushed DEI policies and re-education classes with the goal “‘to eradicate racism, sexism, and negative biases that diminish our warfighting effectiveness,’” the report said, citing the 2021 Marine Corps DEI Plan.
“Just as private companies have abandoned the toxic advice of DEI consultants and programs, military leaders should end social engineering based on critical race theory and restore approaches that promote character and merit,” said Donald Critchlow, Director of the Center for American Institutions at ASU.
According to the report, “Spending on DEI programming is increasing. The DOD’s allocation for DEI projects jumped from $68 million in fiscal year 2022 to $86.5 million in fiscal year 2023. The Pentagon is requesting $114.7 million for fiscal year 2024.”
Matt Lohmeier, a former Space Force commander who was fired from his position due to his opposition and criticism of DEI policies, is well aware of the impact that prioritizing diversity sensitivity training has on the Pentagon and military service academies.
“It’s no surprise that young people are turning away from military service in record numbers,” Lohmeier said. “As this comprehensive report illuminates, DEI indoctrination has become a core component of military training that begins for officers even at the service academies.”
The report also details how military personnel were encouraged to turn each other in if it was believed the DEI protocol was violated.
“Efforts to root out white supremacy involve not only training but appointing service members to act as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the bureaucracy to turn in suspects,” the report reads. “Suspicion replaces trust, understanding, and teamwork.”
The report was produced by a commission created through ASU’s Center for American Institutions. It was led by commissioners Lohmeier, Karrin Taylor Robson, and John Cauthen, in tandem with researchers from ASU.
In the report, the group “calls for an immediate end to the Pentagon’s multimillion-dollar DEI bureaucracy.”
“Our research reviewed DEI policy in the military starting in the nineteen seventies to the modern day and concluded there are far more effective ways to promote unity and respect among military ranks than by spending millions annually to divide service members by their gender or race,” Critchlow said.
Examples of gross overemphasis on DEI were drawn out long before the publication of this report.
During Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s Senate confirmation hearing, he said, “We woke up one day and discovered that we had extremist elements in our ranks, and they did bad things that we certainly held them accountable for.”
Lloyd’s determination led to a military-wide “DOD Stand-Down to Address Extremism in the Ranks,” a memo released in early 2021.
“In 2020, Corps Commandant General David Berger asserted that diversity was essential to warfighting,” said the report. “‘I am absolutely convinced: Too much similarity – too much that we look all the same, think the same, got the same background – we’re going to get killed.’”
In response to the death of George Floyd, for example, General Mark Milley said, “The protests that have ensued not only speak to this injustice, but also to centuries of injustice towards Black Americans. We, as a nation and as a military, are still struggling with racism, and we have much work to do.”
Kamden Mulder is a summer intern at The Federalist. She is a senior at Hillsdale College pursuing a degree in American Studies and Journalism.
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