Senate Armed Services Committee Misses Opportunity to Hold US Military Academy Superintendents Accountable for DEI Practices

On Wednesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Personnel hosted a hearing to conduct oversight and receive testimony on the status of the Military Service Academies. 

Testifying before the committee were Lt. General Steven Gilland, Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy; Vice Admiral Yvette Davids, Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy; and Lt. General Tony Bauernfeind, Superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy. While they answered various questions and slightly touched on DEI practices, none were asked the critical questions of: 

1. What are your respective detailed plans to comply with President Trump’s recent executive orders surrounding DEI? 

   
   

2. Will you follow through and comply with removing the “woke” classes you have identified in your curriculum such as “Race, Ethnicity, and Nation” and “Gender Matters.”

   
   

3. What specific policies are in place to ensure full cooperation with Congressional oversight, including whistleblower protections for faculty or staff who may raise concerns?  

   
   

4. LTG Gilland, you’ve vigorously defended DEI in the past and have claimed composing your admissions classes on racial lines was important to military readiness. You also led the creation of a West Point minor degree in Diversity and Inclusion Studies. Will you be able to shepherd a transition back to a genuinely merit-based system of evaluation at West Point?  

   
   

5. Despite the return-to-office mandates across the federal government, it seems a significant number of West Point civilian employees continue to telework. What percentage of West Point’s workforce is still working remotely, and under what justification? 

It’s imperative that our Military Service Academies focus on creating the next generation of hardened, focused, and prepared war fighters in order to continue to make America’s military the most exceptional fighting force in the world, especially after woke propaganda made its way into the military under the Biden administration. DEI policies have no place in this mission and need to be ended. The leaders of our Military Service Academies need to do more than just “review” their current policies and make superficial changes to satisfy requirements; they need to fundamentally change their mindsets and the mindsets of those who serve under them to endorse President Trump’s policies to genuinely restore military excellence.