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Posted on 05/24/2023 9:28:01 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
More than 160 retired generals and admirals recently signed a letter calling on Congress to remove so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs from the Department of Defense and remove funding for such programs from the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
“As our Nation faces looming threats from ‘foreign’ adversaries/enemies, our military is under assault from a culture war stemming from ‘domestic’ ideologically inspired political policies and practices. … Our military must be laser focused on one mission — readiness, undiminished by the culture war engulfing our country,” Flag Officers 4 America wrote in the letter addressed to Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Armed Services Subcommittee Chairman Mike Rogers, and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert.
The signatories — which included former National Security Advisor John Poindexter, Medal of Honor recipient Maj. Gen. James E. Livingston, and former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense William Gerald Boykin — expressed concern about how divisive and discriminatory DEI policies affect national security. So-called “equity,” they wrote, “sounds benign, but in practice it lowers standards. While equality provides equal opportunities, equity’s goal is equal outcomes.”
The officers argued that equal opportunity and meritocracy provide the greatest foundation for both equality and national defense, while the cultural Marxism promoted by DEI policies is a domestic threat to our national security.
“To achieve equal outcomes using identity group characteristics, standards must be lowered to accommodate the desired equity outcomes. Lower standards reduce performance where even slight differences in capability impact readiness and can determine war fighting mission success or failure,” they wrote. Furthermore, obsession with identity causes “friction and distrust in the ranks, damaging unit cohesion, teamwork and unity of effort, further degrading readiness.”
Instead of DEI, the signatories advocated for a return to longstanding meritocratic military recruitment standards, pointing to a long history of true inclusivity and diversity that accompanied those standards.
“Service Members (SMs) were judged not by the color of their skin but by their character, duty performance, and potential,” the officers explained. “Meritocracy, coupled with equal opportunity, created conditions for all to advance and excel, which stimulates healthy competition, thereby raising standards.”
According to the retired officers, meritocracy is “essential for winning,” and at a time when America faces looming foreign threats, the last thing our military needs is to be distracted by domestic social engineering and “wokeism.”
We have fought for our Nation and are sounding the alarm that DEI poses a grave danger to our military warfighting ethos and is degrading warfighting readiness. … China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are not distracted by DEI programs; no doubt they are watching us. Equal opportunity and merit-based performance have been battle tested for generations and proven essential for success. DEI policies and practices must be eliminated from the DoD to protect our critical warfighting readiness.
Flag Officers 4 America DEI letter May 20, 2023 by The Federalist on Scribd
The letter comes after the House recently introduced the 2024 NDAA, which as of May 23 does not yet include provisions to remove funding from DEI programs. While the DOD reportedly disbanded its education wing’s DEI initiative in March, the poisonous agenda has subsequently burrowed deeper into the system.
Where were they when they could have done something about it?
RE: Where were they when they could have done something about it?
I’m guessing there was no DEI nonsense when they were still active?
Do the FBI and IRS have enough staff to harass these generals all at once? Or will they have to deal with them, say, 20 at a time?
Just curious.
That’s an ROTC cadet. Can’t tell which year as don’t see any pips, etc.
My old EllTee, who retired as a Major General, isn’t on the list.
RE: Do the FBI and IRS have enough staff to harass these generals all at once?
Since they are retired, they are now ordinary civilians. A part of the 87,000 newly hired IRS agents should be enought to do the harassment since we now know that they really work for the DOJ.
They were in a military that was not yet infected with DIE racist pervert ideology.
IRS agents never worked for the DoJ. They work with the DoJ in bringing criminal cases. What Lois Lerner did was deny charitable donation status to groups promoting conservative causes (and let on to that effect in emails) while facilitating such status for liberal groups.
Temple University. 2015.
These must be the patriots in the military that obama fired and replaced with communists, with full support of Mitch the Bitch and RINOs like Boobio.
We do not want the military to be politicized, they should be completely indifferent to the whom the people chose to lead the government. It is dangerous for the country for high ranking military officers to express opinions about the civilian leadership. This letter is an extraordinary departure from that time-honored tradition.
By promoting deviate behavior to our Children and Military some leaders are purposely destroying the American Culture for Marxist Objectives. These deviated people have a specific agenda to overthrow American Principles.
They think the military should be primarily a fighting force? The Democrats will never go for it. Democrats won’t come around until the Chinese have a beachhead on the east coast.
The destruction of our military is not a bug but a feature. The CCP selected Biden to do things like this.
BRAVO!!!!
I think it’s cute how these ex-military brass think they have a say in the matter.
“...they should be completely indifferent to the whom the people chose to lead the government...”
Not in the face of the real potential for total collapse/defeat of the country should they be indifferent.
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