A Florida congressman and Army veteran is leading a push to end a Biden initiative on equity and inclusion that he said has created division within the military and weakened U.S. forces.
Republican Rep. Cory Mills cleared the first hurdle in a bid to eliminate the Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion as the GOP pushes back over what they call “woke” policies from the administration.
“There’s too much time being spent on the ideas of correctly identifying pronouns than prioritizing things like increased lethality, readiness and being properly equipped,” Mills told Fox News Digital.
“Personally, from my contacts that are still in the military from when I was there, from some of my contacts who were working over at West Point and the military academies, that our military has been continually weakened because of this focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Mills’ amendment to this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would disband the committee, which was created after a 2021 executive order by President Biden with the goal of promoting “diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility” in the federal government. A House Foreign Relations markup of the bill has been sent to the full House to debate.
Criticisms of an ideological agenda in the military come alongside the worst recruiting crisis in more than half a century.
Mills, an Army veteran who has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has been one of the lawmakers leading the charge against “woke” military policies, arguing that U.S. adversaries remain focused on readiness.
“This whole push towards being able to out-pronoun our enemies, to be able to out-he/him, she/her, they/them, I can tell you is not what the priorities are of our adversaries like China and Russia,” Mills said.
Mills’ amendment calls for the advisory committee to “terminate not later than September 14, 2024,” while also mandating the secretary of defense to submit a report to the Armed Services Committee and entire House of Representatives detailing what, if any, benefit DEI initiatives have to strengthening the military within 90 days of the bill passing.
The Florida lawmaker argues that the military’s recent focus on diversity and inclusion has actually done the opposite of its stated goals, creating division in the ranks and threatening large consequences for future readiness. . . . (read more on Fox News)
About Congressman Mills:
Born in Winter Haven, Florida, Cory Mills is a decorated U.S. Army combat Veteran, and recipient of the Bronze Star. Cory left Florida to serve his country first in uniform, and then to serve further our U.S. State Department and other government agencies in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Cory has spent most of his adult life serving our great nation and fighting for the American people, and for those friends of America who have suffered under tyrannical and dictatorship style rule.
He served with the 82nd Airborne Division and was a member of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) 20 in Iraq. While serving abroad, Cory was struck twice in 2006, once with an improvised explosive device (IED) and once with an Iranian explosively formed projectile (EFP), which resulted in numerous casualties.
Fortunately, Cory was able to stabilize himself prior to evacuation. For his actions, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilizad presented Cory Mills with a Certificate of Appreciation from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad for his actions which saved members of his team and U.S. military service members.
Cory Mills has nearly 7-years of service in Iraq, approximately 2-years in Afghanistan, served in the Kosovo Campaign in 2000, and has traveled to the front lines of Ukraine during the Russian invasion to provide information for USAID and Department of State officials. He also supported anti-terrorism assistance training for the Kurdish forces in northern Iraq to help them repel potential insurgencies.
Cory Mills was a Trump appointee to the Pentagon as a Department of Defense (DoD) advisor, and a foreign policy expert you may have seen on Newsmax, Fox News, OANN, and many other media outlets.
In the private sector, Cory co-founded Pacem Solution International LLC and Pacem Defense LLC with his wife, Rana. Through the PACEM companies, Cory and Rana have supported risk management assessments, intelligence collection, and security for media such as NPR news. In 2018, Pacem Defense acquired Amtec Less Lethal Systems, Inc., now known as ALS, Inc., in Perry, Florida, to help continue their support to the law enforcement communities and our allies abroad.
Cory is a husband, father, patriot, combat veteran, entrepreneur, foreign policy expert, and true American conservative. Cory believes in FIGHTING for the people, restoring the voice of “We The People” — America’s voice — and making America First Again.
Cory is a constitutionalist who believes that the sacred oath he took to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic” does not have an expiration date.
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