Briefings for DACODAI Committee

The Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion (DACODAI) was set up in September 2022 by SECDEF Austin to “provide independent advice and recommendations on matters and policies relating to improve the racial/ethnic diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity in the Armed Forces.”

STARRS attended their public meeting in Arlington, VA in December 2023 as an observer/member of the public.

Among what we observed is every time a chart was shown where the largest number was whites or males, this was seen as a “problem” that needed to be fixed. Focus was on increasing different races and women in military, and lessen the number of white males–especially at flag rank (one committee member demanded to know the race of every flag officer in the military).

There was also a goal to reach a 50-50 male/female ratio in the military, require forced DEI and Unconscious Bias training, look for ways to recruit non-citizens who didn’t speak English and more.

There was no mention of the negative effects of DEI in the military and no pushback to the DEI agenda in DOD; everyone on the committee was like-minded and on the same page re DEI (no “diverse” viewpoints).

STARRS submitted statements for the public meeting (see below), including the 100 page collection of unsolicited comments on What Military People Are Saying (pdf) about the DEI agenda in DOD.

The Chairman of the DACODAI Committee, Gen. Lester Lyles (USAF ret), later invited STARRS Chairman Lt Gen Rod Bishop (USAF ret) to have a panel meeting with him and other committee members to “hear the other side” because they “welcomed diverse views”.

This was canceled by DACODAI, but STARRS and the organizations it works closely with went ahead and videotaped what they were going to present at this meeting. You can watch or read what the participants said below.

STARRS assembled a distinguished panel, representing six different organizations. The people making presentations want DOD to first of all focus on merit—picking the best qualified—not just a “qualified” leader (giving a boost to someone based on an immutable characteristic like skin color). They also want the focus to be on wartime readiness, not the social justice wars sweeping our nation. The precepts of this Marxist-based CRT/DEI ideology are discriminatory—plain and simple—and are tearing at the fabric of our nation. We would have liked to have held this panel face to face and have had an honest exchange of ideas.

Short briefings for DACODAI from:

Lt Gen Rod Bishop, USAF, Retired, STARRS Chairman of the Board
Kendall Qualls, former Army officer and President of TakeCharge (starts at 10:00 minute)
Dr. Ron Scott, Colonel, USAF, retired, STARRS President and CEO (starts at 15:20 minute)
Major General Joe Arbuckle, Army, Retired, President of Flag Officers 4 America (starts at 25:57 minute)
Dr. Scott Sturman, STARRS Advisor, USAFA ’72 (starts at 33:33 minute)
Captain Tom Burbage, Navy, Retired, President of the Calvert Group (starts at 38:06 minute)
The Honorable Mike Rose, STARRS Executive Vice President and General Counsel (starts at 41:54 minute)
Scott McQuarrie, President of Veterans for Fairness and Merit, USMA ’72 (starts at 50:21 minute)
Vice Admiral William Dean Lee, Coast Guard, Retired, STARRS Advisor (starts at 59:59 minute)

Transcript of the video

Original link to download: https://vimeo.com/908934667/7446d72338?
Short highlights video:
https://vimeo.com/909823144/f150944749

Statements submitted to the December 2023 DACODAI public meeting

STARRS Letter to Gen Lyles 12.4.2023 (from STARRS leaders)
Larry Purdy Statement (Lawyer, worked on Grutter case, USNA ’68)
Center for Military Readiness Statement (From CMR President Elaine Donnelly)
Capt. Brent Ramsey (USN ret) Statement (VP, Calvert Task Group)
What Military People Are Saying (100 page of 1000 unsolicited quotes regarding what they say about the DEI agenda in DOD

DACODAI Documents

(https://www.dhra.mil/DACODAI/Reports-Meetings/)

DACODAI Biannual Business Meeting – December 14-15, 2023

Agenda – December 2023 BBM

Briefings given to the DACODAI Committee in December:

Briefing U.S. Africa Command Diversity and Inclusion (includes at the end AFRICOM’s new “Unconscious Bias” training slides)
Briefing DoD Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (by Dr. Lisa Arfaa, Director, OUSD(P&R)/ODEI)
Briefing Defense Testing Assessment Center D&I Efforts

Among the DACODAI’s recommendations to the SECDEF: (click to enlarge)

Affirmative Action

Forced Unconscious Bias Training

See full training slides (pdf)

Forced DEI Training

One of the briefers to the DACODAI committee was the head of DOD’s DEI office and said some mixed-up things about DEI:

“If we build the best teams, they will (automatically) be diverse.”
“Diversity creates team cohesion, train to fight as one and win wars.”

It seems the briefer, and perhaps most on the committee, assumes everyone is equal in their abilities, experience and qualifications, so it’s just a matter of choosing one of each race/gender for a “team” and then everything is automatically diverse. People are equal as humans, have equal rights, and equal OPPORTUNITIES, but they are NOT equal in their abilities, skills, knowledge, experience, physical strength, qualifications, etc. Only the best should be chosen for admission or promotion; their skin color, ethnicity or gender makes no difference. It is demeaning for all to choose someone based on something inherent they have no control over.

The root of the word diversity means “divide, divorce, divergent, etc”, so diversity does NOT create cohesion and becoming one. How can it with hundreds of different identity/affinity groups at DOD and everyone obsessing about what their race, ethnicity or gender is that makes them different/separate from others? In the past, everyone’s identity went out the door upon joining the military and all became “green” or “blue”–that creates cohesion and becoming One Team.

At the meeting, there was a concern that military people had stopped filling out the constant “identify your race” surveys/forms being thrown at them that was needed by this committee to know so they could track diversity (apparently on a daily basis with the Air Force’s dashboard). Maybe people are just sick of it all.

In the AFRICOM briefing for DACODAI, here is a slide on the different ethnicities in the command. Asked why there are so many, the briefer said because they had to go by what the person “self-identified as” instead of giving them in pre-define categories. You can see how ridiculous this is. Let’s make it simple: You swore an allegiance to the United State Constitution so you are an American defending and fighting for the United States of America–not all these other countries.

Click to enlarge:

From a recent AFRICOM DEI presentation: https://www.dhra.mil/Portals/52/Documents/DACODAI/TAB-A_Briefing_US_Africa_Command_Diversity_and_Inclusion_Revised.pdf provided to DACODAI meeting, https://www.dhra.mil/DACODAI/Reports-Meetings/

Pity those in AFRICOM. Their Maoist “Unconscious Bias” training, as seen at the end of this briefing, Briefing U.S. Africa Command Diversity and Inclusion, was supposed to start in January, given by the political commissars there.

For the head of DOD’s DEI office, here are simple graphics to explain diversity causes division and that is the purpose because Marxists want to divide people: (click to enlarge)