By Paul Bedard | Washington Examiner
The incoming Trump administration already has plans to kill President Joe Biden’s focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at the Pentagon when it takes office in nearly one month.
Officials said the initial move would be the wholesale firing of DEI contractors and warnings to service academy chiefs that the “woke” era is over and that it is time to get back to teaching warfighting.
“If you’ve been in charge of, if you’re a contractor, anyone that’s been leading the front on DEI can expect to see being fired pretty much on Day One,” former Trump White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.
“The message has gone out that anybody who’s been in charge of DEI at any level should be getting their resume in order,” added Spicer, now a media figure who has been interviewing military transition figures, including Robert Wilkie, the former undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
Another Trump associate said the pressure to teach diversity at the Navy, Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard academies will also be targeted and that some heads could roll as a sign to others to drop their programs.
Spicer featured Wilkie, heading the Trump military transition team, on the Sean Spicer Show recently, and he spoke forcefully about a DEI housecleaning, also promised by the nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.
He told Spicer that President-elect Donald Trump is expected to dump DEI programs through executive orders.
While not “speaking officially” for the incoming president, Wilkie said, “It will be an immediate cease and desist.” He added, “Every contractor involved in this is fired on the spot. Let go.”
Spicer told Secrets, “This is getting back to basics,” especially at a time when global threats to the United States are growing.
“Look,” said Spicer, a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve. “We have China openly talking about war in 2027. I don’t think they care about our ‘woke’ policies. I mean, there’s literally recruiting campaigns in other countries talking about how weak we are and unfocused right now. This is about getting the focus back on warfighting, and readiness.”
First published in Washington Examiner
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