House Republicans expect to press forward with legislation targeting Pentagon policies they view as “woke” despite recent attempts by Defense Department officials to defend initiatives aimed at diversifying the force.
At several congressional hearings over the last month, top department officials and military officers have attempted to swat down GOP attacks that diversity and inclusion efforts are distracting from warfighting, arguing that the efforts are needed to attract a younger, more socially conscious generation — and in some cases are required by law.
Asked recently by Military.com whether the Pentagon’s testimony has satisfied Republicans or if he expects there to be anti-woke provisions in the annual, must-pass defense policy bill, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., promised that “there’ll be some legislation.” Still, he added, it’s too early in the process to say exactly what the language in the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, will be. . . . . .
. . . . . Republicans argue such efforts take away time from military training and turn off potential recruits by injecting politics into the military. They point to military recruiting woes in recent years — which defense officials have attributed to a strong job market, lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a lack of qualified young Americans, among other factors.
“When I talk to people and say, ‘Well, why aren’t you looking to join the military?’ A lot of them say, ‘Well, the military has been over-politicized. Well, the military has gone woke,'” Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., said at a recent hearing with the senior enlisted leaders of each military branch. “We’re saying that this new focus, this new shift, this new kind of woke ideology is not impacting recruitment and not impacting our readiness and lethality? I have a hard time believing that.”
Republicans will have their chance to put their rhetoric into action in the coming months when Congress begins work on the NDAA, the sweeping annual bill that sets a wide array of Pentagon policies.
Meanwhile, in the recent hearings, the Pentagon has added a new counter-argument to GOP criticisms: We’re following the law. [OUR NOTE: New narrative formation]
“The fiscal year 2021 NDAA, which passed with bipartisan supermajorities, contained groundbreaking DEI provisions, which I am now diligently working to implement,” Gil Cisneros, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, testified at a House Armed Services Committee panel hearing on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs in the military.
Mandates in recent NDAAs include creating a chief diversity officer in the Pentagon, a job assigned to Cisneros, and senior advisers for diversity and inclusion within each military department.
The legislation also requires a diversity strategic plan and the incorporation of diversity goals in the National Defense Strategy, and establishing a role in the inspector general’s office specifically to conduct oversight on diversity and inclusion programs. . . . .
. . . . A day after Austin and Milley testified before the full House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., who chairs the panel’s readiness subcommittee, helped unveil a report at the conservative Heritage Foundation that blamed diversity initiatives for recruiting struggles.
At the rollout event, Waltz vowed lawmakers “will do all we can to codify” the report’s recommendations in legislation and that he’ll “run through brick walls until we get it done.”
“We’re not making this stuff up. This isn’t some kind of Republican election year gotcha talking point,” Waltz said, contending his office has been contacted by concerned service members. “When I stop getting this stuff from our service members, then we’ll stop bringing it up.”. . . . (read more on Military.com)
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