Open Letter to Flag Officers: “Houston–We Have a Problem”

In 2020, the Air Force Academy’s football team made a video in support of BLM. The Academy later made incoming cadets watch a pro-BLM video. Founders of STARRS warned the Academy that BLM was a Marxist organization and that the divisive CRT/DEI ideology the Academy was/is pushing is rooted in the Marxist purposeful goal of pitting people against one other in order to created anger, hatred and division leading to revolution. Now BLM has come out in support of a terrorist organization Hamas— the last straw for STARRS President Ron Scott, who has long tried to educate the Academy, Air Force and entire military about this threat. When will they realized they’ve been duped with this destructive ideology that wrecks havoc on recruitment, retention and readiness? 

By Ronald J. Scott, Jr., Ph.D.
Colonel, USAF (Ret), USAFA ’73
STARRS President and CEO

I am sharing with you a set of emails sent to AF leaders earlier today.  STARRS is applying more pressure . . .

It won’t be long before mothers, fathers, spouses, children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, friends, and neighbors start to ask our retired three- and four-stars, “why are you letting this happen?”

Is collecting one’s lucrative military-industrial-complex post retirement income worth remaining silent?

What part of supporting and defending the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic has an expiration date or gets a waiver?

I stepped down as Class President to be more vocal among our Classmates who still believe in our oath and America.

Thus, below is a series of three emails I sent to ___.  As expected, I have received no response.  In defense of these individuals, current conditions make it very difficult to speak out against these developments.

For example, the Secretary of the Air Force just released the Department of the Air Force Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Strategic Plan.  Here is a quote from the document:

This requires all Airmen and Guardians to intentionally challenge behaviors, biases, and barriers negatively impacting diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Air Force and Space Force leaders at all levels must accept and reflect this commitment every day within every interaction.

To add insult to injury–pure naivete and propaganda–here is a very well-reasoned article by a historian who understands and explains the role real diversity plays with regard to military readiness:  The Air Force’s “Diversity” Unseriousness.  The author is a member of the STARRS team.

I would appreciate any ideas you have to keep the pressure on to achieve the impact needed to stem the radicalism that if unchecked will destroy our nation.

First Email

Dear Senior USAF and USAFA Leaders, Flag Officers, Fellow USAFA Graduates,

I could pretend things are ok and play nice with those I have known and respected.  Yet, because I still respect those who I believe have an open mind and the courage to do what’s right, I am going to be frank in this email.

One of the most powerful expressions during my cadet days was, “intuitively obvious to the most casual observer.”  Of course, the irony in this expression is that it is used in an ironic sense to mean that something is completely obvious, when in reality the exact opposite is true.

Fellow grads (in particular, Lt Gen Rod Bishop, USAF, Retired; ’74) and I have invested a lot of time and resources over the past three years in trying to alert/educate fellow Americans–especially those trusted with promoting our national security–that America is vulnerable to a domestic enemy in the form of Marxist ideology.

“Not intuitively obvious,” our alert came in the form of a 3-minute video by USAFA football coaches chanting “black lives matter” seven times on July 7, 2020.

Now, we see BLM supporting Hamas in their assault on Israel: Anti-Israel Statements After the Massacre Trigger Free Speech Fights in Higher Education – JONATHAN TURLEY

Black Lives Matter Grassroots
Statement in #Solidarity with the People of #Palestine. pic.twitter.com/BgsQBAZdis

— BLM Grassroots (@blmgrassroots) October 10, 2023

Black Lives Matter stands in solidarity with Palestinians. We are a movement committed to ending settler colonialism in all forms and will continue to advocate for Palestinian liberation. ( always have. And always will be ). #freepalestine

— Black Lives Matter (@Blklivesmatter) May 17, 2021

Black Lives Matter group defends Hamas terror as ‘desperate act of self-defense’ that ‘must not be condemned’ (Fox News, 10 OCT 23)

BLM chapters across the US side with Palestinians amid Hamas massacre of Israelis (CBS News, 12 OCT 23)

Your Black Lives Matter Donation May Have Helped Hamas (The Federalist, 12 OCT 23)

Why Black Lives Matter Supports The Pro-Palestinian Movement (NPR, 12 JUN 2021)

Since July 7, 2020, we have learned that the seemingly innocuous 3-minute video represents naivete regarding the depth and breadth of Marxist infiltration.

Air Force football takes firm social stance with video in support of Black Lives Matter (Colorado Gazette, 7 JUL 2020)

Air Force Academy requires students to watch ‘inclusion’ training video promoting BLM (Fox, 19 AUG 2021)

Air Force Academy requires training linked to critical race theory and Black Lives Matter (Washington Examiner, 18 AUG 2021)

Black Lives Matter co-founder describes herself as ‘trained Marxist’ (New York Post, 25 JUN 2020)

BLM co-founder promotes book she cheerfully compares to Mao’s ‘Little Red Book’ in unearthed video (Fox News, 7 MAY 2021)

Black Lives Matters Goes Full Marxist (Crisis Magazine, 19 PAR 2021)

Marxist Nature of Black Lives Matter Exposed in New Book (Daily Signal, 7 SEP 2021)

“BLM was created by hard-core Marxists. It has always, from the start, been anti-Israel, which is a democratic, free, free-market ally of the United States, all qualities that make Israel the enemy for BLM. For Marxists, the end always justifies the means, so gang rapes, beheaded babies, and entire communities slaughtered, mean nothing.”—Mike Gonzalez, Senior Fellow, Heritage Foundation and author of  “BLM: The Making of a New Marxist Revolution”

For example, a recent book, The Dark World of Left-Wing Brainwashing in Our Universities, by Dr. Stanley Ridgley of Drexel University’s School of Business, comprehensively explains how this Marxist indoctrination is taking place in our universities–our Academies are not immune to this effort.  K-12 is another fertile indoctrination field.  A lot of evidence here.

Finally, in terms of the existential implications of ideological inertia, this article is very sobering:  Gareth Cliff just wrote this. It’s incredible : r/IsraelPalestine (reddit.com).

You might ask, why are you sending this to me?

This is tough love: you are in a position to do what is right–even though it might jeopardize a job.  Judas received 30 pieces of silver for his job.  History is pretty brutal in reporting our actions and their implications.

Food for thought.

Second Email

As a follow-up to yesterday’s email to you, today Christopher Rufo alerts us to the “foreign/domestic” enemy America faces in his analysis of the Israel-Hamas ideological conflict:  Hamas and the West’s Civilizational Suicide | City Journal (city-journal.org)

Recently we discovered political science majors at the Naval Academy are required to take electives not preferred because other courses were already filled up.  These electives include (see Course Requirements – Core :: Academics :: USNA and :Course Catalog :: Academics :: USNA)

Rufo mentions similar courses being taught at Harvard.  Add to these developments, is a fact that the Air Force Academy Diversity and Inclusion Studies (Minor) • United States Air Force Academy (usafa.edu)) and West Point (Diversity & Inclusion Studies Minor | United States Military Academy West Point) offer Diversity and Inclusion minors, focused on similar course material.

While perhaps unintentional, these developments put our Service Academies at grave risk of losing their essence as an apolitical commissioning source. 

General MacArthur understood this (as a seven-time Silver Star winner and seasoned warfighter) when he said the following in his sobering 1962 Duty, Honor, Country speech at West Point:

” . . . . And through all this welter of change and development, your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable – it is to win our wars.

Everything else in your professional career is but corollary to this vital dedication.

All other public purposes, all other public projects, all other public needs, great or small, will find others for their accomplishment.

But you are the ones who are trained to fight: yours is the profession of arms – the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory.

That if you lose, the nation will be destroyed; that the very obsession of your public service must be Duty – Honor – Country.

Others will debate the controversial issues, national and international, which divide men’s minds; but serene, calm, aloof, you stand as the nation’s war guardian, as its lifeguard from the raging tides of international conflict, as its gladiator in the arena of battle.

For a century and a half you have defended, guarded, and protected its hallowed traditions of liberty and freedom, of right and justice.

Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government; whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing, indulged in too long, by federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as thorough and complete as they should be.

These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution.

Your guidepost stands out like a ten-fold beacon in the night – Duty – Honor – Country.

You are the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense.

From your ranks come-the great captains who hold the nation’s destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds.

The Long Gray Line has never failed us.

Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses thundering those magic words – Duty – Honor – Country. . . . ”

The above picture of the US WWII cemetery at Normandy is a reflection of the cost of defeating tyrannical ideologies.

We cannot nor should not ignore or deny the current existential ideological struggle in America’s culture.

Third Email

Adding to my two previous emails, the Washington Examiner released this article today:   Don’t ‘decolonize’ the classroom (washingtonexaminer.com).  Here is an excerpt:

That’s campus culture. For the past four years, America has seen a raging “culture war” as proponents of this culture insist on passing it down to — dare we say “colonizing?” — K-12 education.

Parents who have resisted have been called racists or even terrorists.

Watch carefully over the coming days as education organizations and school districts that have issued endless statements on everything from George Floyd to abortion to Ukraine remain silent or equivocate on what just happened in Israel.

Reading the above material while also becoming aware of the Academy’s “Let’s Be Clear” campaign makes grads like me and others very concerned, especially when we are told it involves “full-scale culture change” (i.e., it is far more comprehensive than mere sexual assault).

What does this mean?

The Academy is very transparent in this regard as described in this recent USAFA Strategic Communications article teed up with a photograph of a senior officer with an extended clenched fist: Marks places culture at top of priorities • United States Air Force Academy (usafa.edu).

Coincidental?  At the turn of the 20th Century, the German population was considered one of the best educated in the Western world.  Yet, they provided no discernible resistance to the Gleichschaltung doctrine that enabled a tyrannical regime.

Food for thought . . .

Additional by Lt. Gen. Rod Bishop, USAF ret, USAFA ’74
STARRS Chairman of the Board

While Chris Rufo may be one of (if not “THE”) nation’s foremost experts on CRT/DEI, I think most would consider him a “conservative.”

Here is a video segment of a self-described “liberal”, former New York Times editor, Bari Weiss in which she (rightly, I think) calls out the “ideological rot” that has invaded our college campuses–in light of so many college students demonstrating in support of Hamas this past week.

Note what she says in the 12-14 mins of the segment when asked to explain why support for Palestinians has increased so much over the last 10 years (from 19% in one of our political parties to 49% today.)

She clearly blames an “ideology” which paints “Jews as ‘white’, and ‘privileged’ and therefore can never be victims.”

She goes on to say just how widely “it has taken root in many of the most important institutions in American life.” Including “the places where young minds are molded.”

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6338790578112

Since many cadets have told us “I feel like I am being indoctrinated” or “so many of us know what is going on here is wrong,” one might conclude unfortunately, those “institutions” include our military academies. (See Boots on the Ground)

It is pretty easy to see a clear line of connectivity between the divisive actions of USAFA professors such as either asking for their white students to give an example of their “white privilege” or a USAFA professor calling the white males in her class “white boy 1,” “white boy 2,” “white boy 3” (adding “all you white boys look alike”) and the pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian demonstrations across our college campuses this week when one considers “ideology” as Bari articulates.

The ideological connections are unmistakable.

This is the same exact ideology, I would add, that STARRS has been speaking out against for over 3 years now.

Thankfully–there seems to be room for optimism. As Bari also points out, “so many people are waking up to the “ideological rot.”

The language of “diversity, equity and inclusion” is nice sounding and seductive for sure–but as cadets have told us “it is identity politics on steroids.” We have been told it is “divisive” and “demeaning.”

Some may say it is well intended, but when “overkill” is coupled with real or perceived “special treatment”, it cannot help but create resentment and division–in a business where “unity”, “cohesiveness” and “morale” should reign supreme.

Let’s hope more and more people and military leaders do continue to “wake up” before, as Rufo concludes we “commit civilization suicide here at home.”