By Spencer Lindquist | DailyWire
The United States Air Force has continued pushing its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda in violation of federal law, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) claims in a letter exclusively obtained by the Daily Wire.
In a letter to Alex Wagner, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower & Reserve Affairs, Banks contends that the Air Force cloaked its DEI activities in an effort to circumvent provisions in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which bar the Defense Department from creating any new DEI roles or filling vacancies in existing DEI positions.
“Rather than following the law, it appears that the Air Force has simply rebranded DEI,” Banks, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Military Personnel, wrote in his letter.
07.10.2024 – Letter to Air Force Re DEI at Ramstein_FINAL by Daily Wire Investigations Team on Scribd
The letter comes as the military grapples with the NDAA’s ban on new DEI initiatives. The funding bill sought to curb the Defense Department’s DEI agenda by capping the pay of those currently in DEI-related positions and prohibiting any new hiring of DEI professionals, pending an audit of existing DEI spending by the Government Accountability Office. The bill also barred the Pentagon from filling any existing DEI positions that become vacant.
The DEI ban was a response to the military’s embrace of critical race theory and the Biden administration’s push to establish DEI offices and policies throughout the federal government. The Department of Defense has made DEI a priority under Biden, requesting a whopping $270 million for DEI from fiscal years 2022 to 2024.
Banks’s letter highlights one Air Force DEI training in particular, a copy of which was obtained by the Daily Wire. The training, “Supporting Systemic Equity,” was administered at Ramstein Air Base and other installations by Team Triad, a consulting firm.
The training aims to “highlight the benefits of diversity and equity” to help Air Force personnel “recognize the importance of empowerment & equity” and “understand what it means to be an ally.”
“Equity is about giving people what they need to make things fair to achieve ‘equality,’” the training materials say.
“This training is an attempt by the Air Force to contravene the clear intent of the law: Prohibited from hiring new DEI positions or filling vacant ones, the Air Force has simply contracted out its DEI training,” Banks said.
“Bureaucrats who think that carrying out the Biden administration’s woke agenda is more important than the law are in for a rude awakening,” Banks told the Daily Wire.
“Biden DOD officials need to realize that they won’t have a left wing radical Commander in Chief forever,” Banks said. “Congress has prohibited the military from hiring new DEI officials and Republicans will keep using our oversight authority to enforce the laws on the books.”
Team Triad held “Supporting System Equity” trainings at eight Air Force bases last year, and says it will host 16 training sessions across 10 different bases in 2024.
Banks has requested a copy of the contract between the Air Force and Team Triad.
The Indiana Republican’s letter also addresses an April 2024 Air Force memo, “Standard Core Personnel Documents Directive for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Positions,” which the congressman says violates the most recent NDAA.
“The memo states that to deter adversaries, the Department of the Air Force ‘requires intentionally designing a force that leverages the talents of our diverse Nation’” Banks says.
“An ‘intentional design’ suggests that the Air Force desires the use of quotas and screening requirements for certain races, genders, or sexual orientations during recruiting and retention efforts and that it desires to use Promotion, command selection, and other personnel actions to ensure its preferred mix of races, genders, and sexual orientations,” Banks writes.
The Air Force’s seeming defiance of the NDAA’s DEI ban is the branch’s latest effort to push far-left ideologies.
In February, a Daily Wire investigation revealed that the Air Force Academy hosted Lt. Colonel Bree Fram, a man who identifies as a woman, for a speech on leadership. Fram is a transgender activist and the president of SPARTA, “a non-profit that advocates and educates about transgender military service.”
Fram also spoke at a pride month event where he called for “intentional inclusivity” in the military, and demanded that leadership “initiate difficult conversations about racial and gender barriers.”
The Daily Wire also revealed that the Air Force celebrated pride month with two days of events in June, including “LGBTQ+ trivia” and a keynote speech from the CEO of an organization that pushes transgenderism on children. The group, PFLAG, has sued states that have moved to safeguard minors from irreversible sex change operations.
Banks’s letter poses a number of questions to Wagner regarding the Air Force’s embrace of DEI, requesting responses no later than July 20th.
“Are there currently any quotas or goals for race, gender, sexual orientation, or other protected categories in Air Force recruiting and retention efforts?” Banks asks. “If so, what are they? And how do these quotas and/or goals achieve the service’s required end strength goals and protect U.S. national security?”
The Department of the Air Force did not respond to a request for comment.
First published on the Daily Wire
The Honorable Alex Wagner
Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower & Reserve Affairs
Department of the Air Force
1670 Air Force Pentagon
Washington, DC 20330-1670.
Dear Assistant Secretary Wagner,
I write regarding my concerns that the United States Air Force is deliberately attempting to undermine and circumvent several key requirements in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24 NDAA) relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
On June 24, 2024, I was made aware of training entitled “Supporting Systemic Equity” conducted at Ramstein Air Base in contravention of the FY24 NDAA. Section 529B of the NDAA prohibited all entities in the Department of Defense (DoD) from establishing any new DEI positions within the department or filling DEI vacancies prior to the Comptroller General’s review of the DoD’s DEI workforce.
Section 1101 prohibited any DoD civilian employee whose primary duties are DEI from being paid at greater than the equivalent of a GS-10 pay grade.
However, rather than following the law, it appears that the Air Force has simply rebranded DEI as the “Organizational Culture Program,” created “Organizational Culture Coordinators“ (OCC) within the Prevention Work Force, which it pretends are not subject to the hiring freeze or pay cap, and continues divisive and costly DEI training delivered by a paid contractor.
An Air Force response to my inquiries claimed that these OCCs would have “expanded duties beyond ‘DEI,’” acknowledging that OCCs still retain a core DEI function despite the attempted rebrand.
This also suggests that OCCs should remain subject to the Sec. 529B hiring freeze.
This response also failed to provide assurances that those OCCs that perform DEI functions, and that are paid at GS-1 1 levels or above, do not spend a majority of their time on DEI, in violation of Sec. 1101.
I am particularly concerned about the Air Force’s April 19, 2024, memo “Standard Core Personnel Documents Directive for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Positions,” which was drafted to theoretically comply with the FY24 NDAA while it simultaneously undermines Sections 529B, 529C, and 1101 of that law.
The memo states that to deter adversaries, the Department of the Air Force “requires intentionally designing a force that leverages the talents of our diverse Nation…” An “intentional design” suggests that the Air Force desires the use of quotas and screening requirements for certain races, genders, or sexual orientations during recruiting and retention efforts and that it desires to use promotion, command selection, and other personnel actions to ensure its preferred mix of races, genders, and sexual orientations.
The use of any characteristic other than individual merit for “accessions or promotions” deliberately violates congressional intent in Sec. 529C of the FY24 NDAA.
I am also concerned about the training called “Supporting Systemic Equity,” which was delivered by a coaching contractor. Team Triad.
This training is an attempt by the Air Force to contravene the clear intent of the law: Prohibited from hiring new DEI positions or filling vacant ones, the Air Force has simply contracted out its DEI training.
Additionally, the training slides continue to push debunked claims that diverse organizations perform better than other organizations.
In the past two years, several scientific studies reviewing the research behind diversity and performance found no real statistical benefits; however, they did find that training on unconscious bias may actually increase bias—a negative effect.
Continuing this charade to play politics with our service members is unconscionable.
The Air Force must reconsider and re-draft its regulations on Air Force DEI and OCC positions to ensure that the Air Force is following the law rather than attempting to circumvent it.
The Air Force should commit to providing service members with training that promotes their skills as service members, leaders, and warfighters and set aside—for good—attempts to indoctrinate them in pseudo-science for political gains.
To ensure continued oversight I ask that you provide answers to the following questions no later than July 20, 2024:
1. What does “intentionally designing a force” mean with respect to recruiting, retention, and training? Please provide the specific programs and/or policies on “intentional design” of the force.
2. Are there currently any quotas or goals for race, gender, sexual orientation, or other protected categories in Air Force recruiting and retention efforts? If so, what are they? And how do these quotas and/or goals achieve the service’s required end strength goals and protect U.S. national security?
3. Please provide the new position descriptions for the OCCs. What is the Standard Core Personnel Document?
4. Is it the position of the Department of the Air Force that OCCs are not subject to the hiring freeze and pay cap under Sections 529B and 1101 of the FY24 NDAA?
5. If the Air Force does not believe OCCs are bound by these requirements, please provide a justification of how the specific changes to the job description of OCCs referenced in question 3 mean that OCCs are no longer subject to Secs. 529B and 1101, despite potentially continuing DEI activities.
6. Is the Air Force using or planning to use any measurable metrics to determine whether a majority of OCCs’ hours are actually spent on functions unrelated to DEI, and that their position description accurately represents their day-to-day duties? A position description with “expanded duties beyond DEI” does not mean that many OCCs do not continue to primarily carry out DEI activities.
7. Are Prevention Workforce funds used for DEI and/or Organizational Culture training? If so, what is the total amount of Prevention Workforce funds used for those purposes since December 31, 2023?
8. Why has Organizational Culture been placed within the Prevention Workforce and/or combined with the Equal Opportunity (EO) program?
9. Describe how funds are distributed for DEI, EO, and the Prevention Workforce. What funds go to which activities, trainings, and/or programs?
10. What is “integrated resilience”?
11. What is “barrier analysis”?
12. How are EO, DEI, OCC, and Integrated Primary Prevention Workforce (IPPW) different and how are they related? Provide specifics.
In addition, please provide the following information, also no later than July 20, 2024:
13. A copy of the contract, cost, length, and requirements of the contract with Team Triad.
14. The amount of EO funds used by the Air Force for DEI or Organizational Culture training since December 31, 2023.
15. The total amount of Air Force funds used for DEI and/or Organizational Culture training.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this request.
The Committee on Armed Services, under Rule X, clause 1 of the Rules of the House of Representatives (House Rules), maintains oversight jurisdiction over the Department of Defense generally.
Moreover, under the House Rules, the Committee on Armed Services derives its authority to conduct oversight from, among other things, clause 2(b)( I ) of Rule X (relating to general oversight responsibilities), clause 3(b) of Rule X (relating to special oversight functions), and clause 1(b) of rule XI (relating to investigations and studies).
To arrange delivery of documents or ask any related follow-up questions, please contact Hannah Kaufman of the House Committee on Armed Services Majority Staff.
Sincerely
Jim Banks
Chairman
Subcommittee on Military Personnel
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