At a recent hearing, Senator Schmitt told the Secretary of the Air Force DIE is divisive and cultural Marxism, and that to be a great leader, the Secretary should fire every DEI position in the Air Force.
2:20 mark:
Senator Schmitt: I sent a letter to Secretary Austin asking for some accountability with these DEI positions that have found their way throughout the Pentagon and our armed services.
Secretary Kendall, do you know how many DEI positions exist in the Air Force, full-time positions?
Secretary Kendall: It is a relatively small number, Senator. We’re in process of complying with the law and will comply with it. I think the due date to have this done is about the middle of June if I remember right, so we’ll get you the exact….
Senator Schmitt: The answer is 70, 70. The Navy has 18, the Army has 19. Those are 18 and 19 too many as far as I’m concerned.
But what do these people do all day long? I’m asking the question, what do these DEI coordinators do all day long–70 of them in the Air Force?
Secretary Kendall: I think I thought the number was higher than that actually.
Senator Schmitt: Well that’s full-time position so I am actually very curious now what your report might show. But 70 full-time positions, what do they do?
Secretary Kendall: They oversee programs that are in that area. They oversee our training in that area. They are responsible for some of our data collection that related to that. We did two disparity reports in the department that were started before I came in and probably shortly afterwards, they’re responsible for that. Those reports showed pretty significant disparities and results of things like the criminal justices system in promotions and command selection rates and in senior school selection and those pointed us at actions we could take to try to address some of those concerns. They have done I think valuable work for the Department.
Senator Schmitt: I look forward to your full report.
I could make a suggestion how you could be a real leader for the country: you should fire them all, every single one of them. It’s so divisive.
Senator Tuberville talked about recruiting. The elephant in the room is, the truth is that this is dividing our folks in the military by race. It is taking us backwards.
It’s cultural Marxism and somehow you’re here today defending this!
I’ve got legislation to get rid of them all you could take a real leadership position by firing everybody tomorrow, that’d be great.
Secretary Kendall: Just as a quick comment, I think we have a fundamental difference of opinion about DEI.
Senator Schmitt: We do, we certainly do.
Why just the Air Force?