DefSec Austin: Military Focus is on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

In a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said although he did not think the military is “fundamentally racist,” there is a focus on “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) grilled Austin on “several hundred” whistleblower complaints from service members who said they were essentially being indoctrinated with the racist critical race theory which Austin ordered earlier this year.

“Soldiers have come forward to tell us that they have been forced to watch videos about systemic racism and documentaries that rewrite America’s history as a fundamentally racist and evil nation,” Cotton said. “Mr. Secretary, we’re hearing reports of plummeting morale, growing mistrust between the races and the sexes where none existed just six months ago, and unexpected separations and retirements based on these trainings alone.”

Austin responded that he did not believe the military is fundamentally racist or that anyone in it should be treated differently based on skin color or sex, stating, “That is why we have Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion focus in the military.” He added, “I would also say that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is important to this military now and it will be important in the future. We are going to make sure our military looks like America and that our leadership looks like what’s in the ranks of the military.”

Cotton shot back, “This is not about diversity in general, though. This is about a very specific kind of anti-American indoctrination that is seeping in to some parts of our military based on the whistleblower complaints we have received.”