The U.S. Department of Defense released a memorandum Monday outlining its critical race theory initiative in the Department of the Navy that will take shape through “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Planning Actions” (DEI).
The new effort instructs Caroline Kessmeier, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, to direct several “policies, programs, and operations” among the military. Kessmeier has been assigned to be the Chief Diversity Officer and told Defense Daily in April ” …I believe we must embrace and advocate for a diverse workforce and workplace environment.”
Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Harker signed the memo, which calls for reviews that ensure the branch aligns with its determined goal of imposing affirmative action.
“Equal opportunity is the bedrock of our democracy and diversity is one of our greatest strengths; both are critical to the readiness of our Navy and Marine Corps team and, ultimately, to our mission success,” Harker said. “Aligned with these guiding principles, it is the policy of the Department of the Navy (DON) to continue making transformative and meaningful steps that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in our policies, programs, and operations across the enterprise.”
Harker discusses “equal opportunity” but the memo directly calls for an initiative that resembles an equitable framework or equality of outcome. This includes “improving the pace of diversity and the strength of the applicant” in the Navy and perpetual reviews by officers to put forth “diversity policies.”
There are various outlined initiatives by the Navy, which are extraordinarily vague. One calls for a “commitment” to DEI internally, another relates to partners and contractors, and another introduces a process of “[re]naming Navy and Marine Corps assets to identify measures to improve diversity representation.” The memo instructs the Navy to only assign those in alignment with the DEI ideology to positions of power, including Senior Executives. Additionally, the Navy says it will “examine” all “authoritative data” to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive “environment.”
“People need to understand that these words, ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ and ‘inclusion,’ don’t mean what people think they mean, and they’re used by the people pushing them to install politically friendly apparatchiks under a socially responsible-sounding cloak,” James Lindsay, founder of New Discourses told The Federalist. “The easiest way to realize this is what’s going on is how overtly political yet operationally vague these projects are.”
Government agencies have increasingly embraced left-wing doctrine on identity and equity. The Pentagon hired Richard Torres-Estrada as a Diversity Chief, only to be reassigned after inflammatory tweets re-surfaced in which Torres-Estrada compared former President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler.
The Central Intelligence Agency released recruitment videos promoting arbitrary gender theory and diversity, and the Department of Defense went woke in March in its targeting of Fox News host Tucker Carlson for critiquing the feminization of the military. Earlier this month, Tennessee Republican Rep. Mark Green put forth a measure to ban critical race theory from being taught in U.S. military service academies.
In June 2020, the Navy created a task force “to address the issues of racism, sexism and other destructive biases and their impact on naval readiness.” This included a woke pledge mandated for individuals to recite if they wish to join the Navy.
“The task force will seek to promptly address the full spectrum of systemic racism, advocate for the needs of underserved communities, work to dismantle barriers and equalize professional development frameworks and opportunities within the Navy,” the Navy said in a statement last year.
The released memo does not clarify how the Navy plans to ensure legitimate equal opportunity for people of all races.
