In Washington, the reality at the Pentagon currently seems to be in stark contrast to the Trump administration’s prevailing emphasis on boosting military lethality. Service members and civilian employees are now deeply engrossed in the cumbersome task of sifting through years of multimedia to erase references that emphasize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). This sweeping order comes amidst the ongoing personnel adjustments within the Department of Defense.
Recently, a memo was issued by the defense department’s top public affairs official, instructing all military sections to meticulously review their past posts, articles, photographs, and videos. The focus is to eliminate any content that highlights DEI. If unable to complete this by the given deadline of March 5, units are compelled to temporarily take down all content from the Biden administration’s tenure, effectively wiping away the digital footprint of the last four years.
This directive coincides with the military’s endeavor to identify which civilian employees may be let go, in line with the Trump administration’s broader initiative to streamline the government workforce. The initiative has already seen a shake-up in the military hierarchy, with several senior officials, including top generals and admirals, recently dismissed from their posts. Though an emphasis has been placed on removing “woke” leadership, some terminations, such as those concerning Judge Advocates General, remain puzzling as they seemingly diverge from the initiative’s ideological criteria.
Days prior, a separate memo reiterated a similar guidance for military branches to stay neutral and prioritize their apolitical commitments amidst mounting scrutiny. “Given the intense focus on recent changes within the department, maintaining the public trust is more important than ever,” the memo by Darin Selnick, acting undersecretary for personnel, urged.
Aligning with President Trump’s executive order to abolish federal DEI initiatives, this move has sparked uncertainty among stakeholders. While Trump recognized Black History Month with prominent guests, like Tiger Woods, federal bodies grapple with interpreting mixed signals. Early in the DEI content purge conversations, military leads were told to scrub their archives swiftly. Faced with logistical challenges, they received the option of eradicating all recent content, essentially beginning anew without Biden’s contributions online.
The cumbersome directive has diverted essential manpower, raising concerns about its impact on achieving Trump’s overarching goal of enhancing military combat capabilities. The task demands pulling staff away from mission-critical assignments to focus on internet clean-up—an effort deemed by many as non-essential amid rising threats.
The bulk nature of this directive leaves ambiguity in deciding what classifies as DEI-related content. The memo broadly defines it as content pertaining to critical race theory, gender ideology, or instances seemingly in opposition to merit-based principles. The push also calls for ending observations of cultural awareness months, criticized in Secretary Pete Hegseth’s earlier memo as counterproductive to unity and operational focus.
Significant questions have arisen over how employees will ascertain what to remove and concerns remain over potential overreach—an all-too-real risk following an earlier incident with the Air Force. After removing a training module featuring the Tuskegee Airmen, the service faced backlash, creating a cautionary tale about prematurely wiping historically significant materials.
As the directives unfold, the Pentagon juggles between maintaining its commitment to building a non-partisan and lethal fighting force while reassessing digital content that might conflict with evolving administrative orders. It remains to be seen how well it can balance these priorities amid the operational upheaval.
