Last year, major issues of concern to CMR were approved in the House and some in the Senate, but senior Democratic Party leaders intervened to ensure that many were watered down or dropped during a Conference Committee process that was not fair or open to scrutiny.

Because all the issues listed on CMR’s Challenge to Congress are even more important today, House members and Senators should resubmit and pass as many as possible.  The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 landmark decision ending racial discrimination in higher education should inspire even more determination in Congress to help our military, which is in trouble.  

CMR is following all twelve objectives on our CMR Challenge to Congress, emphasizing two priorities for 2024:  Meritocracy and non-discrimination in the military, and the need to dismantle “diversity, equity, & inclusion” (DEI) power bases in the Pentagon.

Our newest CMR Policy Analysis, highlighted in Section A below, provides an overview of how the Diversity Industrial Complex within the Department of Defense grew to be so powerful, and what must be done to neutralize and eliminate it:

• CMR: Why Congress Should Codify Meritocracy in the Military and Dismantle the Pentagon’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Complex

This edition of CMR E-Notes also highlights the detailed Statement that CMR submitted for the record of the Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity & Inclusion (DACODAI).  (See Section B below.)

Positive actions in this Congress will lay the groundwork for policy corrections starting in 2025, depending on what is adopted in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2025 and the outcome of the election.

Personal Note to CMR Friends: I don’t say this often, but I must tell you that CMR’s resources are not equal to what we need to do this year and into the next administration.  We need your help!  In the past year, our expenses have increased, but even with generous contributions from CMR Friends, our resources are not keeping up. 

It would mean a great deal to me if you took a moment to send a generous, tax-deductible contribution to CMR, using our secure contribution page, linked here.

Many thanks for your help in supporting our troops in CMR’s unique field of public policy.

                                                                                  -  Elaine Donnelly

A.  CMR Analyzes Progression of DEI Industrial Complex

CMR is encouraging members of the House and Senate to use its Art. 1, Sect. 8 legislative powers to build on the progress made in last year’s defense bill for 2024.  For example, Congress should:

• Establish colorblindness and meritocracy as sole considerations in all aspects of DoD operations, programs, and policies.

• Firmly and unequivocally declare that the DoD and the military services shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group based on race, color, ethnicity, or national origin.
  

• Discredit, defund, and disestablish the Pentagon’s DEI bureaucracy, including the Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity & Inclusion (DACODAI).

• Prohibit the use of funds for training programs and instructions that promote divisive critical race theory (CRT) ideology at the military service academies and DoD Education Activity (DoDEA).

This CMR Policy Analysis chronicles significant events that established or expanded DEI offices, reports, and mandates: 

• CMR: Why Congress Should Codify Meritocracy in the Military and Dismantle the Pentagon’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Complex
  

Major turning points along the way have included:

• The 2011 Military Leadership Diversity Commission (MLDC) Report, which called for an end to “color-blindness” and asserted that “good diversity management . . . is not about treating everyone the same.”
  

• DoD Instruction (DoDI) 1350.02, which incrementally re-defined racial discrimination in the DoD’s Military Equal Opportunity (MEO) and added sexual minorities and transgenders to the list of protected groups that may not be discriminated against.

• The Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity & Inclusion (DACODAI), which is working to implement MLDC recommendations, including the idea that discriminatory DEI policies should replace color-blindness and people should not be treated the same.

• Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14091, which imposed race-sensitive diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) mandates (quotas) on all government departments, including Defense.

In exercising diligent oversight, Congress should rely on and extend the Supreme Court’s 2023 landmark decision declaring racial discrimination in higher education to be unconstitutional. 

The military service academies were not parties in litigation titled Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard & U. of N. Carolina, but the Court sent a strong signal when it disregarded Biden Administration objections and applied its ruling to ROTC programs at civilian universities.

 Our military is in trouble and urgent action is needed to fix the problems that are weakening the armed forces.  Even if the Biden Administration resists constructive changes to restore readiness and morale in our military, by doing the right thing, lawmakers should help to lay the groundwork for changes in the next Administration.

B.  DACODAI Promotes Single-Minded DEI Ideology

In 2011, the Pentagon’s Military Leadership Diversity Commission (MLDC) issued a Final Report, which Pentagon officials have constantly quoted in justifying radical social changes in the military.

Now the Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity & Inclusion is picking up where the MLDC left off.  Retired Air Force General Lester Lyles, who chaired the MLDC, has been brought back to chair the DACODAI, The MLDC Final Report is prominently displayed on the DACODAI website, and the two organizations have displayed near-identical logos.

The single-minded DACODAI is systematically pushing for implementation of MLDC recommendations, advertised with the Defense Department’s favorite woke meme, “Diversity is a Strategic Imperative.” 

The Center for Military Readiness filed a formal Statement for the Record of the DACODAI meeting on May 2, which is summarized in the first article here:

• CMR Statement to the DoD: Reassess and Revoke Harmful DEI Policies

This is the full-length Statement, which includes footnoted links to a wide range of supporting documents: 

• CMR Statement for the Record of the Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity & Inclusion (DACODAI, May 2, 2024 (21 pages)

Following instructions in the Federal Register announcement of the meeting, CMR asked for the opportunity to present a short summary in person (which was denied) and to attend the meeting on May 2.  The DACODAI Executive Director approved attendance but suddenly cancelled due to unexplained “unforeseen circumstances.”

The DACODAI meeting record has posted CMR’s Statement on its website, misspelling “Donnelly” and omitting her ID: President, Center for Military Readiness.  These are not major concerns, except for what they say about the DACODAI’s attitude of arrogance, ideological uniformity, and non-accountability.  CMR nevertheless hopes that researchers will locate and use information in the Statement when the DACODAI issues a report that is sure to promote DEI ideology in future legal and legislative proceedings.

C.  DoD DEI “Experts” Exposed for Using Junk Social Science

Congress should do what many corporations and state government institutions are doing: defunding and discontinuing expenditures for useless DEI offices, consultants, and enforcement mechanisms.  (See numerous Articles of Interest below.)

The Pentagon keeps publishing DEI Strategic Plans illustrated by politically correct photos and graphs.  But the colorful brochures and slide shows cannot disguise the lack of solid data proving that military readiness depends on demographic diversity among officers equal to that in enlisted ranks.

Sometimes footnotes referencing “expert” opinions on diversity appear in pro-DEI guidebooks like the Task Force One Navy (TF1N) report.  A closer look, however, revealed that sources cited in the TF1N Report were all about civilian enterprises, not the military. 

One of the most prominent civilian “experts” cited in reports like this is McKinsey & Associates.  It has come to light, however, that McKinsey has employed practices that amount to “cooking the data.”  As The Federalist recently reported, “A 30-page paper published in Econ Journal Watch found that studies conducted by the consulting giant in 2015, 2018, 2020, and 2023 could not be verified to find significant results supporting conclusions that favor corporate DEI regimes.”

• Tristan Justice, The Federalist: Report Shows McKinsey's DEI Studies Were Garbage

The Executive Summary of the data-rich Econ Justice Watch report clearly discredits the ideology behind the Diversity Industrial Complex, which is even more problematic in the military than in the civilian business world because it creates nothing but division and distrust. 

Jonathan Butcher of the Heritage Foundation also commented on the worthlessness of DEI offices and programs: “DEI Has Failed; We Do Not Need More of It.” 

 Excerpt: “Research has already shown that (1) diversity training programs have failed to improve attitudes and behaviors for years, and (2) attempts to reduce bias through measuring just how much each of us has stored away in the recesses of our mind have been a spectacular bust.  Anthropology Now reports that “hundreds of studies dating back to the 1930s suggest that anti-bias training doesn’t reduce bias.”

The use of deeply flawed “research” matters because a future DACODAI report likely will be used to defeat congressional efforts to end wokeism in the military.

The Department of Justice also is likely to cite a future pro-DEI DACODAI report as “professional military opinion” while representing the Defense Department in its opposition to litigation filed by Students for Fair Admissions to end racial discrimination at the military service academies. 

This SFFA litigation hopes to extend the Supreme Court’s landmark 2023 ruling ending discrimination in civilian higher education. (SFFA vs. Harvard & University of N. Carolina) to the military service academies, which were not parties to that case. 

What You Can Do:

Americans who are concerned about the state of our military and want to do something about it should contact their own U.S. Senator and member of Congress by calling the U.S. Capitol: 202/224-3121, or by sending messages through their searchable Senate or House websites. 

D.  Articles of Interest

• USA Today: University of Wyoming DEI department gets the chop
• Daily Mail Online: UNC Chapel Hill Abolishes DEI Department and Transfers All Funds to Campus Cops after Frat Brothers Were Left to Defend the Flag 
• The Daily Caller - EXCLUSIVE: Pentagon Says It Can’t Calculate Diversity Training Costs Because Congress Defunded DEI Offices
• Amy Haywood, The Federalist: DOD Secretly Doubles Down On DEI Initiatives In K-12 Schools
• Tristan Justice, The Federalist: Report Shows McKinsey's DEI Studies Were Garbage
• Jonathan Butcher, Heritage Foundation: “DEI Has Failed; We Do Not Need More of It.” 
• Elaine Donnelly, RealClearDefense and The Federalist: If ‘Diversity Is Our Strength,’ Why Is Our Military So Weak?
• Wall Street Journal: Pop Goes the DEI Bubble
• Daily Signal: Effort to Root 'Extremists' Out of Military May Harm Recruitment
• AEI, Max Eden: Biden’s Defense Department is Trying to Hide Its DEI Agenda
• The Federalist: DOD Secretly Doubles Down On DEI Initiatives In K-12 Schools
• Inc.com: Zoom Layoffs Target DEI Amid a Broader Pullback on Diversity Initiatives
• Adam Andrzejewski, Open the Books, Substack: Pentagon Secretly Institutionalized DEI in Its K-12 Public Schools
• The National Desk: Pentagon 'stealthily' pushing DEI in K-12 schools despite public pressure, report shows
• American Family News: More money for a woke Pentagon? ‘No sir, not this time,' says senator )
• Wall Street Journal: The Military’s Phantom ‘Extremists’
• Will Thibeau, Daily Caller: Biden is building a military based on DEI and wokeness–we need merit and preparedness
• Daily Caller: EXCLUSIVE: ‘A Huge Blow’: Decline In White Recruits Fueling The Military’s Worst-Ever Recruiting Crisis, Data Shows

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 The Center for Military Readiness (CMR) is an independent public policy organization, founded in 1993, which reports on and analyzes military/social issues.  More information is on the CMR website, www.cmrlink.org.  To make a tax-deductible contribution to CMR, click here.