Is Someone at DoD Trying to Make Anti-DEI Efforts Look Bad?

The headline in the Washington Post for Monday, March 18, reads: "Amid ‘DEI’ purge, Pentagon removes webpage on Iwo Jima flag-raiser." Web pages praising Navajo code talkers and other minorities, including Pfc. Ira Hayes, a Native American who helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima, have been disappeared from the DoD website.

Who did it? The article implies that Donald Trump's DEI executive order is to blame. "The purge, which also targeted multiple webpages about women and LGBTQ+ service members, highlights how aggressively military leaders are pursuing President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI mandate."

Which "military leaders" are responsible for removing the names and information of American heroes from the DoD's public record?

Even more bizarre, some of the websites for individual services maintain the same records that have been removed from the main DoD website.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he wanted to ban DEI from federal government programs and contracts, which he claimed were “immoral” and wasteful." Hesgeth said nothing about "purging" the DoD website of information about American heroes.

A Hegseth aide is quoted in the WaPo article as announcing a “digital content refresh,” requiring officials to take “all practicable steps” to remove articles from the department's website and social media accounts that “promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion."

Information about recognized American heroes like Hayes and the Navajo code talkers "promotes" DEI in only the most roundabout way. So the question remains: Who gave the damn order to remove these American heroes from the DoD website?

In response to a query from the Post reporter, Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot issued a statement.

“As Secretary Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department. Efforts to divide the force — to put one group ahead of another through DEI programs — erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution,” Ullyot said Monday. He added, “In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly.”

What does it mean to "instruct components accordingly"?

Last week, the website Task & Purpose, which covers military news, reported that Arlington National Cemetery had removed links on its website to information about prominent Black, Hispanic and female service members, along with material on topics such as the Civil War. A Defense Department webpage about Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers, a Medal of Honor recipient who was Black, was also briefly removed, before later being restored. Axios first reported the removal of more pages, including those about code talkers, earlier Monday.
The removal of the article about Hayes is particularly notable because of the legendary status of the Iwo Jima flag-raising photograph, which the Pentagon has labeled an “iconic image.” The photograph, which was taken on Feb. 23, 1945, by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press, won a Pulitzer Prize and was the model for a statue that serves as the centerpiece of the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

Someone in the chain of command wants the anti-DEI effort to look ridiculous, as well as racist and sexist. It's not. A hero is a hero. Holding up as an example of devotion to duty and love of country a black, Hispanic, or Native American who all bled red blood for the United States is not "promoting" anything except love of country and pride in the awesome courage of these men.

Stop playing stupid political games with our military heroes, regardless of their color, sex, or ethnic heritage.