U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gestures as he meets with El Salvador Defense Minister Rene Merino Monroy at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 16, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted a screenshot on Friday on the social platform X of an article about the elimination of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) roles at the Department of Defense (DOD), with the caption, "As we said from day one: DEI is DEAD at DOD."
The headline of the article published in Defense One on Thursday, included in Hegseth's screenshot, reads, "There’s no more DEI at DOD, watchdog finds."
However, the secretary appeared to miss the line right below the headline which stated that most of these roles were eliminated last year by an act of Congress, and not under the Trump administration as Hegseth's post implied.
"The Pentagon has officially eliminated all diversity, equity, and inclusion jobs, to comply with White House executive orders, according to a watchdog report. But Congress had already done the heavy lifting last year," the article noted.
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The piece quoted a Government Accountability Office (GAO)'s report released Thursday, according to which the DOD went from 115 to just 41 DEI jobs by July 2024 per a provision in the 2024 annual defense policy law.
According to the GAO website, data on civilian, military and contract personnel employed to develop and implement DEI policy across DOD was reviewed. "In response to the law, DOD reduced its DEI workforce. DOD further eliminated all remaining DEI positions to implement the executive orders," the website says.
In his first week in office, President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders (EOs) targeting DEI measures in the public and private sectors. However, these anti-DEI orders have faced legal challenges and critics argue the measures are unfairly targeting people of color.
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