The Daily Caller News Foundation has obtained documents that it says reflect the Biden-Harris Pentagon's "intense focus" on implementing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the armed forces, even as the military continues to combat dwindling morale among its rank-and-file, recruiting and retention shortfalls, and low pay.
In 2022, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman C.Q. Brown (pictured above) – who at the time was the highest-ranking member of the Air Force – issued a memorandum that the branch hoped to "achieve" a reduced number of white males in its Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) officer's applicant program.
"Diversity and inclusion are an essential part of our society and key to the success of any organization," the memo states. "As such, it is imperative that the composition of our Military Services better reflect our Nation's highly talented diverse, and eligible population."
The memo goes on to identify officer applicant pool goals, "broken down by race, ethnicity, and gender."
Derek Jones is a retired Air Force fighter pilot who now serves as executive director of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. "The military is a fighting force. It is meant to defend our nation," he tells AFN. "It is not meant to be a social experiment or to forward some sort of radical, ridiculous DEI agenda."
Among the documents Daily Caller obtained was a graph titled "AFROTC White," which projects percentages of white male ROTC applicants dropping from about 60% in FY2019 to a projected 50% in FY2023 – and then to about 43% by FY2029. "White male population will decline as other demographics increase," says the graph.
Jones argues the military is no place for racial or gender quotas, as implied by the "goals" outlined in the memo.
"They should discriminate against people who do not possess the skills to bring death and destruction to the enemy," he explains. "That is the role of the United States military.
"We need the best qualified people," Jones continues. "I don't care if they're black, white, pink, purple or what color. The fact that they are trying to do this is a complete travesty. It's just simply unacceptable."
Jones argues that if this is true, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Brown should resign.
