WASHINGTON—Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is taking further action to ensure that only the best and brightest applicants enter America&#8217;s military academies.
Beginning with the 2026 United States Military admissions cycle, the Defense Department will not apply race or sex-based preferences during review processes for applicants to the Military Services Academies, Hegseth announced in a memo exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire.
The move is part of the continued pushback from President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration to remove ideological principles from his agencies and to focus hiring and admissions on merit, rather than race or sex. This is particularly important in the United States military, Hegseth said in the memo, which was issued Friday, arguing that &#8220;only the most qualified candidates are admitted, trained, and ultimately&#8221; admitted to lead &#8220;the finest fighting force in history.&#8221;
&#8220;The Military Service Academies (MSA) are elite warfighting institutions with long histories of producing world class military officers,&#8221; the defense secretary said in the memo. &#8220;The Department owes it to our Nation, our Service members, and the young Americans applying to the MSAs to ensure admissions to these prestigious institutions are based exclusively on merit.&#8221;
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_918347" style="width: 473px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/?attachment_id=918347" rel="attachment wp-att-918347"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-918347" class="wp-image-918347 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-09-at-2.20.45%E2%80%AFPM-463x576.png" alt="Memo exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire. " width="463" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-09-at-2.20.45%E2%80%AFPM-463x576.png 463w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-09-at-2.20.45%E2%80%AFPM-241x300.png 241w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-09-at-2.20.45%E2%80%AFPM-768x956.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-09-at-2.20.45%E2%80%AFPM.png 1070w" sizes="(max-width: 463px) 100vw, 463px" /></a>Memo exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire.</div>
&#8220;Selecting anyone but the best erodes lethality, our warfighting readiness, and undercuts the culture of excellence in our Armed Forces,&#8221; Hegseth said.
The memo directs secretaries of military departments to certify within 30 days that Military Service Academies&#8217; admissions offices will apply &#8220;no consideration of race, ethnicity, or sex&#8221; and will offer &#8220;admission based exclusively on merit.&#8221;
“Unlike the previous administration — whose policies put immutable characteristics before ability – Secretary Hegseth is requiring our Military Service Academies to base their admissions exclusively on merit, rewarding individual initiative, excellence, and hard work,&#8221; acting Defense Department Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson told The Daily Wire.
The Pentagon views the move as necessary to properly defend the United States. The Military Service Academies are a cornerstone in their efforts to produce world-class military officers. After the completion of the 2026 Military Service Academies admissions cycle, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness will certify that each of the MSAs are compliant with the new practices prioritizing merit, The Daily Wire has learned.
&#8220;The Department must remain steadfast in its pursuit of excellence and never compromise the high standards at our MSAs,&#8221; Hegseth concluded. &#8220;A strong officer corps is essential to ensuring the United States military remains the most lethal the world has ever known.&#8221;
The directive builds off Trump&#8217;s January executive order &#8220;Restoring America’s Fighting Force,&#8221; which states that &#8220;no individual or group within our Armed Forces should be preferred or disadvantaged on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, color, or creed.&#8221; Trump directed that all DEI offices within the Defense Department be abolished and banned the military from &#8220;promoting, advancing, or otherwise inculcating the following un-American, divisive, discriminatory, radical, extremist, and irrational theories.&#8221;

President Trump Delivers Speech In Michigan To Mark 100 Days Of His Presidency

EXCLUSIVE: Hegseth Makes Monumental Change To Admissions At Military Academies

Department of Defense

Pentagon

Pete Hegseth

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will travel next week to Panama, where President Donald Trump has made headlines with his calls to take control of the famed Panama Canal, the Defense Department announced on Friday.
Hegseth will leave the United States early next week for a trip to Panama City, Panama to participate in the 2025 Central American Security Conference.
&#8220;The Secretary will meet with partner-nation senior civilian, military, and security leadership in a series of bilateral meetings that will drive ongoing efforts to strengthen our partnerships with Panama and other Central American nations toward our shared vision for a peaceful and secure Western Hemisphere,&#8221; chief spokesman Sean Parnell said.
After the Panama segment of the trip, the Defense Secretary will head to Eglin Air Force Base in the western Florida panhandle &#8220;to visit service members and command leadership at 7th Special Forces Group.&#8221;
The visit comes after President Donald Trump said in his joint address to Congress that he plans to reclaim the Panama Canal. &#8220;We didn’t give it to China; we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,&#8221; the president said in early March.
This was not the first time the president had articulated interest in Panama Canal. In December, he expressed frustration about the fees Panama charges the U.S. to use the canal, saying in a Truth Social post: “The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the U.S. This complete ‘rip-off’ of our Country will immediately stop.”
Panama&#8217;s President José Raúl Mulino responded to Trump&#8217;s March remarks by accusing Trump of lying, writing in an &#8220;X&#8221; post: &#8220;Once again, President Trump is lying. The Panama Canal is not in the process of being restored, and this is certainly not the task that was even discussed in our conversations with Secretary Rubio or anyone else.&#8221;
&#8220;I reject, on behalf of Panama and all Panamanians, this new affront to the truth and to our dignity as a nation,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;Cooperation between our governments requires clear understandings on issues of mutual interest, as has been done. It has nothing to do with the &#8216;recovery of the Canal&#8217; or with tarnishing our national sovereignty. The Canal is Panamanian and will continue to be Panamanian!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Nuevamente miente el Presidente Trump. El Canal de Panamá no está en proceso de recuperación y mucho menos es la tarea que en nuestras conversaciones con el Secretario Rubio ni ningún otro se haya ni siquiera conversado. Rechazo a nombre de Panamá y de todos los panameños esta…
— José Raúl Mulino (@JoseRaulMulino) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoseRaulMulino/status/1897268186191450454?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2025</a></blockquote>

(Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Hegseth Heads To Panama Following Trump Vow To Take Back Panama Canal

Florida

Panama

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon&#8217;s independent watchdog announced on Thursday that it is reviewing how Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth used Signal in a group chat with top National Security officials as they discussed military strikes against the Houthis.
Acting Inspector General Steven Stebbins <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2025/Apr/03/2003681607/-1/-1/1/EVALUATION%20OF%20THE%20SECRETARY%20OF%20DEFENSE'S%20REPORTED%20USE%20OF%20A%20COMMERCIALLY%20AVAILABLE%20MESSAGE%20APPLICATION%20FOR%20OFFICER%20BUSINESS%20(PROJECT%20NO.%20D2025-DEV0PC-0095.000).PDF">shared the news in a letter to Hegseth</a>, noting that the evaluation is in response to a request from the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who asked for an investigation into Hegseth&#8217;s use of &#8220;an unclassified commercially available messaging application,&#8221; as Stebbins wrote.
&#8220;The objective of this evaluation is to determine the extent to which the Secretary of Defense and other DoD personnel complied with DoD policies and procedures for the use of a commercial messaging application for official business,&#8221; Stebbins said in the letter. &#8220;Additionally, we will review compliance with classification and records retention requirements. We may revise the objective as the evaluation proceeds.&#8221;
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cm91owy4k00063b6m21cns9v1@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true" data-analytics-observe="off">Both the White House and Hegseth himself have maintained that the information shared in the Signal chat was not classified.
In mid March, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, a journalist known for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-acknowledges-journalist-was-inadvertently-added-to-high-level-chat-on-houthi-strikes">his critical pieces</a> on Trump, revealed that he had been inadvertently added to a national security group chat in which top Trump officials discussed airstrikes in Yemen. That chat included Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and other members of Trump’s inner circle on March 15, as the national security team deliberated launching airstrikes on the Houthis.
The White House confirmed shortly after Goldberg published his story that the chat appeared to be authentic, and has since said that no classified information was shared. Hegseth has also pushed back against the notion that “war plans” were shared, and the entire Trump team has aggressively messaged that The Atlantic is a liberal, anti-Trump publication — and that Goldberg himself is a hack.
<div id="attachment_902761" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pentagon-ig-to-investigate-pete-hegseths-signal-use/president-trump-meets-with-nato-secretary-general-mark-rutte-in-the-oval-office-of-the-white-house-3" rel="attachment wp-att-902761"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-902761" class="wp-image-902761 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2204329121-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2204329121-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2204329121-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2204329121-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2204329121.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</div>
The evaluation will be performed in accordance with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency &#8220;Quality Standards for Inspection and Evaluation,&#8221; Stebbins said, and it will be performed in Washington, D.C., and at the U.S. Central Command Headquarters in Tampa, Florida — though they may identify additional locations during the evaluation.
&#8220;We request that you designate two points of contact for this evaluation within 5 days of this memorandum,&#8221; the letter states. &#8220;One point of contact should be a Government employee—a GS-15, pay band equivalent, or military equivalent—who is knowledgeable of the subject. The second point of contact should be a member of the Senior Executive Service or a General/Flag Officer who is familiar with the subject and could serve as a point of engagement with DoD Office of Inspector General senior leaders, if necessary.&#8221;

President Trump Holds “Make America Wealthy Again Event” In White House Rose Garden

Pentagon IG To Investigate Pete Hegseth’s Signal Use

Executive

Politics

WASHINGTON—Jenn Hegseth has never attended meetings with her husband, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, where either sensitive information or classified information was discussed, a Pentagon spokeswoman told The Daily Wire.
The statement refutes a report from The Wall Street Journal that Hegseth brought his wife to &#8220;sensitive meetings with foreign military officials.&#8221; Hegseth spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson told The Daily Wire that she made the Journal aware of the &#8220;inaccuracies&#8221; in its reporting, but that the publication stood by its reporting and chose not to update its story.
Further, the Wall Street Journal reporter who reached out initially sent the Pentagon a list of almost two dozen questions with a 90-minute deadline while the Defense team was traveling abroad in Japan, The Daily Wire has learned. When the Defense team received the inquiry, an official shared, it was past midnight in Japan.
The Defense Department told the Journal the deadline was unrealistic, and in the morning, told the publication that Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell would call as soon as they landed in Iwo Jima. However, the Journal published the story while the Pentagon team was in the air, between 8:00 and 9:30 a.m. Tokyo time. When Parnell called the reporter, that reporter said she stood by her reporting.
The incident further demonstrates to the Defense Department that legacy media outlets and D.C. politicians are &#8220;knives out&#8221; for Hegseth, a Defense Department official shared Monday — they&#8217;ll do &#8220;anything they can to undermine his efforts,&#8221; that official said.
<div id="attachment_900459" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pentagon-refutes-wsj-report-that-pete-hegseths-wife-attended-classified-meetings/senate-armed-services-committee-holds-confirmation-hearing-for-pete-hegseth-2" rel="attachment wp-att-900459"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-900459" class="wp-image-900459 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2193331915-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2193331915-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2193331915-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2193331915-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2193331915.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Jennifer and Pete Hegseth (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)</div>
The publication suggested that Hegseth&#8217;s wife&#8217;s presence by his side, whether in meetings with senators ahead of his confirmation or in meetings abroad with foreign officials, signaled that Hegseth is negligent in handling sensitive information. The Journal also highlighted that Jenn Hegseth formerly worked for Fox News as a producer and then as vice president at Fox Nation.
Parnell, the chief spokesman for Hegseth, praised Jenn Hegseth in response to the story.
&#8220;Secretary Hegseth’s wife is an incredibly accomplished woman and leader,&#8221; Parnell told The Daily Wire. &#8220;She is an asset to her husband and an advocate for military families.”
The publication claimed that Jenn Hegseth attended a &#8220;high-level discussion at the Pentagon&#8221; on March 6, a discussion that took place between U.K. Secretary of Defense John Healey and Secretary Hegseth shortly after the United States announced that it had cut off sharing military intelligence with Ukraine.
Two people familiar with the meeting told the Journal that the Pentagon meeting discussed the United States&#8217; rationale behind ending military intelligence sharing with Ukraine as well as future military collaboration between the United States and Ukraine.
Jenn Hegseth exited the March 6 meeting &#8220;before any sensitive and classified discussions occurred,&#8221; Wilson told The Daily Wire.
The Journal also reported that Jenn Hegseth attended a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where allied defense officials discussed support for Ukraine.
Again, Wilson says that Jenn Hegseth attended only the public remarks at the NATO meeting.
She also pushed back on the Journal&#8217;s framing that Hegseth&#8217;s brother, Phillip Hegseth, was &#8220;currently traveling with Hegseth on a tour to visit American allies and bases in Asia.&#8221;
&#8220;He is conducting touch points with U.S. Coast Guard officials as a DHS senior advisor and liaison to DOD,&#8221; she explained, noting that Phillip Hegseth also traveled with his brother on the Defense Secretary&#8217;s trip to the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), coordinating with ICE personnel in his role as a DHS senior advisor.
Additionally, the Journal attributed a number of items of information to Wilson herself that the spokeswoman says she never told the publication. The paper discussed Phillip Hegseth and his new roles with attribution to Wilson. The publication also attributes Wilson when it said that Phillip Hegseth was traveling with his brother in Asia and to Guantanamo Bay last month.
<div>The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s request for comment.</div>

President Trump Delivers First Address To Joint Session Of Congress

Pentagon Refutes WSJ Report That Pete Hegseth’s Wife Attended Classified Meetings

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is reportedly considering firing more than half a dozen generals and flag officers, triggering speculation of a Pentagon shake-up focused on rooting out those &#8220;involved in any of the DEI woke s***&#8221; that permeated the U.S. military during the Biden administration.
According to CNN, rumors of pending dismissals have circulated for several weeks, but a list containing the names of officers who could be let go was recently <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/20/politics/hegseth-could-fire-senior-generals-admirals">sent</a> to Republican lawmakers. Several high-profile generals, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, could be on the chopping block.
In an appearance on the &#8220;Shawn Ryan Show&#8221; before his nomination, Hegseth said of Gen. Brown: &#8220;First of all, you&#8217;ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs &#8230; But any general &#8230; that was involved in any of the DEI woke s*** has got to go &#8230; That&#8217;s the only litmus test we care about.&#8221;
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Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve as Chief of Naval Operations, is also reportedly on the list, which could leave no female four-star officers in the U.S. military if she is removed. In his 2024 book, Hegseth wrote, &#8220;If naval operations suffer, at least we can hold our heads high &#8230; Because at least we have another first! The first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — hooray.&#8221;
According to individuals familiar with Hegseth&#8217;s plan, the list presented on Capitol Hill outlines multiple potential outcomes for senior positions, including possible promotions. Gen. Samuel Paparo of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and Gen. Erik Kurilla of U.S. Central Command have each been discussed as potential replacements for Gen. Brown if a shakeup at the top occurs, though no choice has been finalized.
Meanwhile, a small contingent from the Department of Government Efficiency project has started meeting with Pentagon representatives to manage office space and coordinate budget assessments. Military planners are expected to release updated figures on proposed funding changes in the coming days as part of the ongoing discussions over reshaping defense structures.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Poland

Hegseth Considering Removal Of Top Generals Involved In ‘DEI Woke S***’: Report

Military

Trump Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday morning that he has no plans to withdraw his name from consideration, revealing a recent call he had with President-elect Donald Trump.
“I spoke to the President-elect this morning. He said keep going, keep fighting, find your own way,&#8221; Hegseth told reporters.
Asked about withdrawing his name, the combat veteran responded, &#8220;Why would I back down? I’ve always been a fighter. I’m here for the warfighters. This is personal and passionate for me.”
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The next Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth: “I spoke to the President-elect this morning. He said keep going, keep fighting…
Why would I back down? I’ve always been a fighter. I’m here for the warfighters. This is personal &amp; passionate for me.” 🔥 
<a href="https://t.co/LJFXkTBq1q">pic.twitter.com/LJFXkTBq1q</a>
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1864321152979526046?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2024</a></blockquote>
Hegseth&#8217;s former colleagues at Fox News came to his defense on Tuesday evening after an NBC News report fueled by anonymous sources <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/your-story-is-horsesh-hegseths-colleagues-fiercely-defend-him-after-nbc-news-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> Hegseth was routinely drunk on air.
Fox News’ Will Cain, co-host of &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends Weekend,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/willcain/status/1864077559668850827">responded</a> to the NBC article, “Your story is horses*** @NBCNews. Put my name on it. On the record. It’ll be your only on the record source. Signed, The guy who sat next to him for 8 hours every week for five years starting at 6 am.”
Hegseth&#8217;s other former &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends Weekend&#8221; co-host, Rachel Campos-Duffy, issued a similar response. “The losers at @NBCNews never reached out to me either. @willcain is right – your story IS  horses***,&#8221; she <a href="https://x.com/RCamposDuffy/status/1864155602609447297">wrote</a>. &#8220;You now have 2 people who sat next to him 8+ hours a week on the record. Will you retract or correct your story?”
It was uncovered last month that Hegseth was accused of sexual assault back in 2017. An unnamed woman claims Hegseth sexually assaulted her in a hotel room following a conservative conference. Hegseth said that the encounter was consensual, and police decided against any further action.
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“It’s very simple,” Hegseth <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/11/21/us-news/trump-defense-secretary-pick-pete-hegseth-addresses-alleged-sex-assault/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the press. “The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared, and that’s where I’m gonna leave it.”
Notably, journalist and attorney <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/megyn-kelly" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Megyn Kelly</a> went through the police report on her show and said that the accusation <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/megyn-kelly-methodically-breaks-down-bulls-allegation-against-pete-hegseth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">looks to be &#8220;bulls***&#8221;</a> and stated that it appears the accuser &#8220;was not raped,&#8221; but panicked after her husband became suspicious that she cheated with Hegseth.
Reports circulated Monday evening that Trump is weighing the option of Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as a replacement Secretary of Defense nominee.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/your-story-is-horsesh-hegseths-colleagues-fiercely-defend-him-after-nbc-news-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘Your Story Is Horsesh**’: Hegseth’s Colleagues Fiercely Defend Him After NBC News Attack</a>

WATCH: Pentagon Nominee Pete Hegseth Reveals Details From Call With Trump, Says He Won’t Back Down

Donald Trump

General

NBC News

Conservatives are optimistic that Pete Hegseth will purge left-wing ideology from the military if confirmed as Secretary of Defense.
Hegseth — a veteran and former Fox News host whom President-elect Donald Trump tapped to lead the Defense Department —  is an outspoken critic of the Biden administration&#8217;s embrace of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda. Hegseth is the author of a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pete-hegseth-trumps-pick-for-defense-secretary-wrote-the-book-on-pentagons-fall-to-wokeness">New York Times-bestselling book,</a> “The War On Warriors,” which details the left-wing ideological capture of the military.
Hegseth explained how DEI weakens the military in an interview with Daily Wire host and editor emeritus Ben Shapiro.
“The Left knows that by pushing DEI, now they’ve got black soldiers looking at white soldiers and white soldiers looking at black soldiers wondering who really deserved what or why they’re in a position, which is really toxic for an organization primed on unity,” he said.
<a href="https://dc.claremont.org/author/will-thibeau/">William Thibeau</a>, the director of the Claremont Institute’s American Military Project and an Army Ranger veteran, is a vocal opponent of DEI in the military. He’s also optimistic that a Hegseth-led Pentagon could mark the end of the woke ideology’s presence in the armed services, which he says “break the fundamental integrity&#8221; of the military.
“If future-Secretary Hegseth&#8217;s public comments are any indication, he will restore accountability to the Pentagon with a ruthless push for accountability for uniformed officers who have broken the institution,” Thibeau told The Daily Wire. “He has a proper scope of the problem, and his independence is cause for optimism that he will not hold back in favor of potential future employment.”
He also called on Hegseth to completely root out the DEI agenda immediately upon becoming the Secretary of Defense. “The Hegseth-led Pentagon must take every step necessary to eliminate DEI on day one, without cause to think that the future will be any easier of a fight.”
Eliminating DEI in the military could prove difficult. An ongoing Daily Wire series documents how the Defense Department embraced and promulgated far-left ideology on race and gender, requesting <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-pentagon-slated-to-spend-nearly-270-million-on-diversity-agenda">nearly $270 million</a> across three years to fund its DEI agenda.
Thibeau outlined exactly how he believes a Hegseth-led DOD could most effectively eliminate DEI from the armed services.
“Policies must be clear, bold, and simple. Instead of vague affirmations of the importance of merit, new Pentagon policy must comprehensively and explicitly outline the activities now forbidden,” Thibeau told The Daily Wire. “It&#8217;s not enough to leave up to a bureaucrat general&#8217;s interpretation of a statute. The new Pentagon must leave no room for doubt about policy actions.”
There are also a number of actions Thibeau says Trump’s Defense Department could take to purge the ideology from the military.
“Restore standards. Fix the Army fitness test, return to a professions-based assessment of qualifications without bias based on a person&#8217;s sex,” the Army Ranger veteran said before calling on the Trump administration to “end consideration of race and sex for military personnel and programs. The Pentagon should return to the Truman-era policy of racial integration when the Army would not even maintain a category for race in personnel files.”
“Fire senior officers who have embraced DEI as military policy, or spoken out for it. There must be accountability for senior leaders who have lost the trust of the American people,” Thibeau elaborated.
“Reform the Joint Staff. The Joint Staff is a military bureaucracy that obfuscates decision-making outside of political accountability,” Thibeau went on to say before explaining that staff should be moved to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, while remaining Joint Staff offices should be moved “close to the White House where they will execute their duly-assigned role of advise and consent.”

Pete Hegseth Could Bring An End To DEI In The Military As Defense Sec, Expert Says

The Department of Defense awarded nearly $1.5 million in taxpayer money to a Democratic donor’s company, which makes fake lab-grown meat from fermented fungus.
The Better Meat Company, which uses fungus protein to make fake meat in a lab, is led by CEO Paul Shapiro, an activist with a history of donating to Democrats. The taxpayer-funded <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3878835/dod-releases-seven-awards-for-distributed-bioindustrial-manufacturing-program/">grant</a> will bankroll a “bioproduction facility for mycoprotein ingredients that are shelf-stable, have high protein and fiber contents, and can be dehydrated.” The company <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJO8UtRIEH8&amp;t=670s">creates the phony meat</a> by feeding water and nutrients to fungal roots stored in a bioreactor, turning the material into a semi-solid gray liquid that is strained to finally become the end product.
A Pentagon spokesman told The Daily Wire that the award “is in support of a bioproduction facility for types of protein that are shelf-stable, have high protein and fiber content, and can rapidly support the sustainment requirements of our globally-deployed forces.&#8221;
“We are investing in sources of protein such as chickpeas and tofu. The Department is not funding research into ‘lab-grown’ or ‘fake meat’ &#8211; nor does it have plans to include such protein substitutes in service members&#8217; MREs,” the Pentagon spokesman went on to say.
The grant will, however, fund a “facility for mycoprotein ingredients,” the same exact ingredient used to create the fake meat. The Daily Wire asked the Defense Department if these facilities will be used by the Better Meat Company to create fake meat during or after the grant term, but has not received a response.
The Defense Department <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13552897/pentagon-lab-meat-soldiers-rations-BioMADE.html">previously announced</a> plans to feed imitation meat to soldiers in an attempt to reduce its carbon footprint. The department then backtracked after being hit with widespread criticism, and <a href="https://www.drovers.com/news/department-defense-backs-feeding-lab-grown-protein">agreed not to fund</a> the fake meat initiative this July — just before the Pentagon seemingly reversed course again with its grant to the Better Meat Company.
“We believe the future of meat production is fermentation-fueled,” the Better Meat Company <a href="https://www.bettermeat.co/our-mission">claims</a> on its site. “We aspire to revolutionize the meat industry by creating a new and better way to make meat,” it says, referencing its faux-meat product.
Jack Hubbard is the Executive Director of the <a href="https://environmentandwelfare.com/?_sm_nck=1">Center for the Environment and Welfare</a>, an organization “founded to help consumers, companies, and stakeholders navigate issues related to sustainability and animal welfare.” Hubbard tore into the Defense Department&#8217;s grant and expressed concern that the funding would support the company behind the production of phony meat.
“America’s foreign enemies are laughing at us,” he said, asserting that the Pentagon should stick to national security instead of diverting taxpayer dollars to companies that produce fake meat.
Other fake meat products have been found to result in <a href="https://www.fooddive.com/news/better-meat-awarded-grant-department-of-defense/725392/">various health problems</a>, including hives and swelling of the throat, one <a href="https://www.cspinet.org/news/quorns-mycoprotein-linked-severe-allergic-reactions-gastrointestinal-symptoms-new-report">study</a> found.
The Better Meat Company’s fake meat production appears to be ideologically motivated. Shapiro previously worked as a vice president at the Humane Society. One Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/30/humane-society-sexual-harassment-allegations-investigation-216553/">profile of Shapiro</a> in 2018, which detailed extensive sexual harassment allegations against him, called the Better Meat CEO “one of the nation’s most consequential animal rights advocates.”
“The problem today is that we are using vast numbers of geese, ducks, chickens, turkeys, pigs, cows, and other animals that we frankly really like to eat,” Shapiro said in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&amp;v=VWqNqp4i77Y&amp;embeds_widget_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bettermeat.co%2F&amp;embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com%2F&amp;embeds_referring_origin=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com&amp;source_ve_path=Mjg2NjQsMjM4NTE">speech</a> about his company.
Shapiro also has a history of <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Paul+shapiro&amp;page=2">donating to Democrats,</a> including former New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD).

Fake Meat

Pentagon Gives $1.5 Million To Dem Activist’s Fake Meat Laboratory

The Department of Defense and a contracting organization were compelled to abandon a racially-driven hiring pipeline following the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision overturning affirmative action, The Daily Wire has learned.
The Defense Department awarded almost $760,000 in taxpayer funds to the University of Missouri-Kansas City to create a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) career pipeline program that discriminated against white and male students in an attempt to reach “equity-focused” goals, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-biden-harris-admin-paid-consultants-millions-to-help-military-implement-race-based-hiring-combat-resistance-to-dei">exclusively reported</a>.
The proposed DEI pipeline was kneecapped when the Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action policies were unlawful in the June 2023 case Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
“Immediately following the summer 2023 Supreme Court decision, the internship criteria was revised in compliance with the ruling,” Stacy Downs, the Director of Strategic Communications for the University of Missouri-Kansas City, told The Daily Wire.
That revision comes as public and private institutions alike embrace the DEI agenda, which often justifies the use of discriminatory selection criteria in jobs and internships as a means to address the systemic racism proponents claim exists in American society.
Before the High Court&#8217;s ruling, the university was explicit about its intent to help the Defense Department discriminate against white and male students.
“To meet our equity-focused programmatic goals, campus internship selection will be equitable such that qualified applicants from underserved and underrepresented cohorts … will be provided first choice,” the designers of the career pipeline program explained.
Downs says that the current criteria for involvement in the program does not include any race or sex-based requirements, instead focusing on applicants’ status as full-time students, grade-point average, and specific coursework.
But the program is only one of several contracts between the Defense Department and outside organizations that sought to advance the leftwing DEI agenda.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/SpencerLndqst?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpencerLndqst</a> joins <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@charliekirk11</a> to discuss the Department of Defense’s DEI scandal, using tax payer funds to establish discriminatory hiring pipelines. <a href="https://t.co/uL80NUSRwe">pic.twitter.com/uL80NUSRwe</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1820585074724683813?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2024</a></blockquote>
The RAND Corporation received an undisclosed amount of money from the Defense Department to provide the Pentagon with guidance on implementing the controversial DEI agenda. RAND authored a report explaining how the Pentagon could implement DEI policies and mitigate resistance to them, claiming that “resistance to DE&amp;I is growing, while discriminatory and xenophobic expressions are increasing.”
“Some researchers describe the presence of ‘denial perspectives’ and ‘diversity defiance,’ or ‘White fatigue,’” the report read, before warning the Defense Department to “exercise caution to guard against” resistance to the leftwing political ideology.
Two other contracts obtained by the Functional Government Institute and reported by The Daily Wire include a $2 million deal with a consulting organization for the creation of a “DEI Action Plan,” and a $202,000 contract with Cornell University for DEI training.
The Biden-Harris administration has worked to embed the far-left DEI agenda throughout the federal government, from the military and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/internal-docs-show-entire-intelligence-community-warned-to-avoid-problematic-phrases-on-islamic-terrorism">intelligence community</a> and the wider <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-federal-guide-on-inclusive-language-tells-bureaucrats-to-ditch-gendered-terms-like-son-daughter">bureaucracy</a>. An exclusive report from The Daily Wire revealed that the Pentagon requested nearly $270 million in taxpayer funds <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-pentagon-slated-to-spend-nearly-270-million-on-diversity-agenda">for the DEI agenda</a> between 2022 and 2024.
President Joe Biden has <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/02/16/executive-order-on-further-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/">signed</a> multiple <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/06/25/executive-order-on-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-accessibility-in-the-federal-workforce/">executive orders</a> institutionalizing the DEI agenda, and his administration has worked to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-biden-admin-enables-government-employees-to-change-genders">enable gender transition</a> attempts among government employees, barring the use of biologically accurate pronouns in the process.
The federal government’s DEI agenda could be on the chopping block, pending the results of the November election. Former President Donald Trump pledged to gut the bureaucracy through <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-presidency-schedule-f-federal-employees">executive orders</a> if he is reelected, slashing the size of the administrative state and firing those who may otherwise work to undermine his policy agenda.

DOD podium

Pentagon Was Compelled To Drop Discriminatory DEI Program After Supreme Court Ruling

The Biden administration’s Department of Defense leaned on debunked McKinsey and Company studies touting the benefits of diversity as justification to embed the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda into the military.
The consulting giant&#8217;s debunked studies, with titles such as “Diversity Wins” and “Diversity Matters,” are referenced in multiple reports from the Navy, a Pentagon newsletter, and a document from the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, all of which advocate for the DEI agenda to be embedded deeper into the operations of the U.S. military.
McKinsey and Company published a number of studies claiming that the use of DEI policies led to increased profitability for corporations, stating that companies become more profitable as their executive levels become more diverse. But now the results have come under scrutiny, with a <a href="https://econjwatch.org/File+download/1296/GreenHandMar2024.pdf?mimetype=pdf">study</a> from Econ Journal Watch finding that McKinsey’s studies were deeply flawed.
“Caution is warranted in relying on McKinsey’s findings to support the view that US publicly traded firms can deliver improved financial performance if they increase the racial/ethnic diversity of their executives,” the study reads. It goes on to point out that the McKinsey study measured “firm financial performance over the four or five years leading up to the year in which they judge the race/ethnicity of firms’ executives,” a testing structure that the Econ Journal Watch says is unable to substantiate the claims of the McKinsey study.
The flawed findings from McKinsey were used to justify the DEI agenda, not just by corporations, but by the Biden administration’s Department of Defense. The DOD’s embrace of the far-left ideology came in the wake of Biden’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/06/25/executive-order-on-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-accessibility-in-the-federal-workforce/">Executive Order 14035</a> in June of 2021, which directed the federal bureaucracy to embrace the DEI agenda.
The revelation comes as the Pentagon and other federal agencies work relentlessly to embed the DEI agenda into policies and practices, spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to do so.
Various different entities within the DOD justified their DEI policies by appealing to the flawed McKinsey studies. One <a href="https://www.dcpas.osd.mil/sites/default/files/HRFC%20Newsletter%20-%20November%202022.pdf">edition</a> of the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service Newsletter explicitly referenced studies from McKinsey.
“[T]here is a business case for the Department’s prioritization of DEI as normal operations,” the newsletter reads. “McKinsey &amp; Company reports diversity in executive teams makes them stronger and ‘the most diverse companies are now more likely than ever to outperform less diverse peers on profitability,’” it goes on to say, referencing a study called “Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters.”
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), who serves as the Chairman of the Anti-Woke Caucus and is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, warned that Biden is leveraging faulty studies to further an explicitly political agenda.
“The Biden administration is using junk science to transform our military into a far-left social experiment and push conservatives away from service. DEI divides, shrinks, and weakens our military, all to the benefit of Communist China,” Banks told The Daily Wire.
At least two different documents published by the Navy also rely on the findings of the flawed McKinsey studies. The Navy’s “<a href="https://media.defense.gov/2022/Jan/12/2002921211/-1/-1/0/CY21%20HOF_FINAL%20(11%20JAN%2022).PDF">Health of the Force</a>” report in 2021 reads “Gender-diverse organizations are 15% more likely to outperform other organizations, and diverse organizations are 35% more likely to outperform their non-diverse counterparts,” citing McKinsey’s 2015 study, “Diversity Matters.”
Then again in the Navy’s “<a href="https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jan/26/2002570959/-1/-1/1/TASK%20FORCE%20ONE%20NAVY%20FINAL%20REPORT.PDF">Task Force One</a>” report, the military branch asserted that “gender-diverse” organizations are likely to outperform “non-diverse counterparts,” again citing the same study from McKinsey.
There’s also a collection of news articles <a href="https://www.defenseculture.mil/Portals/90/Documents/Research/Library/NEWS-20210701.pdf">compiled</a> by the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, which <a href="https://www.defenseculture.mil/About-DEOMI/Vision-Mission-Strategic-Plan/#visionmission">exists</a> to “advance an agile and inclusive force.” The Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute highlighted one article that touted the flawed McKinsey studies.
“They found companies in the top quartile of gender diversity and those in the top quartile of racial/ethnic diversity were more likely to generate financial returns above their national industry median,” the article says, also directly referring to a McKinsey study.
While the DOD has used the flawed studies to grant legitimacy to Biden’s DEI agenda, the Pentagon has aggressively pushed leftwing ideological material and policies on the federal bureaucracy and armed forces at great cost to the taxpayer. The DOD has spent as much as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-pentagon-slated-to-spend-nearly-270-million-on-diversity-agenda">$270 million</a> on the DEI agenda from fiscal years 2022 to 2024.
The ideological bias within the military was exemplified recently when the United States Air Force Academy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/air-force-academy-highlights-transgender-officer-at-leadership-summit">hosted a transgender military official</a> who led the effort for the military to recognize “transgender day of visibility” at a leadership symposium, where he told the cadets to push for transgender inclusion within the military.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WATCH🎥: The U.S. Air Force Academy hosted a transgender Pentagon official for a symposium on inclusion. Our military is focused on transgender dogma while wars rage on two continents. 
Here he is at a pride celebration calling for &quot;intentional inclusivity&quot; in the military 🧵 <a href="https://t.co/6BAbEwrS4j">pic.twitter.com/6BAbEwrS4j</a>
&mdash; Spencer Lindquist 🇺🇸 (@SpencerLndqst) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpencerLndqst/status/1763327970893254985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
There was also a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-leaked-nsa-doc-reveals-massive-woke-glossary-pushing-critical-race-theory-gender-ideology-on-govt-employees">DEI glossary</a> produced by the National Security Agency (NSA), exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire, that included terms like “white fragility,” “queer theory,” “settler colonialism,” and the gender-neutral pronouns “ze” and “zir.”
Even the United States’ top intelligence office, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), has been captured by far-left ideologues. A newsletter sent by ODNI to the entire Intelligence Community, including intelligence components within each branch of the military as well as the FBI, CIA, and NSA, urged agents to avoid using <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/internal-docs-show-entire-intelligence-community-warned-to-avoid-problematic-phrases-on-islamic-terrorism">“hurtful” language</a> when discussing Islamic terrorism. It even included an article from an anonymous intelligence official who claimed that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-top-intelligence-agency-says-crossdressing-makes-man-better-intelligence-officer-internal-docs-show">crossdressing</a> makes him a better intelligence agent.
While the Biden administration has worked to embed far-left beliefs on race and gender into the military and other aspects of the federal government, policy architects from the former Trump administration have <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-presidency-schedule-f-federal-employees">crafted plans</a> to gut the administrative state if Trump is reelected, using tools like <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-presidency-schedule-f-federal-employees">Schedule F</a>, an executive order, to strip civil service employment protections from bureaucrats who have influence over the policy-making process.
“We will pass critical reforms making every executive branch employee fireable by the president of the United States,” Trump said at a rally, <a href="https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2022/03/trump-threatening-return-and-expansion-schedule-f/363145/">touting</a> the plan. “The deep state must be brought to heel.”
Others are preparing to fill in the gap left by outgoing officials, assembling a personnel database of those who might serve in the next administration through the <a href="https://www.project2025.org/">Project 2025</a> Presidential Transition Project, an initiative from the Heritage Foundation that seeks to “pave the way for an effective conservative Administration.”

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