US military focused on hunting so-called extremists to appease DEI extremists
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A war is being waged against American society. The goal? To disrupt it, break it down and remake it in a completely different way. This sort of assault falls under the category of "political warfare" – meaning the use of all weapons of power, short of a shooting war, to achieve goals.
DEI as a weapon
One of the most successful political warfare weapons used against American society is DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion). Those who wield it know their goal. As Democrat Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley said: "the truth is that America needs DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] to disrupt systems of oppression that are active in every facet of society."
Sound a little like the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)? Not surprisingly, for decades China-linked entities have used real societal issues as cover to support organizations that exacerbate American societal divisions to advance CCP interests.
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In 1971, during China’s murderous Cultural Revolution, Huey Newton, founder of the Black Panthers, traveled to China where he met a supportive Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. Back in the U.S., the Panthers sold copies of Mao’s Little Red Book to raise money, including for weapons.
DEI is a threat to our military and a boon to our adversary China. (iStock)
Beijing doesn’t care about discrimination in America, it wants to pit American against American and weaken the country from the inside in order to make it easier to "win without fighting." DEI is an effective political warfare weapon to achieve that goal.
Once inside organizations, DEI programs function like IEDs (improvised explosive device) in a battle zone. They lie hidden. Then, one wrong move and bang – your career, self-worth, ability to provide for your family, can be over. And no one looks at you the same way again.
(This analogy in no way minimizes the horror of the physical damage caused by real world IEDs. It’s just a way to understand the seriousness of the institutional and personal damage done by DEI.)
One aspect of IEDs is those who place them, and/or remotely detonate them, stay safely out of the blast zone. Similarly, those using DEI/IEDs to attack know there is rarely any punishment, even for false accusations.
One result, as Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth put it – from privates to commanders – people are constantly "walking on eggshells." It spreads fear, distrust and stress.
The U.S. military still functions (and often very well), but the DEI/IED tension is ever present – affecting recruitment, morale, training, effectiveness and ultimately lethality.
Extracting DEI is national defense
There are dedicated and effective efforts to ‘demine’ society by people like Manhattan Institute senior fellow Chris Rufo and Conservative activist Robby Starbuck. But in the military, no similar efforts by senior officers come to mind.
Using DEI to distract and degrade the military
Indeed, when the DEI/IEDs were being laid in the military, leadership helped.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin went on a hunt for so-called extremists in the military instead of readying for a possible war with China. FILE: Austin speaks during a press conference with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun at The Pentagon on October 30, 2024, in Arlington, Virginia. (Kent Nishimura / Getty Images)
Testifying before Congress in 2021, then-Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley, indicated "White rage" in the military was his priority – even though at the time intelligence about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s possible invasion of Ukraine was presumably on his desk.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin launched an "extremists" hunt. He found fewer "extremists" in the ranks than you’ll find in any Ivy League faculty lounge.
In 2022, the current Chief of the Joint Staff, General Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. wrote a memo that implicitly called for racial quotas in the Air Force officer ranks – at least.
The DEI/IEDs did their damage. Meanwhile, the services struggle to find recruits, U.S. arsenals are depleted, and we still aren’t focused on fighting China.
Beijing ought to be delighted.
Past DEI military disasters
We’ve seen the results of DEI/IED in the military before.
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In the late-‘60s, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s "Project 100,000" pushed in recruits from mental and physical categories who otherwise would have been rejected. Race wasn’t involved – it was about changing standards to meet quotas. Indeed, in the late 1940s when Black Americans were finally allowed to compete (to the same standards) as other Americans, the American military – and American society – greatly benefited.
But Project 100,000 was equity and inclusion on overdrive. The harm was immediate, including those soldiers being three times more likely to be killed in action, not to mention getting others around them killed.
Moreover, Project 100,000 contributed to the collapse of discipline throughout the U.S. military services, to include racial violence, drugs and gangs that lasted well into the 1970s.
The U.S. military still functions (and often very well), but the DEI/IED tension is ever present – affecting recruitment, morale, training, effectiveness and ultimately lethality.
Nobody much remembers those days, unfortunately. Don’t think they couldn’t return.
Real DEI: Discipline, effort and integrity
It’s not superficial diversity that is our strength; it is our unity of purpose.
An efficient, effective and deadly military depends on high standards that are unfailingly maintained – along with fair treatment, equal opportunity and advancement on merit. Remove any one of these and you’re asking for trouble. DEI/IED removes all of them. No wonder China has been such a supporter.
If DEI is allowed anywhere near the US military (or anywhere else) it should be good DEI: Discipline, Effort and Integrity. All things the individual has control over. The content of the character.
The sooner the DEI/IED mine-clearing teams do their work, the safer we will all be.
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Grant Newsham is a retired U.S. Marine officer and former U.S. diplomat. He is the author of the book "When China Attacks: A Warning To America."
