Military Promotions, Academic Institutions To No Longer Consider Race, Sex: Hegseth Memo

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday moved to strike race and sex as considerations for military promotions, with plans for a new Pentagon task force to promote “merit-based, color-blind policies” throughout the U.S. military.

In a new memo with the subject line “Restoring America’s Fighting Force,” Hegseth writes that the Defense Department’s (DOD) mission is to “win the Nation’s wars.” To do this, the department requires “a lethal fighting force that rewards individual initiative, excellence and hard work based on merit.”

Hegseth directs the establishment of the “‘Restoring America’s Fighting Force’ Task Force,” a group charged with overseeing Trump administration efforts to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts within the Pentagon.

The work will include reforms to the promotion and job selection process, with a mandate that the department “will not consider sex, race, or ethnicity when considering individuals for promotion, command, or special duty.” 

The memo notes that exceptions can be made for assignments with specific operational needs.

Hegseth also directs officials to ban sex-based, race-based and ethnicity-based quotas and goals for organizational composition, admissions to defense academic institutions and career fields.

In addition, the memo prohibits the instruction of critical race theory, gender ideology and DEI initiatives in workforce training. 

All defense academic institutions, meanwhile, including military academies, are ordered to “teach that America and its founding documents remain the most powerful force for good in human history.”

Housed under the Pentagon’s personnel and readiness office, the new task force is meant to act quickly. An initial report on DOD actions taken to eliminate DEI initiatives is ordered by March 1, with a final assessment due by June 1.

It is still unknown who will lead the directives, as President Trump has yet to announce his pick to lead the DOD’s personnel office. 

Hegseth’s memo comes amid a larger effort to root out DEI programs across the federal government, with Trump late Monday signing an executive order to “abolish” every DEI office within the DOD and Department of Homeland Security, the latter of which houses the U.S. Coast Guard. 

Both Trump and Hegseth have made eliminating DEI from the military one of the administration’s top priorities, and they have decried such efforts as damaging to recruiting and force readiness.

Prior to being confirmed Friday, Hegseth made no secret of his issues with allowing women to serve in combat roles and in overturning the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. 

During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, the former Fox News host sought to assure senators that he would support preserving women’s access to combat roles if they meet the standards for physically demanding jobs. 

But he also suggested that standards for combat jobs have been lowered to meet diversity quotas — a claim that past defense officials and Democratic senators have disputed.

And in the most controversial act thus far, Trump signed an executive order preventing transgender people from openly serving in the military. Advocates have already sued to stop the order.