President Donald Trump called for the “immediate dismissal” of the Board of Visitors for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard, and declared that service academies have been “infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues.”
“Our Service Academies have been infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues over the last four years. I have ordered the immediate dismissal of the Board of Visitors for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We will have the strongest Military in History, and that begins by appointing new individuals to these Boards. We must make the Military Academies GREAT AGAIN!”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday that military academies have halted efforts supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
“These are MILITARY ACADEMIES, not civilian universities. I was impressed by the changes already underway and look forward to visiting each institution. Social Justice and DEI are OUT; History, Engineering, and War Studies are IN,” Hegeth said on social media.
An internal email from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, revealed that it would be “taking steps to close all agency Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump’s executive orders.”
“Concerns have been raised that some of these programs may have been modified in a way that obscures their DEIA objectives,” the email from Vice Adm. Yvette Davids added. Davids asked that if staff are “aware of a change in any contract description or personnel position description since November 5, 2024 to obscure the connection between the contract and DEIA or similar ideologies” and to report “all facts and circumstances.”
