(Headline USA) New Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., slammed passive-aggressive Air Force officials for creating a fake scandal through their overly broad interpretation of a Trump administration order ending discriminatory identity-politics programs in federal agencies.
Both said that misinterpreting the ban on diversity, equity and inclusion as the basis to scrub tributes to the all-black Tuskegee Airmen and the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots was an example of “malicious” conduct intended to sow confusion as to both the spirit and letter of the executive order.
Speaking Friday on Fox & Friends, Hegseth said the Tuskegee Airmen were an example of “courageous merit” and that cutting their video was “something I like to call malicious implementation.”
“An outfit like the Tuskegee Airmen, we will salute and we will elevate,” Hegseth said. “And we want every service member to understand what they did. That’s very different than the DEI programs.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt agreed that some agencies had gone too far in reacting to the DEI executive order.
“As far as I know, this White House certainly still intends to celebrate, and we will continue to celebrate American history and the contributions that all Americans, regardless of race, religion, or creed, have made to our great country,” she said during a media briefing.
On Friday, Trump issued a proclamation recognizing Black History Month, while on the same day the Defense Department issued a news release proclaiming “Identity Months Dead at DOD.”
The Air Force’s initial action was one of the most publicized when it took down courses that included videos about the Tuskegee Airmen and the WASPs.
The Airmen squadron, based out of Alabama, is credited with shattering racial barriers and racist beliefs about the capabilities of black pilots. Their success in combat paved the way for the desegregation of the U.S. military, a story that is interwoven in state and U.S. history.
The service removed training videos of the Tuskegee Airmen along with ones showing the World War II contributions of the WASPs, at its basic training base in San Antonio, where airmen have passed through for generations.
The decision to remove the videos was met with disbelief from some of the descendants of those who were part of the squadron
“I was angry,” said Alysyn Harvey–Greene. Her 101-year-old father, retired Air Force Lt. Col. James Harvey III, was one of the original Tuskegee Airmen. “It’s been very disturbing. We fought for so long to get this history out.”
Harvey finished his pilot training as the war in Europe was winding down, but flew combat missions in Korea. In 1949, he and other Tuskegee Airmen won the Air Force’s inaugural Fighter Gunnery “Top Gun Meet”—where the best Air Force pilot teams competed—but were not recognized as the winner for 73 years.
“For so long, we were not able to tell the story,” Harvey–Greene said.
Lisa Taylor, executive director of the National WASP WWII Museum in Sweetwater, Texas, said she was incredulous when she heard the content might be removed from the training base.
“The stories are historical and also uplifting and inspiring for all men and women who have found themselves wondering if they were good enough socially, mentally and technologically,” she said. “They are the anecdotes that might provide someone with the final push to take the next step in becoming who she or he longs to be.”
She said she was relieved when the training material was restored.
In later announcing the reversal, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said in a statement that the initial removal was because the service, like other agencies, had to move swiftly to comply with Trump’s executive order with “no equivocation, no slow-rolling, no foot-dragging.”
In addition to the Air Force’s action, the Army pulled its sexual assault regulations off websites before restoring them.
A notice from the Defense Intelligence Agency said it was pausing “until further notice” special observances that included Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Holocaust Days of Remembrance, Women’s Equality Day and National American Indian Heritage Month.
There were reports that employees at the CIA were notified there would be no Black History Month acknowledgements. A CIA spokesman said in a statement that the the agency was complying with the order and “OPM Implementing Guidance,” referring to the Office of Personnel Management.
“The Office of Diversity and Inclusion has been dissolved, along with component DEI programs,” the CIA statement said.
Democrats insisted that the misinterpretation of the DEI directives by the military and other government agencies was an innocent mistake, not an act of subversive resistance against the Republican president and his Cabinet.
Amy McGrath, who was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Kentucky in 2020 against Republican incumbent Mitch McConnell, claimed the move by the Air Force was understandable because military leaders were trying to avoid missteps with the new administration.
“They’re afraid that if they do basic leadership—which is embracing everyone no matter what race, no matter what religion, no matter what gender—that’s going to be labeled as ‘woke’ or ‘Marxist’,’” said McGrath, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who was the first woman to fly an F-18 fighter plane in combat.
Still, some Trump critics who sought to insinuate that the DEI orders were racist may have inadvertently underscored the point that public officials who were incapable of distinguishing between practices that honored American history and those that promoted a divisive racial narrative should not be trusted to use their own discretion and would be wise to step aside.
Adia Harvey Wingfield, a professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis, said many places were “unclear about exactly where the legal landscape stands, but very aware about the political landscape and wanting to make sure that they are not doing things that will attract attention, negative press or negative responses.”
She noted that a 2023 Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action in college admissions was clear on restricting opportunities to specific groups.
But it was “a far cry from that to not including information about groups that are basic parts of history like the Tuskegee Airmen,” she added.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
