The American public is demanding action to restore meritocracy in our military, and to stop toxic diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mandates that discriminate based on race.
The House version of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2025 includes some measures to accomplish these goals. One misguided though well-intended provision in the House bill, however, would advance the woke agenda instead of mitigating it.
Sec. 523 of HR 8070 was billed as a “meritocracy” provision, but its lack of precision will allow Department of Defense (DOD) bureaucrats to continue discriminating based on race in military personnel actions. Pentagon ideologues will also interpret the undefined word “sex” in ways that harm women and promote radical gender ideology. Unintended consequences matter, especially when undefined words are enshrined in law.
Biden’s Department of Defense argued before the Supreme Court in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and UNC, that granting racial and “gender preferences” in admissions to the Military Service Academies and to civilian colleges hosting ROTC programs was necessary to achieve a balance between the racial and sexual makeup of the enlisted force and the officer corps. Without that balance, they argued, minority soldiers would be less likely to follow orders, and our national defense would be imperiled. Despite new litigation challenging racial discrimination at the service academies, the DOD is still claiming that “diversity is a strategic imperative.”
As passed by the House, the NDAA “merit provision” directs DOD to base personnel actions on “individual merit and demonstrated performance … without
