Since President Biden took office, the Pentagon has dedicated nearly 6 million man-hours and more than $530,000 to spreading progressive social policies in the military, including a Defense Department-wide “extremism stand-down” in the ranks and a focus on diversity training that opponents have characterized as embodying the principles of critical race theory.
The information comes from a Jan. 6 letter from Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, responding to Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The answer did not please the senator, and has only intensified a divide between the Pentagon and Republican critics on Capitol Hill.
“We face real threats across the world, yet the Biden administration is more focused on promoting its leftist social agenda in the military instead of countering China, Russia and Iran or creating an effective counterterrorism plan,” according to a statement from Sen. Inhofe and 11 other Republicans in the Senate.
In his response, Gen. Milley said they came to the man-hour estimate by assuming each service member in a force of 2.46 million spent about two hours in the training. As for the price tag, it reflected the value of the administrative costs and didn’t include the salaries that would have been paid to the employees regardless, he wrote. The general has defended diversity and inclusivity programs in the military.
The extremism stand-down was ordered by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin following the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. A later report on allegations of “extremism” in the military concluded that fewer than 100 members of the active-duty military take part in such activity.
“For every documented case of extremism in the military, our military spent a whopping 58,000 hours in training on extremism,” the senators wrote in their statement. “While any case of extremist behavior is wrong and harmful to military readiness, previous defense authorization bills have already given our military the appropriate tools to address these concerns.”
Pentagon officials have stated they don’t believe that extremism is widespread in the military and Mr. Austin has testified on Capitol Hill that the military doesn’t support or teach “critical race theory.”
Rep. Mike Waltz, Florida Republican, said the Pentagon’s own studies show that the number of so-called “extremists” in the military is lower than in the general population.
“But this was Secretary Austin’s No. 1 focus and priority when he came in,” said Mr. Waltz, who fought in Afghanistan as a member of the Army’s famed Green Berets. “Not the fact that the Chinese navy is larger than ours or that Russia, Iran and everyone else is on the march.”
He said top generals and admirals in the Pentagon have embraced a “woke” agenda since the start of the Biden administration, including promoting left-wing books on their reading lists for the troops.
“The timing of it is interesting. This is the leadership of our military putting their finger up into the political wind – rather than leading an institution,” Mr. Waltz said.
He blames the policies on studies that have shown an erosion of trust for the military in the public.
“I think a big piece of it is this narrative that the military is basically a force for white supremacy,” Mr. Waltz said. “It’s a direct result of the false narrative that’s being put out about our great military.”