There's a LOT of misunderstanding going on over this issue of CRT in the military.
Austin and Milley are being dragged under the bus over this, based on the removal of Lohmeier from his position while an investigation takes place.
I have to question the words and actions of others who have helped to turn this into an issue about CRT in the military under Milley's watch, starting with the heads of the various military agencies who immediately restarted their diversity programs once Biden rescinded Trump's EO banning them on his first day in office. Even Tucker Carlson and Matt Gaetz are playing into the game, obviously not having done their homework, and not having any concrete evidence of CRT in the military to go by. Just claiming it's rampant isn't good enough, but people automatically buy into everything certain people say and attach themselves to the narrative as it unfolds, instead of doing a little research and thinking logically.
The purpose of the narrative that's unfolding appears to be to turn people against Milley and Austin. And it seems to be working.
Let's look at a timeline of the facts that led up to the questions at the hearing a few days ago (quoted from sources given at the end):
In September 2020, President Trump halted military training on subjects including critical race theory and white privilege, and vehemently denounced such training programs as "un-American propaganda training sessions."
In a Sept. 4 2020 memo, former Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said executive branch agencies had spent millions of taxpayer dollars "'training' government workers to believe divisive, anti-American propaganda." He ordered agencies to identify and then cancel or defund contracts or agency spending for training on critical race theory, white privilege "or any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either ... that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country or ... that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil."
Trump issued an executive order later in September "to combat offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating," which more formally barred federal workplaces, uniformed services and federal contractors from promoting such "divisive concepts."
In December 2020, the Army issued a policy putting a stop to such training. However, that policy said the halt would be effective until the executive order was repealed or otherwise rescinded or superseded. For that reason, the service did not need to issue any written guidance putting diversity training back into place.
On his first day in office (Jan. 20, 2021), President Joe Biden signed an executive order that revoked Trump's order, declaring, "Our diversity is one of our country's greatest strengths."
Biden's executive order gave agency heads the power to suspend, revise or rescind any actions taken under the previous administration's order, including agency moves to cancel or restrict contracts or grants. [This took control of the matter out of Austin's and Milley's hands.]
On Jan. 29, the Air Force sent a message to the field allowing units to immediately go back to the kind of training that existed before last September's order. "The Department of the Air Force is committed to fostering a culture where all our members are free to make their fullest contributions toward mission success without unnecessary barriers," Brading said. "Diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity education and training are essential to cultivate positive values and behaviors, as well as an environment where inclusion and equity for all personnel is achieved."
The Air Force said the order's revocation removes all requirements related to future contracts and grants. [This includes book reviews, etc.]
In early February 2021, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III called for a 60-day stand down to address extremism in the ranks. Every service member was expected to be involved in a conversation about extremism, and any feedback the services might think was important enough to share with department leadership was to be readied for transmission upstream.
The overall goal of the 60-day stand down was not about collecting information from the force, but rather, to reiterate to the force something they all heard the first day of their military or civilian service: the commitment they made to the U.S. military. "It was meant to do two things: to reinforce our values and, specifically, the importance of the oath that everyone takes here to the Constitution and what that oath requires of you". It was also about listening to service members and civilians and their own feelings about extremism. At the time of the stand down, the defense department didn't have an idea about the scope of an extremism problem in the ranks. The stand down was just a first step in understanding the scope of the problem, to reorient everybody to the importance of service to this country in the Defense Department and to get the chance to listen to them. Secretary Austin has said he doesn't believe the problem is as big as some believe it is, but he's also said it does exist. The department needed to get a better idea of the problem.
When the extremism stand downs were completed, and the services had confirmed that to the department, what the next steps would be were unclear, but there would be follow-on efforts.
On Feb. 21, the Navy issued an order immediately resuming all diversity and inclusion training, without any requirement that commands submit training for review by a higher authority.
The Army said in a March 4 email that it had ordered its Military Equal Opportunity and Equal Employment Opportunity offices to immediately resume diversity and inclusion training once the Trump administration's guidance was rescinded.
From the Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin - MEMORANDUM FOR ALL DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE EMPLOYEES, Mar. 4, 2021:
[W]e will not tolerate sexual assault and sexual harassment. Similarly, extremism presents a complex and unique challenge to DoD. We must meet this head-on, working to stamp out extremism among the ranks, permanently. These efforts, among others, will ensure that we provide every member of the Department a safe and supportive place to serve their country- one free from discrimination, hate, harassment, and fear. [This is all that was said in the memo regarding extremism.]
- It was reported Mar. 8, 2021 that the Defense Department had resumed its diversity training efforts, after the Biden White House acted swiftly to reverse the Trump administration's curtailment of such programs.
From the above, we can see that Biden had immediately reversed Trump's ban on diversity programs, and had given the various military agencies the power to restart them (outside of Milley's and Austin's hands), and to form their own policies regarding them. Previously, it was required that any publications must be reviewed before they were published.
Now let's look at what led to all this ranting about Milley being incompetent:
Lohmeier was removed from his position over a loss of confidence in his ability to lead after he made public comments on May 7, 2021 about his military experience in order to promote the self-published book, "Irresistible Revolution: Marxism's Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military".
The decision to remove him was made by the Department of the Air Force Inspector General (Lt Gen Sami D. Said).
During his appearance on the Information Operation podcast, Lohmeier talked about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s diversity and inclusion policies, saying, “I don’t demonize the man, but I want to make it clear to both him and every service member this agenda, it will divide us, it will not unify us.” [He expects us to assume that the policies were Austin's own, with no evidence that they were. He is very likely setting up the narrative.]
Lohmeier talked about being given a booklet that included the January 6 capitol riot as an example of extremism, but did not discuss protests after the murder of George Floyd. [Who gave him the booklet? Who created it? Again, he appears to be setting up the narrative.]
Lohmeier called out Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby during the podcast. He said that the training about diversity and inclusion is, “rooted in critical race theory, which is rooted in Marxism.”
Lohmeier said he became interested in Marxism while studying philosophy for his second master’s degree at the Air University’s School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. [Some people here question the fact that Milley read books on Marxist ideology. They should also question Lohmeier's interest. Milley read them to understand the enemy better. Why did Lohmeier?]
Lohmeier said, “Since taking command as a commander about 10 months ago, I saw what I consider fundamentally incompatible and competing narratives of what America was, is and should be. That wasn’t just prolific in social media, or throughout the country during this past year, but it was spreading throughout the United States military. And I had recognized those narratives as being Marxist in nature.” [Many took this as an innocent account by someone who cares. But it could also be intended to gain a sympathetic ear and build the narrative against Milley and Austin.]
“This decision [to remove Lohmeier from his position and investigate the matter] was based on public comments made by Lt. Col. Lohmeier in a recent podcast. Lt. Gen. Whiting has initiated a Command Directed Investigation on whether these comments constituted prohibited partisan political activity.” [Earlier long-standing policies about reviews before publication were changed by heads of agencies, which is suspicious. These changes helped to allow this whole matter to unfold.]
Lohmeier stated that diversity and inclusion training -- something that the Pentagon has given prominence in order to eradicate extremism in the ranks -- is "rooted in critical race theory, which is rooted in Marxism." [Trump cut off the Pentagon in his last days in office for a reason.]
Lohmeier focused on the policies service members now have to adhere to to align with certain agendas "that are now affecting our culture." [Lohmeier is complaining about long-standing and well-reasoned policies that were changed after Biden took office.]
Regarding Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, he said, "I don't demonize the man, but I want to make it clear to both him and every service member this [diversity and inclusion] agenda, it will divide us, it will not unify us." [Austin didn't change the policies or restart the programs. The heads of each agency did.]
"I have written a book about a particular political ideology (Marxism) in the hope that our Defense Department might return to being politically non-partisan in the future as it has honorably done throughout history," he added. [It was Biden who caused the programs to be restarted that allegedly promote CRT.]
"Anytime you're gonna write a book based on your military experiences or about military matters, and you're using your rank and title, and your service, as a credentialing opportunity, as an author, you do have to get a policy review by the Department of Defense," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said. "I think the Air Force has already addressed the issue that there was no policy review." [Kirby and others may have been kept in the dark about policy changes made by the heads of each agency.]
For a self-published work, policies that may apply include DoD Directive 1344.10 and associated guidelines discussing political activity in uniform. According to the services' standards, personnel may express their views freely, but they are still expected to uphold their branch's core values both on and off duty. [This was the original policy.]
The Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review requires all current, former and retired Defense Department employees, contractors, and military service members -- whether active or reserve -- who have had access to DoD information, facilities, or who signed a non-disclosure agreement to "submit DoD information intended for public release to the appropriate office for review and clearance." DoD information can include "any work that relates to military matters, national security issues, or subjects of significant concern to the Department of Defense in general, to include fictional novels, stories and biographical accounts of operational deployments and wartime experiences," according to the office. [Original policy]
- Lohmeier claims that he consulted with base legal counsel and public affairs before publishing, and was told that a review was not required. [Legal counsel was going by the new policies.]
Milley and Austin were sidelined and then made out to be responsible for the problems with alleged CRT programs in the military. Biden's EO reversing Trump's ban gave power to the heads of the various agencies that allowed them to change the policies that led to Lohmeier's publication problem. This has been used to rake Milley and Austin over the coals in the public arena. There are black hats throughout the Pentagon, and Milley and Austin have been left to work amongst them during the Biden admin. It's impossible for them to know everything that those under them do, so they're forced to have to trust that those beneath them inform them honestly about things and make the right decisions. Apparently those under them didn't with regard to the publication policies, and that led to Lohmeier's story and all that comes with it. It was a set up.
(post is archived)