{"id":56646,"date":"2020-10-30T15:56:05","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T15:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/30\/dod-canceled-its-diversity-training-audit-to-comply-with-new-white-house-rules\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:32:07","slug":"dod-canceled-its-diversity-training-audit-to-comply-with-new-white-house-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/10\/30\/dod-canceled-its-diversity-training-audit-to-comply-with-new-white-house-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"DoD canceled its diversity training audit to comply with new White House rules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Defense Department\u2019s inspector general has canceled an audit of its diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity<\/a> training just a month after first announcing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of a series of initiatives born of his desire to get a handle on how prejudice and discrimination<\/a> affect service members at work, the IG set out to evaluate whether these programs are effective. But a White House memorandum issued last month, banning any diversity training that discusses white people\u2019s role in systemic racism, has forced DoD first get its existing training in compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[The] Uniformed Services should not teach our heroic men and women in uniform the lie that the country for which they are willing to die is fundamentally racist,\u201d President Trump wrote in a Sept. 22 executive order<\/a>. \u201cSuch teachings could directly threaten the cohesion and effectiveness of our Uniformed Services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More broadly, the memo targeted any federal training that references critical race theory, the idea that in order to achieve an egalitarian society, the society must acknowledge inequities and hold accountable those responsible for perpetuating them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis ideology is rooted in the pernicious and false belief that America is an irredeemably racist and sexist country; that some people, simply on account of their race or sex, are oppressors; and that racial and sexual identities are more important than our common status as human beings and Americans,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DoD instead plans to launch a new project, according to a Tuesday announcement<\/a>, that focuses on implementing the White House memo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe objective was to determine whether the Military Departments provide military personnel with diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity training that aligns with the DoD\u2019s diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity goals, and to determine whether the training is effectively implemented across the Military Departments in accordance with Federal and DoD policies,\u201d Theresa Hull, an assistant inspector general, wrote in the Sept. 24 memo first announcing the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her Tuesday follow-up memo does not explain why the first project must be canceled in favor of the second, only that the new focus is on the White House\u2019s guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A DoD IG spokeswoman declined to make a statement about the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with much of the country, the military has sought to get its arms around issues of racism that dominated the national conversation through much of the summer, as protests erupted around the country following the death of George Floyd<\/a>, a Black man, at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\t