So much for government efficiency.
The Pentagon’s top public affairs officially sent out a memo Thursday tasking a large number of service members and civilian workers with the tedious chore of scouring through scores of websites, social media posts, photos, news articles and even videos to remove any mentions of “diversity, equity and inclusion” over the past few years.
If that takes too long, employees were given permission to simply delete all evidence the Biden administration ever existed.
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According to a copy of the memo obtained by news organizations, if employees fail to purge all of the department’s social media sites of so-called “DEI” by March 5, they are ordered to “temporarily remove from public display” any content published during the Biden administration’s four years in office.
Military services are already spread quite thin as they prepare for a massive downsizing under the Trump administration.
Service members have spent the past few weeks rushing to identify probationary employees and others that it can cut—part of a government-wide initiative to cut costs and shrink the federal workforce.
To add to the tall order currently facing remaining employees, they are working to determine how many civilian staff have opted to leave through a purported government-wide buyout offered by the Trump administration. It is unclear how many have opted to take the buyout, whether their departures have been approved, or if the buyouts will materialize at all.
The latest social media directive comes just days after the department issued a different memo to the services reminding them to remain apolitical and focus on the “the non-partisan execution of their duties.”
“Given the intense focus on recent changes within the department, maintaining the public trust is more important than ever,” the memo signed Feb. 19, by temporary undersecretary for personnel Darin Selnick and obtained by the Associated Press, read.
The initiative to axe all of the military’s past DEI content comes in part because of Trump’s executive order to end the federal government’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The president himself, however, marked Black History Month at the White House with a reception featuring golf icon Tiger Woods.
Adding to the irony, Trump’s celebration of the “cultural awareness month” would seemingly be barred for military members under a memo penned by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth titled “Identity Months Dead at DOD.”
