One of the first things the new Trump administration will do at the Pentagon is a wholesale firing of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) contractors, a report said.
“If you’ve been in charge of, if you’re a contractor, anyone that’s been leading the front on DEI can expect to see being fired pretty much on Day One,” former Trump White House spokesman Sean Spicer said in a post to X.
“The message has gone out that anybody who’s been in charge of DEI at any level should be getting their resume in order,” added Spicer, who has been reporting on military transition officials, including Robert Wilkie, the former undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
Wilkie, heading the Trump military transition team, appearing on a recent edition of the Sean Spicer Show, said there would be a DEI housecleaning at the Pentagon, which defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth has also vowed will happen.
Wilkie told Spicer that President-elect Donald Trump is expected to eliminate DEI programs through executive orders.
While not “speaking officially” for the incoming president, Wilkie said, “It will be an immediate cease and desist. Every contractor involved in this is fired on the spot. Let go.”
The Trump administration will also reportedly look to end DEI instruction at the Navy, Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard academies.
Spicer, a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, told Washington Examiner columnist Paul Bedard: “We have China openly talking about war in 2027. I don’t think they care about our ‘woke’ policies. I mean, there’s literally recruiting campaigns in other countries talking about how weak we are and unfocused right now. This is about getting the focus back on warfighting, and readiness.”
The incoming Trump administration also looks to cut the $1 billion that the Department of Education spends on DEI programs.
An investigation by Parents Defending Education (PDE) found that the department sank more than $1 billion into grants to K-12 school districts and universities from 2021 to 2024 for DEI hires, programs and “mental health/social emotional learning.”
“You reap what you sow, and it is very clear that this administration’s Department of Education has been incentivizing the advancement of far-left ideologies into American schools in place of rigorous, proven methods of instruction,” said PDE researcher Rhyen Staley.
The PDE report found that the department under the Biden-Harris regime awarded 229 DEI-related grants to schools in 42 states and the District of Columbia. At least 296 K-12 schools received funding.
The Department of Education spent over $1 Billion promoting DEI in America’s schools -$489,883,797 for race-based hiring -$343,337,286 for DEI programming -$169,301,221 for DEI mental health initiatives Source: https://t.co/0OLt4QEsdx
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) December 12, 2024
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