Trump Fires Joint Chiefs Chairman Amid Turmoil at Pentagon
The decision to fire Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. reflects the president’s insistence that the military’s leadership is too mired in diversity issues and has lost sight of its combat role.
It Is Happening Every Day, Every Where
The decision to fire Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. reflects the president’s insistence that the military’s leadership is too mired in diversity issues and has lost sight of its combat role.
The possible purge of officers working on recruiting and diversity comes as the agency moves to comply with the spirit of an executive order banning efforts to diversify the federal work force.
The organizations claimed that the president had exceeded his authority in issuing the orders, and that they intentionally discriminated against Black and transgender people.
A letter signed by 463 playwrights, poets, dancers, visual artists and others pushes back against new grant requirements that bar the promotion of diversity or “gender ideology.”
The president also ordered the Pentagon to end diversity programs, reinstate many service members dismissed for refusing the coronavirus vaccine and create a new missile defense system.
“Those who do not comply will no longer work here,” Pete Hegseth said in a handwritten notice saying diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives were not welcome at the Pentagon.
The new defense secretary’s goals run counter to the military’s apolitical tradition and efforts to build a force that mirrors America.
Agencies are gripped with uncertainty about how to implement the blizzard of new policies as workers frantically try to assess the impact on their lives.
Through a flurry of orders, the new president quickly began driving the country in a different direction on many contentious issues.
The removal of a portrait of Gen. Mark A. Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, from a Pentagon hallway was among the president’s early actions.