The Pentagon is now conceding it "incorrectly" removed some content from military web pages as part of a purge of topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. But a Defense Department employee ordered to carry out the purge say the process has been chaotic.
A White House memorandum ordered the purge shortly after President Trump took office in January. It called DEI initiatives "illegal and immoral discrimination programs."
Any content spotlighting race, sex, color, or ethnicity was ordered removed.
Instructions sent throughout the Defense Department listed several specific words and ideas that were flagged for removal from military web sites. The instructions, which were obtained by Texas Public Radio, called for the removal of content recognizing people who were the first of a specific group to achieve something, such as the first Black pilots or first female Marines.
It also listed key words, such as accessibility, discrimination, racial equity, equal opportunity, and LGBT.
One Department of Defense official who was among those charged with carrying out the order said the instructions have led to mass confusion, because they're vague.
"How do you interpret guidance that's coming down that is really quite limited in scope, and it doesn't really tell you much information?" asked the official, who requested anonymity because of the fear of retaliation. "It just says, go do this thing."
"Everybody's individual interpretation and action on the guidance is so different."
The web pages initially deleted included historical articles about the Tuskeegee Airmen, the military's first Black aviators; Jackie Robinson, the first Black major league baseball player, who served in the Army during World War II; and actress Bea Arthur - one of the first women in the Marine Corps in 1943.
Also removed was a post about the Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the first atomic bomb during World War II. Photos of several service members with the last name "Gay" were deleted as well.
The Pentagon has restored most of those pages after public backlash. But the Department of Defense official understands how they got removed.
"Whether it's commanders or agency directors, some are going too far, and some are not going far enough. And then you wonder, if I don't go far enough, will there be retaliation?" the official said.
"The people that are going too far, are they doing it because they agree with this stuff being removed, or is it because of malicious compliance? And if we make it as painful and obvious as possible, then surely it has to be rolled back some."
It's not clear how many pages have been restored and how many remain deleted. The Associated Press counted 26000 images that have been flagged or removed.
"Because of the realities of AI tools and other software, some important content was incorrectly pulled offline to be reviewed," Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. "History is not DEI. When content is either mistakenly removed or if it's maliciously removed, we continue to work quickly to restore it."
But Parnell also defended the DEI purge.
"The previous administration's zealous and destructive commitment to DEI not only divided our nation and weakened our force, but it also reduced our country's finest to their immutable characteristics," he said.
Amy McGrath – the first woman to fly an F18 into combat for the Marines - said the removal of firsts is deleting history.
"In 1960, 1970 even, there were no women that did these jobs. You know, in 1930 there were no black men that did these jobs," said McGrath, who has run for office as a Democrat in Kentucky. "Why are we trying to erase that history? We need to know that history. We don't have to wear it on our sleeve or on our shoulder, but we need to know it."
The Pentagon also purged several websites that commemorated special days and months. such as German-American, Italian-American, Jewish-American, and Native-American heritage months.
The AP also found that the military deleted some references to Christmas, Hanukkah, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans.
