Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth left no doubt in anyone’s mind that he was serious about rooting out Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the military and returning to traditional priorities. “DEI is dead,” he declared from Capitol Hill during a Tuesday hearing.
Hegseth laid out the priorities of the Defense Department under his leadership and that of President Donald Trump, saying first that “restoring the Warrior Ethos” was at the top of the list. The Warrior Ethos, as described in the Soldier’s Creed, is as follows: “I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.”
“President Trump has charged me with focusing on war-fighting, lethality, meritocracy, standards, and readiness,” Hegseth explained, adding that there was no room for DEI in a DoD with those priorities. “That’s exactly what we’re doing.”
WATCH:
. @SecDef “We are focused on what is important. WARFIGHTING and WARRIORS…
DEI IS DEAD. We replaced it with a colorblind gender-neutral merit-based approach.” pic.twitter.com/TgIeCdN94W
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) June 10, 2025
“We are focused on what is important. War-fighting and warriors. We’re sweeping away distractions and bloated bureaucracy. We’ve set standards that are high, equal, and unwavering. DEI is dead. We replaced it with a colorblind, gender-neutral, merit-based approach.”
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Hegseth went on to say that the response to those changes had been positive — and, in fact, had led to record recruitment numbers in recent weeks.
Later on in the hearing, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) ribbed Hegseth about the changes, asking whether any troops had complained about not being able to include their preferred pronouns in military correspondence.
“Is that not a priority for the folks that are now signing up for our military?” he asked.
Hegseth laughed: “Well, sir, if they wanted to get a woke indoctrination, they could just go to college. Instead, they are joining the military, where we are focused on basics. We know men are men and women are women. Standards will be high, and we’re getting rid of the distractions, the ideologies, the politicization that was in our ranks so that soldiers, men and women can do their jobs on behalf of the nation.”
WATCH:
Q: Is it not a priority for the folks of our military to use pronouns. @SecDef “If they want to get a woke indoctrination they can just go to college. Instead, they are joining the military where we are focused on basics.
We know MEN ARE MEN and WOMEN ARE WOMEN. STANDARDS WILL… pic.twitter.com/G0uvpdqTrB
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) June 10, 2025