A Department of Defense task force has confirmed the department’s successful removal of all diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and offices from the department.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the removal of all those programs and offices during his first days in the position, and he formed the Restoring America’s Fighting Force task force to ensure the department’s compliance to the order.

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The task force, which senior civilian leaders from the Pentagon’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness led, visited six military bases in April and early May. Those visits include stops at an Army installation, a major naval station, two service academies and a large joint base.

“The secretary’s guidance to eradicate DEI in the department was faithfully implemented across all of our many installations,” Tim Dill, the acting deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said. “Each of the services had already implemented the policies and certified completion to the task force. This was our leadership’s chance to go and validate the completion that had been reported to us.” 

Hegseth has spent much of his first months in office focused on undoing many of the policies implemented under the Biden administration — including but not limited to banning the enlistment of trans individuals into the military, kicking out anyone diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and enforcing gender neutral fitness standards.

He has long said, “DEI is dead at DoD,’ and has called the phrase “diversity is our strength,” the “single dumbest phrase in military history.”

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He also signed orders bringing back the names of Fort Bragg and Fort Benning, both of which had those names in 2023 under the overarching push to rename military bases that had namesakes connected to the Confederacy. Hegseth found other veterans named Bragg and Benning to rename the bases in their honor instead of the old namesakes.

The secretary spoke at Fort Bragg on Wednesday during the 82nd Airborne Division All-American Week.