President-elect Donald Trump has selected retired Space Force Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier to a senior civilian leadership post in the Air Force four years after he was fired for blowing the whistle on what he said were Marxist diversity policies in the military.
Mr. Trump announced the selection of Col. Lohmeier as Air Force undersecretary on Friday.
“Matthew will work with the GREAT Secretary of Defense Nominee, Pete Hegseth, to end the devastating ‘woke’ policies that have destroyed our Military, and make our Country STRONG AGAIN,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social. “Matt is a former fighter pilot, and Space Force Squadron Commander, who has devoted his life to serving our Great Nation. He is a proud graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy.”
The undersecretary position requires Senate confirmation. Its duties include assisting the Air Force secretary in organizing, training and equipping the Air Force and Space Force.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump tapped Troy Meink, second in command at the National Reconnaissance Office, which is the photo spy agency, to be Air Force secretary.
Col. Lohmeier was commander of the 11th Space Force Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado when he was relieved in May 2021.
The firing came after podcast comments by the officer following the publication of his book critical of neo-Marxist thought and leftist practices like diversity training that he argued are undermining military readiness.
The book, “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military,” states that diversity programs and “inclusivity training” are linked to neo-Marxist critical race theory.
Col. Lohmeier stated that leftist ideas and practices embraced by the government, academia, the media and now the U.S. military are dividing the ranks. He urged the Pentagon to return the services to a more “politically nonpartisan” course.
The firing after the podcast comments prompted an investigation into whether Col. Lohmeier violated rules against military service members engaging in partisan political activity, a Space Force spokesman said at the time.
Col. Lohmeier said during the podcast that far-right political movements are harshly punished, and far-left activities and ideas deserve the same treatment.
On Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Col. Lohmeier said on the podcast: “I don’t demonize the man, but I want to make it clear to him and every service member that this [agenda] will divide us. It will not unify us.”
In an interview in 2022, Col. Lohmeier said he studied Marxist ideology and saw its widespread infiltration into society reach into the military.
The Buckley base commander where he was stationed was pushing a left-wing political agenda that Col. Lohmeier described as very much aligned with Marxist ideology. All service members, government officials and contractors were being indoctrinated with the diversity ideology he said was based on Marxist critical race theory.
Col. Lohmeier then said he used the chain of command to file complaints and eventually made an inspector general complaint, with no response.
After several decades of communist ideology spreading in the U.S. system, “we’re finally seeing the Marxist impulse as we are in broader American society in the military,” he said.
Additionally, both the Obama and Biden administrations engaged in a purge of conservative general officers from all the services, he said.
“The bottom line is we’ve been far too slow to wake up to and recognize the fact that there’s been an ideological subversion underway in this country for a very long time,” Col. Lohmeier said.
Senior military leaders are foisting the ideology on young service members, and the services must return to being apolitical, he said.
Mr. Lohmeier didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.