Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave his first public address to the Pentagon work force on Friday, spending much of the session defending his efforts to dismantle diversity and inclusion policies.
Mr. Hegseth opened his remarks by saying “all glory to God,” and said that President Trump had asked him not to maintain “the status quo.”
“We’re going to take unconventional approaches,” he said.
Speaking to a room filled with African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and white Americans, both men and women, he offered a full-throated attack on the military’s decades-long efforts to diversify.
“I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is ‘our diversity is our strength,’” said Mr. Hegseth, who served in the U.S. Army National Guard from 2001 to 2021 and is a former Fox News host. He later added that he dismantled diversity, equity and inclusion policies at the Pentagon because they “served a purpose of dividing the force as opposed to uniting the force.”
The U.S. military, which was racially segregated until 1948, has at times made an effort to be more inclusive to women and minorities, though it stood firmly against allowing gay men and women to serve openly until forced to do so in 2011.
The issue of allowing transgender men and women to serve in the military has become a culture war flashpoint. Mr. Trump banned their service during his first administration, and President Joseph R. Biden Jr. reversed that decision, only to have Mr. Trump issue a broad executive order on Jan. 28 that is likely to ban transgender troops from serving once again.
