West Point’s move to rename and “disguise” its controversial diversity program was hit with a lawsuit Wednesday. The military’s larger DEI campaign is coming under fire now that President-elect Donald Trump has nominated a Defense secretary who wants to end the efforts.
Continuing a long campaign to call out and halt so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the military, Judicial Watch sued for details about West Point’s shift.
The Army officers college in New York this summer rebranded its Diversity, Inclusion and Equal Opportunity office to “Office of Engagement and Retention.”
When compared, there is little other change in the programs other than the shift to a less transparent name, according to Judicial Watch.
“It seems games are afoot at West Point to disguise its radical DEI agenda,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.
The suit seeks information about the change.
Judicial Watch has pushed legal cases against DEI and related programs at West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Earlier this year, it sued the Defense Department for records regarding the deletion of the words “Duty, Honor, Country” from the United States Military Academy at West Point’s mission statement.
DoD pick @PeteHegseth told me on Trump policy shift, “It’s not a purge. It’s not a MAGA takeover. It’s reforming the institution back to its core purposes and getting rid of all the nonsense.’https://t.co/Yf64a5MFaN via @dcexaminer
— Paul Bedard (@SecretsBedard) November 13, 2024
The suit against the Pentagon is timely considering Trump’s announcement Tuesday that he was naming veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as his secretary of defense.
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Hegseth has campaigned against DEI in the military and recently wrote a book detailing what he would do to eliminate those policies and get the military back to its core purpose of winning wars.
In an interview for the book, he told Secrets about Trump’s plan for targeting DEI in the military. “It’s not a purge. It’s not a MAGA takeover. It’s reforming the institution back to its core purposes and getting rid of all the nonsense.”