One of Obama’s most consequential acts was to purge the Pentagon of leaders who did not subscribe to a woke, leftist philosophy. For more than a decade, the military has been at least as dedicated to implementing social justice principles as it has been to achieving military readiness. The latest manifestation of this trend is the Final Report from Task Force One Navy (TF1N), the goal of which is to “embrac[e] Inclusion and Diversity.”

The Navy created TF1N on July 1, 2020, at the height of the George Floyd riots. The purpose was to “dismantle barriers to equality while creating sustainable opportunities, ultimately achieving our desired end-state of warfighting excellence.” The resulting 141-page final report is filled to the brim with this same perky, leftist, verbose corporate jargon, interspersed with military acronyms and cant. There are also 338 iterations of some variation of the word “diverse.”

To serve on TF1N (undoubtedly a resume enhancer), members were required to take a pledge. It’s not about country or service; it’s about touchy-feely social justice (emphasis mine):

As a key member of Task Force One Navy I will invest the time, attention and empathy required to analyze and evaluate Navywide issues related to racism, sexism, ableism and other structural and interpersonal biases.

I pledge to be actively inclusive in the public and private spheres where I live and work, and proactively encourage others to do the same.

I pledge to advocate for and acknowledge all lived experiences and intersectional identities of every Sailor in the Navy.

I pledge to engage in ongoing self-reflection, education and knowledge sharing to better myself and my communities.

I pledge to be an example in establishing healthy, inclusive and team-oriented environments.

I pledge to constructively share all experiences and information gained from activities above to inform the development of Navywide reforms.

The implication of the report’s jargon and cant is that the Navy is a bastion of White supremacist domination. (That explains the Defense Secretary’s military-wide stand-down to purge “White supremacists.”) However, it’s noteworthy that 76% of the Navy’s personnel are White and 75% of its officers are White. In other words, perfect representation.

The “problem” is that non-whites and women aren’t in the officer ranks in proportion to their population. The report says Blacks are 13% of the demographics, but only 7% of the officers; Hispanics have an 18%-11% breakdown; and women are at 51%-22%. Meanwhile, Asians overachieve by having a 6% presence and a 7% officer representation.

There are lots of recommendations. As always in matters of race, the leftists in charge want to do away with academic standards. Recommendation 1.2 for Recruiting states, “Establish a ‘whole person’ evaluation framework that deemphasizes the use of standardized academic tests.” The military might do better to work with America’s public schools to help minority performance.

This approach applies to increasing officer diversity too. The TF1N recommends that the Navy “Explore the elimination of OAR [Officer Aptitude Rating] test requirement.” (Rec. 1.8) This, we are assured, will improve minority advancement so their presence in the officer ranks mirrors perfectly their national demographic percentages.

The report seeks to make quotas easier by recommending that the Navy “Expand post-board statistics to include gender and ethnicity/race information in post board reports….” (Rec. 2.6) In the same vein, it says “Formally track statistics regarding diverse board membership….” (Rec. 2.7)

Then there’s the carefully phrased recommendation to address the unconscious bias of systemic racism that surely plagues all white people: “Develop a subjectivity mitigation tool or suite of tools to assist leaders at all levels with considering various fallacies and forms of subjectivity that can influence decisions.” (Rec. 3.1) You can just feel the Critical Race Theory oozing out of that one.

Hair matters: “Update functions and incentivize retention of [Retail Specialists] tasked to style the hair of Sailors afloat.” (Rec. 3.5) In the old days, hair meant using clippers for men, buzzing it down until the scalp showed. For women, it was a short, neat ponytail. Now, though, women need “diverse styling preferences.” No, they really don’t. It’s the military, not a college campus.

Another cosmetic reform, if you will, is to “Add ‘and Respect’ to Navy Core Values,” which currently speak only of “Honor, Courage, Commitment.” (Rec. 5.1).

The Navy is also preparing quotas for Non-Judicial Punishments. “Ensure capability to monitor race, ethnicity and gender of service members subject to NJP actions.” (Rec. 5.10) When these punishment quotas have been enacted in public schools, the results have been disastrous.

For decades, the American military has been a splendidly operating merit-based institution that revolved around a shared commitment to the mission – defending America. With a woke Pentagon in charge and an anti-American, leftist administration calling the shots, the Navy’s TF1N Final Report indicates that the new Navy will emphasize racial and sex divisions, implement quotas, and elevate “lived truths,” “feelings,” and subjective claims of systemic racism over military readiness.

IMAGE: United States Navy Sailors in a row. CC0-Public Domain.