Months of claims by Pentagon brass that they haven’t crossed the "woke" line, dismissed by Republicans focused on military drag shows and hundreds of Pride events, have been validated by an enormous diversity audit that said the Department of Defense isn’t "woke" enough.
A 258-page review of hiring by the Government Accountability Office said the Pentagon has failed to follow federal rules and increase the hiring and promotion of minorities for its civilian workforce.
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In fact, the review said, the DOD has shifted in reverse and employs fewer civilian minorities than a decade ago.
“The Department of Defense civilian workforce doesn't reflect the diversity of nation or that of the entire federal government. DOD has lower percentages of women and members of historically disadvantaged racial or ethnic groups — such as African Americans,” the audit said, dismissing long-accepted claims the military is a leader in hiring diversity.
“We found that representation of women across the department had not improved. Instead, it decreased slightly by nearly one percentage point, between fiscal years 2012 and 2021. We also found DOD faces continued lack of diversity in senior GS positions and differences in promotions across demographic groups,” the audit said.
Worse for the most organized workforce in the world, GAO said the reason for the diversity failings is that nobody’s in charge. “DOD has been working to identify potential barriers to diversity, but little has changed over the last 10 years. This may be because it is unclear which DOD office is responsible for overseeing such efforts,” the new report said.
It is an important finding because the Pentagon employs more than any other federal agency, over 700,000 civilians.
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The Pentagon has come under fire, especially from Republicans, for its gay outreach and liberal diversity policies, such as embracing critical race theory. That has led some in the GOP to threaten funding if those policies aren’t erased, though many are driven by the uniformed services and not among the civilian corps.
The audit broadly reviewed civilian minority numbers and didn’t get deep into the LGBT matters as the GOP has. But it noted the Pentagon is subject to an executive order signed by President Joe Biden demanding more LGBT hiring, support services, and benefits.