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Military's DEI purge seen putting its future — and its history — at risk

toggle caption Mike Groll/AP

From 2005 to 2023, the number of women serving active-duty roles in the U.S. military rose by 12%, while the number of men fell by more than 10%, according to Pentagon data. A third of active-duty enlisted service members came from racial minority groups in 2023 — a higher percentage than in 2010.

Those figures from the Department of Defense's most recent demographics report help explain why military experts who spoke with NPR are concerned the Trump administration's orders to root out digital content "promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" could undermine military recruiters' ability to connect with potential service members from important demographics.

In their view, materials now being labeled as "DEI" are actually a form of targeted advertising.

"There's a strategic reason why you have a website about [Medal of Honor recipient Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers] or a website about the Navajo Code Talkers," says Wayne Lee, a former Army officer who is a history professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

It's because, he says, "we continue to want to recruit from populations who identify with those people and who see them as their ancestors and who want to emulate their service."