The Defense Intelligence Agency has removed a number of non-white history pieces from its museum, according to a new report by the Huffington Post.
According to Jennifer Bendery, "A tipster flagged to HuffPost that the Defense Intelligence Agency removed several non-white history pieces from the agency’s internal museum, which is in a secured location and only accessible to people with appropriate clearance. This tipster also shared that an exhibit honoring women at the agency was put into storage, leaving an empty space in its place."
Asked for comment, the DIA — the intelligence-gathering arm of the Pentagon — "didn’t say specifically if these items honored women or people of color in the intelligence community," but did acknowledge that the removals were part of President Donald Trump's executive order to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, programs from the U.S. government.
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DEI describes a broad spectrum of policies passed in recent years to promote the inclusion and participation of minority voices in the government and businesses. It has become a popular cultural war target by Republicans.
Trump's order, however, was worded so broadly that it applies to all sorts of things beyond actual DEI programs. For example, the order as written prevented the State Department from honoring Black History Month.
Even insofar as it eliminated the programs in question, there were some strange consequences. For example, it resulted in a number of Education Department officials being flagged for termination, because they attended diversity training programs that were in place during Trump's previous administration.
