Is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth resegregating the military?

I hear that question a lot since the news broke that our nation’s current secretary of defense has actively blocked or delayed the promotions of dozens of senior military officers — with women and people of color disproportionately affected.

The Pentagon’s recent track record on promotions is in keeping with broader efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to push back on diversity, equity and inclusion policies in government, academia and the private sector.

It also comes at a time when the Trump administration has made symbolic moves — such as attempting to rebrand Hegseth as the “secretary of war” — as well as actual warfare in an attempt to project an alt-right air of manliness.

It’s as if a military with Black officers, female officers and — heaven forfend! — transgender officers could not possibly defend American interests across the globe.

In March, The New York Times reported that Hegseth took the “exceedingly rare” step of striking two Black and two female officers from the list of candidates put forward for promotion to the rank of one-star generals.

Hegseth had been pressuring Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll to remove the names, but Driscoll had refused. As anonymous military sources told the Times, Hegseth’s chief of staff, Ricky Buria, upbraided Driscoll for selecting a Black woman to command the Military District of Washington, especially because Trump would not want to have to stand next to a Black woman at Arlington National Cemetery. Buria denied the........

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