By Dave Patterson
Governments, like people, all too often adopt beliefs that are not true. As the opening quotation from the movie The Big Short asserted: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” And when those who believe for sure what “just ain’t so” include the Pentagon leadership, then America is in trouble. The promise of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) falls squarely in the “just ain’t so” category, as corporations are finding out. Will the Pentagon be the last to get it?
Many have seen all too well the performance of federal agencies that emphasize DEI over the quality of personnel. The Pentagon has favored DEI theories over merit for nearly four years, and there has been little to impede this trend – until now. President-elect Donald Trump will no doubt apply the brakes to DEI as he did in his first administration.
“To further advance equity within the Federal Government, this order........