April 11, 2024

The Honorable Lloyd Austin

Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301

Dear Secretary Austin,

I’m writing to you today regarding the national security consequences of Section 928 of the
Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (FY24 NDAA.)

Section 928 of the FY24 NDAA prohibits the Department of Defense (DoD) from either creating
any new positions “with responsibility for matters relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion
(DEI)” or from filling any vacancies in such positions. Section 928 took effect on January 1,
2024 and will remain in place until the Government Accountability Office (GAO) releases its
report on DoD’s DEI workforce. That report has not yet been provided to Congress.

DoD has made the outlandish claim that diversity is a “strategic imperative critical to mission
readiness and accomplishment” and argued that leveraging strategic diversity is the “the only
way DoD will be able to outthink, outmaneuver, and outfight any adversary or threat.” The
White House’s Office of Management and Budget made the similarly unsupported allegation that
numerous provisions in the House version of the FY24 NDAA aimed at eliminating or scaling
back DEI positions and programs at DoD would put our military “at a strategic disadvantage.”

In February 2021, you directed each of the services to participate in a “Stand-Down to Address
Extremism in the Ranks.” The stand down wasted nearly 5.4 million man-hours, as DoD was
forced to admit it found, “no evidence that the number of violent extremists in the military is
disproportionate to the number of violent extremists in the United States as a whole.”

In September 2022, DoD created the Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion
(DACODAI) with the aim of increasing diversity in the military. Even if DoD were to prove that
DEI contributes to our national security, which it has not, DACODAI is clearly duplicative.
When it established DACODAI, DoD already had several active programs with the exact same
or similar functions, including an Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, a Civil Rights
Program, a Civilian Equal Employment Opportunity and, since 1971, a Military Equal
Opportunity Program.

Each of the services have promoted diversity with similar overenthusiasm and disregard for
taxpayers. For example, the U.S. Air Force created a SAF/DI DEIA Progress Dashboard to
evaluate its progress towards achieving diversity goals, the Secretary of the Navy issued a
memorandum directing the Chief of Naval Operations to take six immediate actions to advance
DEI, and the U.S. Army published a detailed diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility
implementation plan.

Despite the hiring freeze and a budget cap, the Department has inexplicably requested $162
million for DEI initiatives in Fiscal Year 2025. Before Congress spends any more of Americans’
tax dollars on these programs, I believe that the Office of Secretary of Defense must demonstrate
their value.

Therefore, no later than Friday, April 26, 2024, please provide my office with detailed responses
to the following questions:

1. How has the DEI hiring freeze affected DoD’s ability to respond to the ongoing Houthi
drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea?

2. The US military has conducted over 250 airstrikes against targets in Yemen since Houthi
attacks on military and commercial vessels began. Yes or no, would those strikes have
been more effective or more numerous, if DoD’s DEI hiring freeze was no longer in
effect? If yes, please explain why.

3. How did the DEI hiring freeze affect DoD’s response to the drone strike in January that
took the lives of three American servicemembers in Jordan?

4. What has the effect of the DEI hiring freeze been on our military’s ability to stem the
flow of fentanyl across our southern border?

5. In DoD’s assessment, has the DEI hiring freeze increased the likelihood of an invasion of
Taiwan by the People’s Republic of China?

6. Has DoD conducted any war games simulating a conflict between the U.S. military and
the People’s Liberation Army since January 1, 2024?
a. If yes, did DoD factor its DEI hiring freeze into those exercises?
b. If not, why not?

Sincerely,

_____________________
Jim Banks
Chairman, Subcommittee on Military Personnel