The U.S. military and Department of Defense have transformed into a “vast DEI bureaucracy” under the Biden administration, according to a study released Tuesday.

The Biden administration has spent hundreds of millions of dollars since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021 to fund diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts that were first implemented in the military nearly 40 years ago. study The report, which examined online and published materials by Arizona State University's Center for American Institutions, argues that current DEI policies and programs create an environment of “race- and gender-based scapegoating and stereotyping” within the military, hindering defense effectiveness. (RELATED: Exclusive: Internal documents reveal Biden administration's plan to impose DEI on Defense Department-run schools)

NEWS: Diversity, equity and inclusion are essential for the U.S. military. https://t.co/7WEWrveNcc

— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) February 9, 2022

“It is no surprise that young people are abandoning military service in record numbers, and as this comprehensive report makes clear, DEI indoctrination is a core component of military training, beginning at officer academy,” former Space Command commander Gen. Matt Laumeyer said in a statement Tuesday. “How can our warfighters be prepared to confront our adversaries if they are not laser-focused on the mission, but instead are divided and distracted by ideology?”

“Just as private companies have abandoned the harmful advice of DEI consultants and programs, military leaders should end social engineering based on Critical Race Theory and reinstate an approach that promotes character and merit,” Professor Donald Critchlow, director of CAI at Arizona State University, said in a statement.

The study found that each military branch and service follows federal DEI policies and regulations that are implemented by a “broad-based” staff in designated diversity and inclusion offices. The Defense Department has requested $114.7 million in DEI project funding for fiscal year 2024, up from $86.5 million in fiscal year 2023 and $68 million in fiscal year 2022.

The study gives examples of DEI policies and initiatives across the service, such as Air Force Combat Command's “toolkit” for training and having “courageous conversations” about white privilege and unexamined bias. An Air Force retention article encourages service members to “add personal pronouns to their email signature lines” because “it can impact whether or not you stay with the organization.”

The study found that Navy anti-extremism training treats Black Lives Matter (BLM) as a non-political topic, despite the organization's calls for defunding police. The study also cited two senior Marine officers who spoke out against racial “color blindness,” saying it promotes racism and white supremacy.

DEI policies also apply to military schools, which have diversity and equity offices that provide training and support for race- and gender-based “affinity groups,” the study said. “Eyes and Ears” programs are in place to encourage individuals to report any information they hear that goes against DEI norms.

The study points out examples of DEI initiatives being implemented at military academies: A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filed by the watchdog group Justice Watch forced the Air Force Academy to release coursework materials advocating for critical race theory through the 1619 Project, a controversial project that argues that America’s “true founding” was when slaves first arrived in 1619. The Naval Academy’s “Peer Education” program aims to recruit cadets to host mandatory conversations about DEI with their peers.

“Knowledge of the nation the cadets will defend is an elective course, with DEI at the core,” the research report states.

The study said DEI's focus on addressing “white supremacy” as a core issue plaguing the military and the nation undermines the service member's mission because it asks service members to “protect a nation that is dens of racism and discrimination.”It noted there is “little to no evidence” that white supremacy is a problem in the military, and that the Pentagon identified just 100 white supremacists among the 2.1 million service members in 2021.

The idea of ​​separating military personnel into different racial and gender categories is “Orwellian,” the study argues, and “sows mistrust and undermines unit cohesion and teamwork” because it undermines the goal of having a unified military dedicated to defending the country.

The study calls for the military to return to its “traditions of excellence” of merit-based selection and promotion, non-discrimination on the basis of race or sex, and to make all training and classes taught at military academies in the fields of social sciences and humanities open to the public.

But “the surest way to eliminate the worrying trends we have identified, and the growing scapegoating and stereotyping based on race and gender in the U.S. military, is to abolish the DEI bureaucracy altogether,” the study said.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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