# Anti-DEI deletions by the U.S. Department of Defense

In compliance with an executive order by President Donald Trump, the United States Department of Defense made a series of controversial deletions of content acknowledging of achievements made by historically underrepresented groups. The department released a statement in January 2025 that celebration of "identity months" was prohibited as it was believed to "erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution...Installations, units, and offices are encouraged to celebrate the valor and success of military heroes of all races, genders, and backgrounds as we restore our warrior culture and ethos...but we will focus on the character of their service instead of their immutable characteristics." Guidance released in February stated, "By March 5, 2025, all Components must remove and archive DoD news articles, photos, and videos promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), including content related to critical race theory, gender ideology, and identity-based programs." American historian Heather Cox Richardson has argued that "The erasure of Indigenous, Black, Hispanic, and female veterans from our military history is an attempt to elevate white men as the sole actors in our history."
On March 19, the Defense Department told ABC News that "some" pages may have been "mistakenly" removed due to the search terms used for the DEI scrubbing process and would be restored. Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot also told ABC that DEI is "a form of Woke cultural Marxism...as Secretary Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department." In response to inquiries about the content removals Pentagon press secretary Sean Parnell stated that "anybody that says in the Department of Defense that diversity is our strength is, is frankly, incorrect."
* A profile of Medal of Honor recipient Charles C. Rogers was deleted, with a portion of the URL changed from "medal" to "deimedal"; the changes were reversed two days later and the Trump administration said that the changes were an error resulting from an "auto removal process."
* A photograph of Medal of Honor winner Harold Gonsalves was removed.
* A page about the highly decorated 442nd Infantry Regiment, a segregated Japanese-American unit, was removed. Following a statement of concern by Hawaii Congressman Ed Case, the page was restored on March 14.
* Content about Indigenous Code Talkers was deleted. Code Talkers, including Navajo Code Talkers enlisted in the Marines in World War II, used their native languages to securely transmit messages during multiple wars.
* A profile of a 173rd Sky Soldiers paratrooper of Navajo heritage was deleted.
* A profile of Brigadier General Doug Lowrey that mentioned his ancestors' survival of the Cherokee removal was deleted.
* A history of Indigenous women fighting in wars throughout American history was deleted.
* A news release about a guardsman from South Dakota Army National Guard's 235th Military Police Company receiving a dress-protocol exemption based on his Oglala Sioux heritage was deleted.
* A profile of Medgar Evers, a veteran of World War II and an assassinated leader of the American civil rights movement, was deleted from the Arlington National Cemetery website.
* Arlington removed links to three modules from the Notable Graves menu of their website (African American History, Hispanic American History, Women's History), links to five modules from Education Themes sections (Civil War, Environment, Medal of Honor, Service Branches, Women's History), and links to two modules on the History of Arlington National Cemetery (Freedman's Village, Section 27).
* A profile of Ira Hayes, an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community who was among those raising the American flag at Iwo Jima, was deleted.
* Content about the Tuskegee Airmen was deleted.
* Content about bomber plane that carried the first nuclear weapons ever used on Earth, the Enola Gay, was deleted, apparently because the word Gay was interpreted to mean homosexual rather than as a woman's given name.
* Content about female fighter pilots was deleted.
* Pages on Colin Powell, the first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
* A section of Arlington National Cemetery's website on notable graves of Hispanic Americans, including Jose Hector Santa Ana, a great-great-nephew of Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.