Rather than conduct an audit of bias in military ranks, the Pentagon inspector general will probe President Donald Trump’s ban of diversity training programs, The Hill reports.
In September, Trump signed an order extending the administration's ban on training involving race-and sex-based discrimination to include the military, federal contractors, and grant recipients.
Soon after, the since-canceled audit, was announced with a goal of determining whether military departments provide employees with "diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity training" that aligns with the Department of Defense's equal opportunity and inclusion goals.
On Oct. 27, Assistant Inspector General for Audit Theresa Hull announced in a letter that the audit would not take place. “We are going to announce a new project that is focused on the Sept. 22 Executive Order 13950, 'Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping,’” the memo states.
In the order, Trump wrote that the “Uniformed Services should not teach our heroic men and women in uniform the lie that the country for which they are willing to die is fundamentally racist."
On Oct. 16, Defense Secretary Mark Esper asked the Office of Inspector General to conduct a compliance review concerning the executive order, which does not allow the Pentagon to teach "any of the divisive concepts set forth ... in the order," such as stereotyping by race and sex, as well as "race or sex scapegoating."
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