US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth assailed what he called “decades of decay” caused by policies promoting diversity and inclusion in the US military at an unprecedented gathering of military leaders near Washington on Tuesday.
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“Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading, and we lost our way. We became the ‘Woke Department’,” Hegseth said as he kicked off the event in Quantico, Virginia.
“But not any more,” he said.
Hegseth said the US military has promoted too many leaders for the wrong reasons based on race, gender quotas and “historic firsts”.
“The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now at every level,” Hegseth said.
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Addressing the room full of America’s top generals and admirals, summoned from around the world without explanation last week, Hegseth defended his firings of flag officers, which included the top US general, who was black, and the Navy’s top admiral, who was a woman. He said the officers he relieved were part of a broken culture.