The Air Force is not shutting down its equal opportunity programs, it said in a new memo, distinguishing them from the department’s sweeping review of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
Acting Assistant Secretary for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Gwendolyn Defilippi wrote that she was issuing the Jan. 30 memo as “a matter of clarity.”
In the past two weeks, President Donald Trump has issued a series of executive orders aimed at ending all DEI-related positions, programs, and training across the Pentagon. The Air Force is in the process of enacting them by revising curriculum, disbanding working groups, and placing some personnel on leave.
Early in the process, however, it was unclear what the service would do with its Equal Employment Opportunity and Military Equal Opportunity programs, which implement laws and investigate complaints regarding unlawful discrimination and harassment, often having to do with race and gender.
While equal opportunity programs focus on individual cases of discrimination, DEI programs sometimes sought to identify systemic discrimination while fostering diversity.
In the Jan. 30 memo, Defilippi noted that the EEO and MEO programs are based on federal laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination in the workplace and thus are cleared to continue.
“Examples of EEO and MEO programs and initiatives that are still permitted and encouraged include training on equal employment opportunity laws and regulations, investigations into allegations of discrimination or harassment, and reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities,” she wrote.
The move seemingly placates concerns of some observers like retired Col. Don Christensen, a former chief prosecutor for the Air Force who previously told Air & Space Forces Magazine that “we know that discrimination exists, we know harassment exists … and if we take our eye off of that, then we run the risk that it’s going to run rampant and there’ll be basically no one to look at it.”
Defilippi did seem to note the overlap that can sometimes occur between equal opportunity and DEI as she directed the EEO and MEO programs to stop using any language, graphics, or images that promote “any diversity and inclusion training, affinity groups, or targeted recruitment efforts that prioritize diversity over merit-based hiring.”
As examples, Defilippi included attachments showing equal opportunity logos that are no longer permitted because they reference “diversity” and “inclusion.”
In addition to the Air Force memo, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also issued guidance Jan. 31 announcing the Pentagon will no longer observe “cultural awareness months” meant to highlight the history and contributions of different minority groups.
“Our unity and purpose are instrumental to meeting the Department’s warfighting mission,” Hegseth wrote. “Efforts to divide the force—to put one group ahead of another—erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution.”
Air Force units, along with the rest of the military, cannot use official resources to put on events related to cultural awareness months such as:
- National African American/Black History Month
- Women’s History Month
- Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
- Pride Month
- National Hispanic Heritage Month
- National Disability Employment Awareness Month
- National American Indian Heritage Month