The Department of the Air Force will send small teams to “validate” compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders. The groups will visit nine bases before the end of the month following direction from a Pentagon task force.
Since the beginning of his second term in January, Trump has issued a series of executive orders aimed at eliminating initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion; “gender ideology,” and Critical Race Theory.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth established a “Restoring America’s Fighting Force” task force “to ensure compliance” with Trump’s orders, he wrote in a Jan. 29 memorandum. That task force has directed the military departments to confirm that they are implementing the orders.
The Air Force is sending “validation teams” with fewer than 10 members to visit bases between March 17-28, a department spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine. While there, they will review documents, analyze programs, conduct focus groups, audit classes, and interview personnel.
Specifically, the teams will focus on making sure the Air Force is:
- Not considering factors such as sex, race, and ethnicity during promotion and selection processes
- Not trying to meet any quota, objectives, or goals based on sex, race, or ethnicity
- Not providing any training or instruction on diversity and inclusion, “gender ideology,” and Critical Race Theory
- Not sponsoring any boards, councils, or working groups that “incorporate” those topics
- Providing instruction focused on a lethal force; Hegseth’s memo specifies that institutions “shall teach that America and its founding documents remain the most powerful force for good in human history.”
The Air Force has already taken steps to follow those guidelines, such as revoking officer applicant pool goals based on race and gender; disbanding working groups that sought to remove barriers for minority groups; and revising training material.
However, the process has not been without controversy. Some have objected to the removal of media and training curriculum about Air Force trailblazers and argued the working groups were focused on promoting readiness, not diversity and inclusion. Others have suggested service officials have gone too far in acts of “malicious compliance,” or obeying the directive in a way intended to undermine the order’s intent.
The “validation teams” will monitor progress on implementing the orders by visiting nine Air Force and Space Force installations meant to be a “representative sampling” of the department, an official said. The tentative list includes:
- Peterson Space Force Base, home of the Space Force’s Officer Training Course, Space Operations Command, and Space Training and Readiness Command
- U.S. Air Force Academy
- Buckley Space Force Base, home of the Air Reserve Personnel Center
- Randolph Air Force Base, home of the Air Force Personnel Center and Air Force Recruiting Service
- Joint Base San Antonio (Lackland), home of Basic Military Training and the 149th Fighter Wing
- Keesler Air Force Base, home of the Technical Training School
- Hurlburt Field, home of Air Force Special Operations Command
- Maxwell Air Force Base, home of Air University and Officer Training School
- Robins Air Force Base, home of Air Force Reserve Command
Once the teams are finished, the department will continue to conduct “in-depth reviews” to ensure compliance, a release stated.
Civilian Employees
While the Air Force makes sure it is following Trump’s orders on diversity, race, and gender, it is also working to implement a directive from Secretary Pete Hegseth to cut down on its civilian workforce.
Hegseth has said his goal is to trim five to eight percent from the Pentagon’s 800,000 or so civilian employees.
On March 18, a defense official told reporters that DOD has tried working toward that goal by:
- Implementing the “deferred resignation program” spearheaded by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency
- Instituting a civilian hiring freeze
- Firing several thousand probationary employees, who have fewer job protections
The last effort has been hampered by litigation, but the official said nearly 21,000 people have taken the deferred resignation, while around 6,000 jobs per month are going unfilled due to the hiring freeze.
The official could not provide a breakdown between the military departments but did say “certainly the numbers are going to be somewhat similar across the services.”
The Air Force did not immediately reply to a query about how many of its civilian workers are involved in the reductions.
Exemptions are allowed based on national security needs, and the official did note that “any critical area that the Secretary and the services have identified is going to be weighed heavily when determining which portions of the workforce and what skill sets need to be retained.”
Last month, Hegseth exempted 17 critical areas from his budget review to identify five to eight percent in potential “offsets,” including Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, nuclear modernization, and homeland missile defense—all important Air Force and Space Force missions. Those areas may be shielded from personnel cuts as well.
The Air Force officially started its deferred resignations Feb. 28, allowing participating employees to stop working but still get paid through September 2025. It implemented its hiring freeze March 1.