The March 1, 2025 DOD report on removing CRT/DEI ideology from the military has finally been released. This is the initial report. The final report dated June 1, 2025, has not been released yet.

READ REPORT: 25-F-3131_RAFF-TF_Initial_Report_to_SECDEF_3-1-2025 (pdf)

Executive Summary

The January 29, 2025, in a memorandum entitled, “Restoring America’s Fighting Force,” the Secretary of Defense directed the Department to employ merit-based, color-blind policies, and remove exclusionary and readiness-reducing policies, programs, practices, curricula, and organizations related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Critical Race Theory (CRT), and Gender Ideology.

The Secretary also established the Restoring America’s Fighting Force Task Force (the “Task Force”).

The purpose of the Task Force is to oversee the Department’s efforts to eliminate any program, element, or initiative that was established to promote diverse concepts as defined in EO 13950, “Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping,” (September 22, 2020), or gender ideology as defined in Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” (January 20, 2025).

The Task Force is comprised of OSD personnel in addition to a liaison from each Military Service, the Joint Staff, and National Guard Bureau to ensure effective execution of the Task Force’s duties.

The Task Force established a two-phase approach to implementing the President’s and the Secretary’s direction and provide timely Initial and Final Reports to the Secretary of Defense.

The Department has taken swift action to eliminate initiatives that subvert meritocracy, perpetuate unconstitutional discrimination, and promote radical ideologies related to systemic racism and gender fluidity.

The Military Departments, Joint Staff, and other DoD Components have certified compliance with the above guidance.

This Initial Report details the progress made to achieve the actions set forth on January 29, 2025 Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) memo, “Restoring America’s Fighting Force.”

The final report will be delivered no later than June 1, 2025.

Approach

The Task Force established a two-phase approach to achieve specified and implied tasks:

Phase 1: Self-Evaluation and Certification (Complete)

Phase 1 was focused on Military Department and DoD Component Self-Evaluation and Certification. Certification required the removal of any elements related to DEI, CRT or Gender Ideology or a clearly identified plan to remove or eliminate such elements.

To facilitate Phase 1, on February 2, 2025, the Task Force tasked the Military Departments, Joint Staff, and DoD Components to report the existence and/or employment of polices, processes, programs, curricula, or organizations related to DEI, CRT or Gender Ideology across five elements:

• Promotion, Selection and Assignment policy and/or processes that require consideration of sex, race, or ethnicity.
• Quotas, Objectives, and Goals.
• Instruction on CRT, Gender Ideology, and DEI.
• Instruction to Promote a Lethal Force.
• Boards, Councils, or working groups that incorporate Gender Ideology, DEI, or CRT.

Additionally, that task requested a description of remedial actions taken, initiated, or planning commenced to comport with E0s and SECDEF guidance. The findings of Phase 1 are presented in this Initial Report.

Phase 2: Validation (Ongoing)

Phase 2 is a robust validation phase comprised of two components. The first requires each of the Military Departments, Joint Staff, and DoD Components to develop a self-validation methodology.

This first component of Phase 2 also requires a minimum of five Senior Leader (GO/FO/SES) “eyes on” site visits and culminates in each Military Department and DoD Component submitting a Final Report summarizing their observations and findings.

The second component of Phase 2 is OSD validation, which will be conducted using the On-Site Installation Evaluations (OSIEs) capability along with targeted site visits by OUSD(P&R) leadership.

The Task Force is confident this two-phase approach will deliver the desired outcome of eliminating divisive, wasteful, and readiness-reducing content, contributing to a more ready, lethal force.

Timeline

The POAM below shows the necessary milestones through the two-phase approach required to timely provide the Initial and Final Reports.

Phase 1: Evaluation and Certification Findings

Below is a summary of findings from Phase 1, Miliary Department and DoD component evaluation and certification responses. Any deviation or notable deficiency within any specific organization is noted in the “example of remedial actions” section.

Summary of Findings.

All DoD Components provided timely responses to the request for information from the Task Force and have certified compliance. The Department took swift action to implement Presidential and SECDEF direction.

In the following pages, the Task Force provides an overview of the remedial actions that were reported from the Military Departments and DoD Components.

Across the Department, 174 remedial actions were reported to the Task Force. These actions varied in size, scope, and scale.

The prohibition on academic instruction regarding CRT, Gender Ideology, and DEI drove the highest number of actions (44% of total actions).

Remedial actions of this nature included eliminating entire courses or modifying course materials as required at the Military Service Academies, in DoDEA schools, and in other areas.

Many actions related to boards and councils (29% of total actions), including the disbanding of a variety of working groups and affinity groups.

The domain with the fewest reported remedial actions was in the Instruction to Promote a Lethal Force, where reviews found courses were already appropriately covering related topics of American history, leadership, and national security strategy, though some updates to course content were made across the Department.

Figure 1. Remedial Actions Across the Department to Address the RAFF and Related E0s, as reported to the Task Force

Read the report to view the tables of key actions across domains:
25-F-3131_RAFF-TF_Initial_Report_to_SECDEF_3-1-2025 (pdf)

Here are a few actions from the tables:

DEPARTMENT OF AIR FORCE:

• Updated memorandum of instruction for members of the Command Selection Board (CSB) to remove DEI.
• Mandated that Career field managers remove all DEI related verbiage from Developmental Team charters.
• DAF has discontinued reporting race, ethnicity, and sex data in promotion selection board reports and out-briefs.
• Air Education and Training Command eliminated DEI training modules in approximately 75 courses.

DOD COMPONENTS:

• P&R rescinded memo Memorandum titled Promotion Selection Boards — Demographic Analysis dated July 30, 2020 no longer requiring the Secretaries of the Military Departments to include race, ethnicity, and gender statistics, with accompanying demographic analysis, in all 0-4 through 0-8 Active and Reserve promotion selection board packages, including federal recognition boards and promotion vacancy selection boards, for review by the Secretary of
  Defense.

AIR FORCE ACADEMY:

• Termination of Diversity and Inclusion Minor
• Termination of the Cadet D&I program (Purple Ropes)
• Termination of Squadron Commander Cohort Course on D&I in Leadership
• Terminated any utilization or reference to the prior signed Applicant Pool goals memo.
• Masked gender, race, and ethnicity during the selection process
• Reviewed recruitment efforts in low producing congressional districts to align with Executive Order requirement

WEST POINT:

• Removed two lessons of an upper- level elective course, SS392, “Politics of Race, Gender and Sexuality.”
• Eliminated the Diversity and Inclusion Studies minor.
• Disbanded twelve (12) Cadet affinity clubs.
• Ceased 3x Summer Academic Individual Advanced Development focused on promoting racial minorities.
• Updated course documents, to include syllabi, to reference sex rather than gender.
• All references to Critical Race Theory removed from curricula.
• Reviewed all courses within curriculum, research efforts, and Advanced Individual Academic Development activities (ie, summer “internships”) to validate if there are any references to DEI or gender ideology, and will remove to ensure compliance.

NAVAL ACADEMY

• Conducted a comprehensive review of the Academy’s complete academic curriculum (870 courses in total). Two courses were canceled, and another five courses were restructured to remove material. One section of a capstone course was also restructured to align with guidance.

WAR COLLEGES

• NDU certifies no curriculum contains DEI, CRT or Gender Ideology content NDU continues to conduct a full curriculum review to validate assessment. Eisenhower School (ES) DEI Working Group charter was revoked and the WG was disbanded in January 2025.

Phase 2: Validation

The Task Force will work with the Military Departments, Joint Staff, and DoD Components to construct validation plans while initiating OSD(P&R)-led validation through the ongoing On-Site Installation Evaluations (OSIEs) and OUSD(P&R) Senior leader site visits.

Military Departments, Joint Staff, and DoD Components will develop and submit validation plans NLT March 12, 2025, followed by a final report NLT May 1, 2025.

The validation plans will:

1. Provide effective methodologies for validating compliance across all Military Services, Combatant Commands, and subordinate organizations.

2. Place special emphasis on Military Service Academies (MSAs), Professional Military Education (PME) institutions, and other higher learning environments within the purview of DoD, to include Field Activities.

3. Include a minimum of five Senior Leader (GO/FO or SES) site visits per Military Department, Joint Staff and OSD Components. Military Departments, Joint Staff and OSD Components will validate organizations for which they have overall supervision and provide policy direction and administrative support to include Direct Reporting Units (DRUs), Field Agencies, and Activities.

4. Assess all five elements outlined: (1) Promotion and Selection Reform (2) Elimination of Quotas, Objectives, and Goals (3) Prohibition on Instruction on Critical Race Theory, Gender Ideology, and DEI (4) Instruction to Promote a Lethal Force (5) Boards and Councils.

5. Use a combination of varied assessment methods including data calls, responses to inquiry, reports, briefings, and in-person site visits. Examples of recommended validation methods include:

a. Promotion and Selection Reform.

i. In person review of promotion or selection processes, artifacts, and systems to validate the absence of consideration of sex, race, or ethnicity.

ii. A review of all guidance, memorandums, or other such direction to promotion and selection boards to validate the absence of consideration of sex, race, or ethnicity.

b. Elimination of Quotas, Objectives, and Goals.

i. A full review of admission processes to MSAs, Institutions of Higher Learning, specialized career fields, tracks, or programs to include applications and application review processes.

ii. A review of recruiting goals.

iii. A review of career field management processes, metrics, and products.

iv. A review of promotion and command selection processes, metrics, and outcomes for any guidance or practice that is not merit-based.

c. Prohibition on Instruction on Critical Race Theory, Gender Ideology, and DEI.

i. Review of curricula, lesson objectives, lesson plans and material across a spectrum of basic training, advanced training, required annual training, and other training courses and venues.

ii. Class audits.

iii. Focus groups and/or interviews.

d. Instruction to Promote a Lethal Force.

i. Review of curricula, lesson objectives, lesson plans and material at Service Academies and other defense academic institutions.

ii. Class audits.

iii. Focus groups and/or interviews.

e. Boards and Councils.

i. Review of charters and other governing documents for language promoting or supporting gender ideology, DEI, or CRT.

ii. Military Installation/Ship site visits. Webpage/social media reviews.

The Final Validation Reports from the Military Departments, Joint Staff, and DoD Components will, at a minimum, include:

1. Executive summary of actions taken and findings.

2. A description of methods used, observations, and findings organized and aligned with the five elements referenced above and listed in the January 29, 2025, Secretary of Defense memorandum, “Restoring America’s Fighting Force.”

3. A listing of areas found as non-compliant along with a plan to bring the areas into compliance with specific actions and timelines.

4. A section with special emphasis on MSAs, PME institutions, and other higher learning environments within the purview of the DoD.

The reports from Phase 2 will be analyzed and presented in a final report due no later than June 1, 2025.

Conclusion

Based on the data submitted by the Military Departments, Joint Staff, and DoD Components, the Task Force has determined that the Department is in compliance with the applicable Executive Orders and Secretary of Defense direction. Phase 2 will validate that assessment.

The Final Report will incorporate the findings of Phase 1 and 2 and will be submitted no later than June 1, 2025.

The Military Departments, Joint Staff, and other DoD Components will be prepared to present a summary of their assessments in a briefing to the SECDEF and other Department senior leaders as needed.