GAO said that by the middle of last year, DoD had abolished 32 civilian DEI positions and had restructured another 115 to reduce or eliminate DEI-related duties. Image: Casimiro PT/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffEven before President Trump’s order abolishing DEI-related programs and positions in federal agencies, the Defense Department already had cut back significantly under terms of its fiscal year 2024 budget law enacted in 2023, the GAO has said.
That measure had prohibited DoD from appointing or employing any civilian in a position with primary duties related to DEI above GS-10 and required DoD to reassign civilian employees already in such positions. Such duties were defined to include developing training, supporting DEI committees and working groups, maintaining and analyzing data, and responding to reporting requirements.
That law further required GAO to report on how the department carried out those requirements. In that report, GAO said that by the middle of last year, DoD had abolished 32 civilian DEI positions and had restructured another 115 to reduce or eliminate DEI-related duties, leaving 16 such civilian positions plus another 25 military positions.
In light of Trump’s order, it added, the remaining 41 positions are scheduled to be abolished by the end of this month, along with “any vestiges of DEI offices, such as suboffices, programs, elements, or initiatives.”
It said the department also has rescinded two DEI related policies and has disbanded the Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, which commissioned studies and collected data regarding DEI matters. A task force created in response to the order further has “certified that there is no use of gender, race, or ethnicity-based goals for organizational composition, academic admissions, or career fields” and has taken actions to “ensure that no boards, councils, and working groups promote DEI and other related concepts.”
GAO added that its review of contracts found that the department “did not widely use contractors to develop and implement DEI activities”; it identified 44 such contracts for 2023, mostly related to training. Other training contracts might have had “a DEI component” but the GAO was unable to judge, based on the contract information.
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