After seven months as Secretary of Defense, strike that, I mean Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth seems to be struggling to gain control of the Pentagon. Despite a handful of high-profile firings, there are indications that the system is still attempting to promote officers who were most active in pushing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.
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General Kenneth Wilsbach is rumored to be a top contender to fill the slot as Air Force Chief of Staff after the surprise retirement of General David Allvin. Wilsbach turned over command of Air Combat Command in August. Ordinarily, he would have retired, but DOD confirms he has not yet retired, though his retirement should have been effective on September 1, and his official bio page is still open. Yet, in his recent command assignments, he has pushed DEI as a priority.
🚨 URGENT: General Kenneth Wilsbach is reportedly a top contender for a promotion to Chief of Staff for the Air Force. He appears to be obsessed with DEI and Pride.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 5, 2025
Wilsbach is the current Commander, Air Combat Command, for Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.
He has ADMITTED… pic.twitter.com/TmydNijvMy
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President Trump has nominated Lieutenant General John Braga to take command of Joint Special Operations Command. Yet he was a big proponent of DEI. By the way, I do not endorse the memo included in the tweet below. Those things are boilerplate, and I've signed some of them myself.
Meet John Braga, US Army Special Operations Command. He loves posting pictures of progress pride flags from government accounts and signed a memo demanding DEI be followed within the Army.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 11, 2025
He doesn’t belong anywhere near the Trump administration. pic.twitter.com/1zLkmi52FL
Perhaps most troubling was Braga's role in attempting to force-feed women into special operations units. Like the decision to ensure women graduated from Ranger School, he appears to have started with his conclusion and worked backward, ignoring the evidence and feedback, to achieve what he wanted.
Over a dozen active duty servicemembers have reached out in utter dismay over this nomination.
— William Thibeau (@WilliamThibeau) September 6, 2025
Braga published the “Women in ARSOF” report where he surveyed SOF operators only to cast them as bigots and sexists. @USASOCNews has since removed the report from their website. pic.twitter.com/a2Kv8SVuyy
This is the report. The tone is one of impatience with any hint that women should not serve in Special Operations Forces combat assignments.
Admittedly, both generals may have been bending with the prevailing political winds. This kind of spaghetti spine is not needed today. The nation and the U.S. military need leaders of principle who have stood up for what was right.
Perhaps most troubling, and maybe linked, is the person in charge of general officer promotions. That would be the civilian Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Military Personnel Policy Stephanie Miller. Here, retired intelligence Chief Warrant Officer Sam Shoemate brings the receipts.
🚨Policy Obstruction in the Department of War🚨
— Shoe (@samosaur) September 7, 2025
Why do woke General Officers continue to get promoted while reinstatement of unlawfully discharged personnel continues to stagnate and go nowhere (despite President Trump's EO to expedite their reinstatement)?
Meet Stephanie… pic.twitter.com/Kt3iRH4UkN
Why do woke General Officers continue to get promoted while reinstatement of unlawfully discharged personnel continues to stagnate and go nowhere (despite President Trump's EO to expedite their reinstatement)?
Meet Stephanie Miller, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Military Personnel Policy for the Department of War and architect of the military's previous Diversity and Inclusion program.
Stephanie is an SES who oversees the "full spectrum of human resource policies for over two million military personnel serving in the Department of War."
Stephanie is in charge of accession policy, personnel management, General and Flag Officer promotions and retention, and more.
According to Stephanie's bio, she served in "a variety of executive positions throughout the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel Policy," to include leadership positions as the DoD Director of Diversity and Inclusion Management.
In addition to serving as a special assistant to SECDEF Ashton Carter, under whose tenure, in January of 2016, announced that "the Department of Defense opened all military roles to women, overriding a request by the Marine Corps to continue to exempt women from certain positions. In June 2016, Carter announced that transgender individuals would be allowed to join and openly serve in the military," also served as Deputy Director for Navy Diversity and in a leadership position as the DOD Director of Diversity and Inclusion Management.
Stephanie served as a special assistant to SECDEF Chuck Hagel, who oversaw sequestration and in 2013 during a visit to Asian countries, stated his "main doubt was American staying power in the region. Hagel called the decline of American military power a "good thing", because it forced American allies to share responsibilities. On July 31, 2013, Hagel announced the results of his Strategic Choices and Management Review, undertaken in response to the budget sequestration in 2013. One of the options he highlighted was to reduce the navy's aircraft carrier groups down from 11 to as little as eight.
Under Stephanie's leadership, military recruiting dropped to an all time low in the entire history of the all volunteer force from 2022-2024. Multiple branches failed to achieve recruiting numbers for the first time since the draft ended in 1973.
Stephanie has been an advisor to, and architect of, every decision in the military over the last decade and a half that has harmed military readiness and overall military strength.
As the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy, all accession and General Officer promotions run directly through her. You need not ask yourself why woke Flag Officers continue to accelarate through promotions, and personnel seeking reinstatement for unlawful discharges continue to run into red tape and road blocks. The answer is clear. (Of note: I've include her previous bio and current bio. Her current bio is scrubbed of any mention of DEI.)
Personnel is policy. Although Secretary Hegseth has made a valiant effort to eradicate DEI, the people who brought that contagion into the War Department and deliberately ruined the Armed Forces painfully rebuilt after the Vietnam War so it could serve as a laboratory for really bad ideas are still in the Pentagon and are now in senior positions. They used the time between the 2004 election and the inauguration of President Trump to sanitize their history and go dark on their activism. I don't know if Miller was behind what seem to be two questionable nominations, but it has all the signs of the old DEI crowd quietly advancing their acolytes into positions of power that will outlast President Trump's presidency.
Few things are harder than turning around a failing, but complacent and self-satisfied organization. That is the challenge facing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The military services have been hollowed out through DEI and dysfunctional leadership. The industrial base is dead in the water. Follow RedState for some of the most informed coverage on his efforts to recreate a force in crisis. Join RedState VIP and help continue that coverage. Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
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