Transcripts For CSPAN2 Leaders 20240704

[inaudible conversations] you may be seated. I ask unanimous consent that the chair be authorized to declare a recess at any time without objection so ordered. I ask members not on the subcommittee to participate and be allowed to ask questions after all subcommittee members have been recognized without objection so ordered. I want to recognize everyone to the curing of the subcommittee. Todays hearing is focused on admissions, curriculum and diversity of thought at the military Service Academies. I want to thank our witnesses for being with us today. I hopeo this hearing provides an opportunity for members to have a Productive Exchange with our witnesses and provide answers to their questions. First, let me say i believe our cadets are some of the best and brightest scholars and athletes are a nation has to offer. Each year a small group of americans enter the military Service Academy will not be easy sacrifice and hard work. In the end nearly a decade or more service to this great country. That is why we are here today to ensure that our cadets are getting the first class education and the elite military training that they need but i do have some concerns. All of the military Service Academies use race as selection criteria. As Justice Roberts said when striking down affirmative action eliminating Racial Discrimination means eliminating all of it. That equalga Protection Laws apy without regard to any differences of race or color or nationality. The Service Academies for race, color having no bearing to attack the rigors of the military Service Academy. It is for this reason that im particularly proud of the house of representatives work last weekms. They strongly affirm admission oto our Service Academies muste on the basis of merit not on skin color or ethnicity. We needic the best and the of racet regardless nothing else. I am also concerned that diversity equity and inclusion as well as theories like gender theory, Critical Race Theory, the list is endless have replaced a foundation of scientific facts and academic rigor. Brandnew air force cadets are taught inclusive language. They are told to use caregivers, guardians instead of mom and dad they are also told to use partner instead of boyfriend or girlfriend. This would be laughable if it was not so dangerous. Instead of being inclusive it simplyly makes it meaningless. It undermines academic rigor in the pursuit of scientific truth in an engineering school. At the Naval Academy instructors learn how to create safe spaces for students to fend off triggering materials, protect them from micro aggressions and shelter them from violent words. Never mindd that these students may one day lead sailors and marines into battle where there are no safe spaces and triggers said real bullets down range. All of this, the inclusive language, the safe spaces, the micro aggressions may hide under a sheen of inclusivity but it is actually an ideology that serves a purpose. That is to remake society according to one moral vision. Where truth is malleable. Words do violence in the answer to one plus one depends on your identity not reason and i am cot how a focus on race, identity and other de i programs impact the education of our cadets. How can a cadet or even an instructor expressing an opinion outside of the accepted ideology without being afraid of ridicule or being ostracized or worse, being called a racist. Good news has stories of professors not being sufficiently antiracist or expressing an opinion outside of the norm. Universities have websites dedicated to calling out students and professors on campuses for micro aggressions, publicly shaming them. M i am afraid that the Service Academies are not much different than these other elite universities. Dissent has been silenced in the free flow of ideas is a hallmark of Higher Education all but ceased. I am deeply concerned with the path our military Service Academies are on, particularly if they continue to violate the constitution and use race as a factor in admissions. Im also concerned about the future success of our cadets amidst considering the focus on divisive diversity programs that elevate the importance of identity over that of duty, honor and service. Before hearings, from our witnesses, let men offer Ranking Member an opportunity to make remarks as well. Thankd you, mr. Chair. I want to welcome our witnesses and look forward to your testimony. I want to thank vice admiral earlier this week. I hope to visit the rest of the military Service Commodities in the near future. I had a chance to meet with the recent graduates, members of the faculty and i will be honest, a lot of what i got to see in the conversation that we had came and painted a different picture than what the chairman just went through. Very often times, when we are talking about this here in congress, it makes it seemed like every single class in every single training session, every single element and hour of the day, whether its a military academies or other colleges and universities being spent talking about diversity, talking about deth i, talking about these different issuess we will be talking about today, that just simply is not the case. That is something i heard pointblank about a lot of the midshipmen from the recent graduates, from the faculty. When it came to admissions as well, talking about the whole person and how we can look at how we develop leaders for our country Going Forward. That was the focus. Not saying we are only looking at the issues of race, only looking at the issue that we are talking about today. I justst feel like we have beenn this hearing room several times already talking about these issues over and over again this year. What i wont say is when i talked with some of them and they raised other issues that are legitimate for us to focus in on about how we can improve their leadership training, their academics, but we are not getting to those types of issues in those priorities because we constantly keep coming back to this. Look, i just want to say that it is important for us to constantly think about what role Congress Plays when it comes to supporting this training and the development of our future t leaders. Yes, we should be thinking about what we can find, what we can support, but our job here is not to micromanage the faculty come up micromanage admissions project, giving them the tools is what we should be doing. So often we are here trying to say that we know better than those that are living this day in and day out. I find that to be a characteristic that i find too often here in congress trying to dictate how some of the most extraordinary leaders some of whom we have in front of us today trying to guide our country goingoi forward. We will have a lot of challenges getting through today i am sure there will be some tense moments. I just ask us to please think through the fact that every Single Person before us today is sharing the same goal that we have which is how do we make sure that we have the kind of leadership that we need Going Forward to keep our country safe to have a Strong National security. We are all in it for that same reason so lets make sure we keep this civil, respectful and recognizing that we have a lot of challenges Going Forward here in congress. Hopefully we can do this today in a way that does not devolve and does not get out of control. With that, i will yield back. Thank you, Ranking Member. Each witness will have the opportunity to present their testimony and each will have the opportunity to question the witnesses for five minutes. Your writtenen comments and statements were made part of the hearing record. With that, Lieutenant General, you may make your opening statement. Chairman banks, Ranking Member cam, distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss this. On behalf of the west point team, thank you for your continued support of your military academy in your over 4400 future leaders in the United States courts cadets. Educating train and inspire leadershi of character. Through this mission we are charged with forging and developing the next generation of officers to lead the United States army greatest strengths and its most important weapon system. It soldiers, the citizens of our nations. The young men and women to build and leadd cohesive teams in the army of 2030 and beyond. We train leaders through values and standard system that foundational the military knowledge and professional skills needed to fight and win our nations wars. The moral character necessary to lead our nation sounds and daughters as army officers. Our corps of cadets all of whom chose to go to west point represent all 50 states in our u. S. Territories. They come from a variety of backgrounds and upbringing. What unites them is their shared commitment to serving their country, supporting and defending the constitution of the United States into our army values. Through our shared values that we develop the leaders of character our nation and the American People expect. We educate leaders with the creative and Critical Thinking skills necessary to lead, bribed and went on the battlefield. Through our world bust curriculum all underpinned by the constitution. We provide our graduates with the intellectual foundation needed. It west point does not teach cadets whatet to think, nor do e intellectually coddle them. Rather, we teach how to think. Pushing them beyond their Comfort Level to develop agile resilient thinkers who can successfully lead in complex on certain operating environments. Wewe also inspire the future officers who will lead our nations treasurer. The men and women from across our country who chose to serve as soldiers in the United States army. Every aspect of ourth developmental experience into the interactions of staff faculty coaches and alumni. Our cadets are exposed to the values and ideals necessary to uphold and enforce standards. To lead by example antibody what right looks like it to give soldiers under their charge the very best leadership. This is our responsibility and obligation to you and to the citizens of our nation. The United States military academy our vision is to be the preeminent Leader Development institution. To that end we continually strive to be the Gold Standard of Leader Development preparing and inspiringf the next generation of officers to live honorably, lead honorably and demonstrate excellence in the 21st century army. Leaders equip with the professional competence needed to fight and win, but more doportly possessed a tremendous character that leadership demands. I want to take an opportunity to think this committee and your colleagues for the support as west point continues with Recovery Efforts from the recent flooding in the hudson valley. I am very proud of the hard work and efforts and how west point falls in the communities and have come together to help support each otherri while demonstrating the great resiliencece and character the nation expects from its army. Forward to working closely with the army corps of engineers our management command and congress as we assess the damage and look to rebuild from the significant damage that has been incurred. I thank you again for the opportunity to discuss the state of the United States military academy with you today. I also invite you to come visit us and see firsthand these leaders in action. I am confident that they will inspire you also. I lookyo forward to your questions. Thank you. Thank you. Vice admiral buck. Chairman banks, Ranking Member cam, distinguished members ofhe the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today on behalf of your United States Naval Academy. The Naval Academy is a hundred position iss to do it morally mentally andit physically with e highest ideals of duty, honor and loyalty in order to graduate leaders who are dedicated to a career of naval service. More than any organization ive been associated with in my 40 years as a naval officer, every the academy our faculty, staff, coaches understand and are committed to this mission. We strive to s be the vermeer leadership for developing naval officers who will preserve peace and prevailing conflicts. I believe and more importantly the feedback from the operational fleet confirms that we are succeeding in our mission. Enter go to that success has been the support of congress. Accomplishing this Mission Starts with our admissions process. We strive to recruit and admit young women and men reflective of the nation they will serve. Each incoming class should be a crosssection of america and your role in this process specifically nominating candidates for a a mission is critical to our success. Knowing that we are charged with developing future leaders for our navy and marine corps, the United States Naval Academy uses a holistic process. A whole person assessment and evaluating each candidate for a mission. This assessment balances objective factors included in each application or each candidates application such as rank, class rank, gpa, evaluations fromci school officials,th specifically their english and math teachers, athletic and nonathletic activities and achievements, leadership and candidate Fitness Assessment results with subjective factors. These subjective factors can help forecast attributes such as character and resilience that we desire in all of our future officers. Once these young patriots where their oath to our nation on injunction date late june every year, we have 47 and a half months to develop them into resilient competent leaders of character ready for an operational environment that is increasingly dynamic. Today, perhaps, more so than in the past, a Firm Foundation in mathematics, physical sciences, engineering principles and knowledge of the human condition is paramount. Academy is designed to provide a Robust Foundation in these areas for every graduate and future officer. A variety of backgrounds among our faculty, staff and, most importantly, theberry grade, creates an educational experience enhanced by differing perspectives enhanced by differing expectancies to sharpen Critical Thinking skills and lead in a diverse environment. A Common Thread throughout curriculum is we teach students how to think, not what to think. The economy expects graduates to become clinical thinkers able to come to their own conclusion based on a wide variety of perspectives theys are exposed to. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today on behalf t of the Naval Academy. Any esteemed leaders in congress is the Naval Academy and constituents, i welcome members of the subcommittee and staff to visit campus at any time. Look forward to your questions. Chairman thanks, other english members of the committee, good afternoon and on behalf of the men and women of the United States air force academy, thank you for all you do to support the a development and enables success of not only Academy Mission but ultimately the mission of the air force space force as we prepare leaders of character ready to take on the challenges of rapidly changing increasingly world. We collaborate and im honored to have my mom and dad here today, thank you for your unending support. Our academy is on upward trajectory and others shared with universities and communities across our country and my daily interaction leaves me proud and inspired but we still have some work to do upholding this standard. Three priorities to recognize and overcome the only todays challenges but also those who are graduates in an era of rapid change. My First Priority is one that will be the core purpose of our academy and develop leaders of character to lead our air force in space force. The leadership and the hallmark of air force academy graduate. We put core values into actions is something we call the leader of character framework when we put integrity first, we are inviting what it means and we are committed to service for ourselves and enables us to live so theres at our own expense and we demonstrate excellence in all we do and elevate performance both as individuals and across our community the mindset to be better every day than we were the day before. We must embrace the framework and make it part of our personal leadership. These values willth ensure we prepare cadets to be c leaders f our nations. We are war fighters. Cannot afford to fall behind on air, space, cyberspace. A significant challenge both great c challenges and great opportunities for us to be drivers of change and militarily we are focused on National Security challenge china, russia making sure you develop critical thinkers for the is under unpredictable. We understand they have the skills toe have beyond combat ad ready to solve problems we dont even know about and we must look five, ten or 20 years into the future to stay ahead and give our nation the Competitive Edge it needs muscle priority is to cultivate a climate of respect. We cannot and will not demeaning of any kind, sexual assault, harassment, discrimination or an atmosphere that tolerates these behaviors and our community in the war fighter commission. A culture of dignity and respect requires a hard look at ourselves in difficultul conversations needed to examine whether we have an environment that allows each member of our community to thrive. To this, we recognize the need for cultural reset and introduce our lets be clear campaign. We must embrace diversity as a strength, military comprised of people from every congressional district, Everett Community and demographic in america. Our cadets will leave people who dont look like them, dont think like them, dont talk like them but ultimately they have to build and lead with a common goal, support and defend the constitution of the United States. If we develop dignity and respect, they will fully employ greed of innovative from solving capabilities guardians, they will have out of our adversaries and when our nation. Im proud of the direction of our academy the capabilities of our cadets and staff to take on the challenges we face as we prepare our nation and i look forward to discussing to Work Together. Before we ask our questions we will begin with representative gates. This is on this. Do you agree with that statement . I do agree with. The most diverseye country in te world. Short but this is war fighting, what about ukraine, our ukrainians fighting the russians diverse course . My concern is that people that build into leaders. Would acknowledge that hasnt been true in every example, right . The countries have to rely on the full force of population to going and thats why it is important. Lets look at the population that makes up the fighting force. We have more men than women and of men we have, most are not transgender men, most are cis gendered meant. Yes, sir. At academys would push something called owens fellowship and it specifically saysys if you are a cis gendered man, this is so you just said your answer on why we do this hug of diversity on substance because its about the fighting force withdrawal from pushing a program that says if you are a cis gendered transgender woman, non binary a gender, by gender, is the main what gender . Is a term of the people eligible for that particular scholarship, a person who looks at the gender in a different way. You are is is gender man, you dont get to apply do you know what to my gender really means . Im not sure. Right so you know what a gender means . All one word. , i dont. We are pushing a fellowship calling for people you dont know what the means and the Number One Group of people, cis gendered men are excluded. In the name of diversity and equity and inclusion, should we push children we cant define and exclude the Largest Group . Program is not air force, it is open to our entire country. Advocate for the country. Why are you allowing cadets to apply for a problem when you cannotap define this is terms of eligibility . Is opportunity to develop us for fighters and look for every opportunity. I could use it as a way to help if you dont know what it means . They may not be applicable in the air force academy but some are. If you dont know what they mean, how do you know if they are applicable . I think some of the reasons theyve gotten into this is a dont have the same oversight on the board of visitors september 8 of 2021, all president trumps appointees were fired on september 17 the subcommittee and populated that two people who were not on the board. Have you seen that happen before . Our board of visitors is populated in great fashion. Are the people on the board erof the subcommittee not on the board of this . I cant answer that, sir. That would be off, right . You dont have any basis of this, we have people not on the board of visitors serving, you have no basis for the. Sir, im not exactly sure the person you are asking. I like to thank our panel for your service and your presence today and i feel i have to apologize in advance from a few hundred live through what we have been living there on this committee this congress where we have colleagues intent on doing Everything Possible to paint any effort by the federal government to be inclusive and diverse and representative of our country and divisive, that is the word being used. I like to y ask each of you if u could explain, why is it important to have a diverse population in your company . What is the benefit of having a diverse set of talented leaders in the accounting clerk, whon will start with you and work our way to each member. Thank you, maam. I think i can speak for all of us, this will lead our fighting force made t up of people from across our country regardless of demographic economic status and geographic congressional district. We have to ensure cadets are prepared to leave those diverse teams develop a fighting force in aoa common goal of our constitution. We are going to fail because our air force and space bars is a series of teams to go in. It is in our self interest. Absolutely, maam. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] ive completed my remarks. Representative escobar. Our Nations Armed forces are made of people who come in and represent our nation. Young men and women who joined forces come from all over the world and they come from different backgrounds and upbringings and potentially different biocides. We develop them to achieve a common goal which is defending our nation time of need in the constitution of United States. S. As we develop as a character leave this force, they have to understand who they are and critical thinkers and develop Critical Thinking skills and have hard conversations and all different spaces and thats why it is a strength and we have to continue to draw upon that strength and promoted. I appreciate it and im running out of time. It is advantageous to us to embrace diversity number one. Number two, it makes us stronger to embrace d diversity and numbr three, our country is diverse so we should reflect that diversity. Thank you and i go back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Your military Service Academy routinelyy showed Academic Merit specifically standardized test is order of merit adulation and success of an officer. However, the Naval Academy is the only Service Academy does not require standardized test scores ready fears caused by covid19 and destruction for student to plan for apply, can you explain how the Naval Academy is caused by covid 19 that the others do not . I believe the other academies do follow the same position we are. E. Precovid we required standardized test and we have for decades and decades is one of the most important objective we would like to have to consider candidate in competition with others apply. When covid hit, we realized many students around the countrys ability to take the test for Testing Facilities were limited because of things close down with limited availability so we, like probably every other e institution in the country, we moved into the test flexible, we still desired to have standardized tests as applicant record. They are good as you state, very good indicatorss of success at the Naval Academy especially in the first two years where theyhe take a seriesri of calculus and calculus based physics but when we realized we might have to not misseds talent from states witha could not take the test, we adopted the test flexible option. Its approximately at the economy we w have a little less than 3 shipment across three classes while still attending did not submit sat, did not take them or submit them and we admitted them. We are currently conducting some analysis to see how they are doing. We are not complete that work get and whenne we conclude that analysis, such as s begin to determine whether standardized testing fees for the pleasure the demand for whether we away from that but that is still out because the students are still progressing through those calculus classes. You are aware of the language on this issue requiring standardized tests, are you not . As i understand it, because it is graphic, there is language that, yes. That is correct. It would require all services so we believe is important to have fact based fair and t equal opportunity to succeed and make sure we identify the best and brightest talent nationwide so vaguely island that amendment alongside senator tom cotton and all sitter this in the application but its not just the Naval Academy that has problems because i do think we know we are in a post covid time but a study done at the air force academy clearly shows the Academy Election panel score was working in the opposite way as intended in the relationship between this score was significant but in the wrong direction. These scores were associated with a lower likelihood of academic success of the air force academy. What is your comment on that . Yes, maam. We are diligent creating an accurate to ensure success the air force academy. We h hold to weighted values and gives us an indication whether or not they will succeed but we look at the whole person. We look at every aspect, background and Life Experience and social economic status, the whole concept because we develop leaders of character and want to know if an incoming cadet has the propensity to be thehe leadr character so there are indicators that help us determine that and it is the act of composition in the concept that allows people to lead our air force and space bar. But it is troubling that the score is correlated with low academic success, would you agree . Im not sure that that is the case, our cadets come in with the highest comps. Appreciate it. I yield back. I want to thank our panel, thank you for your service. You mentioned the importance of diverse effective leaders in your services. The Supreme Court prepares is harvard and the action ruling in a footnote to the decision. The decision i suspect the decision tode include was rooted in the factti that affirmative action which does still exist is necessary for national n securi. What specific programs have been implement to buy your Service Academy to foster a more diverse inclusive environment for cadets . It is good to see you and the military academy has been coming to my district to see firsthand. The Admissions Office is what we have is called leadership and diversity seminars that go out the country to remote awareness of the military academy and armed forces. Middle schools and high schools to plant the seeds. We have stem workshops conducted both at west point and teams that will go in different areas. In these areas to identify those and desire to servere the nation needs of the topics we have in respect Service Academies and the opportunities. Are they collaborating assist in those efforts . The United States Service Academies or military Service Academies, we have to Work Together and identify those within your districts and states and communities for service and theres many different ways to serve in the armed forces and etc. Work collaboratively with you all is the primary of the nominations that come from congress and Work Together to identify young men and women in your constituents to have the opportunity. I take great pride in my office please in partnership in the military bases. Diversity also means geographic diversity. Correct . Absolutely, sir. I represent 50000 square miles throughout nevada, a very remote community. My constituents are less likely to have internet and will drive hours to recruit. Rural communities. Think of that question. We go to great effort as recruiters to our air force academy to work as counselors to go out and conduct that outreach you are talking about. We have embedded our recruiting statements as well to have a base to travel from and extend from there in different areas especially rural areas and we have we have your time has expired. And he finishes statement . I just want to address this scenario from political appointees in the pentagon from colleagues in the other side of the aisle, the republicans are blowing these issues out of proportion or exaggerating but i cannot say strongly e enough ife do not have good health, military members or families bringing these issues on a consistent basis i have a binder of issues, some of them one from the conservative family and another from a conservative jewish family and the question on the other side of the aisle, why were they comfortable in this environment . To go to their chain of command. That is something i encourage about. Deeply think and that pain, general clark, air force Academy Professor at Washington Post oped to probably just Critical Race Theory at the air force academy. The commander no how divisive and constructive ideology is. One hundred years ago no, this is today. That does not mean we should stop identifying as white and claim to be another type of race, deny the reality of racism in the here and now. This is a way of thinking or history class, its a way of indoctrination. The colorblind racism. Do you agree with that statement . What i will tell you is you mentioned our instructor currently still teaching. Yes or, talked about gregorys theory. I only have two minutes left to ask these questions. I like to talk about your question about Critical Race Theory and the instructor if thats okay first. But first, do you agree, the leader of the institution under staff . Thats not what she was espousing. It is a leading book in the Critical Race Theory mantra of thinking. The discourse on the topic, civil discourse. Teaching White Supremacy to have that . We encourage all civil discourse. In an Institution Teaching our leaders to defend future military members to die for civilian institutions they are described as inherently racist, that is offensive that runs against your priority will watch will. So we are clear, this is the speaker air force National Character and leadership ceremony that spoke to reckoning the United States has carried a trail near on the verge of umbilical cord wrapped around the babys neck, choking the life out of it. At a conference last year i think again this rhetoric as we hear on the other side, of course you want equal opportunity for every american. I justt have one more question and ill throw it over to you. Do you have any empirical evidence, data shows a separate group is moret effective of the different skin color . I agree but we dont see we are not looking for religious diversity or frankly, my wife looks white but she is arab one 100 . Id like to be my time a few seconds. Will help you. I hope we i caution embers to respect each other time. I want to thank our witnesses for being there today. I want to start by saying diversity truly americas strength, something we should take seriously politicized. Service academies teach students how to think, not what to think. Learning about diversity, patient history or other cultures help s our students become critical thinkers. It does not train them to hate this country or any race to assume our students cannot handle this information is truly an insult to their intelligence and hours of the facts of our nations history is for centuries africanamericans denied opportunity to pursue Higher Education leaving painful history of discrimination that persists today so when air force Academys Class of 2027 is only 4 black, you cant tell me military or Service Academy spends too much time and money more attention on diversity. I daresay africanamericans make up more than 4 for military. Our core officers of our most racially diverse in the end is whole. Lect society as a our military is the best in the world will stay that way as long as we have the best players on the field. My first question is Lieutenant General clark. Aspiring for leadership positions i often tell my interns you have to see it to be. When i was in college was a lot of, it was an important part of deciding to run for congress 25 years later so students can be told how the opportunity to be but when they see secretary often and so many others, includes they can do it. From your personal experience, can you speak to my representation is so important for the students you recruit . Thank you, maam. We want people of whatever demographic they are from, whatever crime they are from to know that they can succeed in our organization, the opportunities other but when they are leading broader air force and spaceports, they are going to need a force made up of americans and airmen and guardians they lead, they need to know they are not only represented among their own force buty also amongst their leadership and helps the leadership as well as the force to connect so we can drive toward the common goall and its important we have a good balance of diversity. Im proud in the institute, one of the four military junior colleges and their or 66 Service Academy appointments in five years, we arere proud the institutes not only in the district but a rural part of my district. Can each of you. Liz the Important Role the military Junior Academy preparatory schools have in building a pool of diverse qualified candidates for these academies . Ill start with you, it doesnt mattermi. Give a question save we have affiliated 17 private schools around the country we Call Foundation schools. They complement our prep school located in rhode island to have an additional year of preparation before going to the Naval Academy. Some of those hunting schools are junior military academies you described. I think important in great they are very poor. They have geographic diversity around the country so the population, they come from the local area and learn about the military because they are in proximity to the school. The value in helping us recruit and build anld applicant pool your time has expired. Thank you, mr. Chairman. As ive been listening to my colleaguesis questions, diversiy and quality and inclusion, i like to take a moment and discuss these efforts properly target to accomplish goals and the nations security. The question hypothetically, the average High School Graduate in america that alaska exists as part of the United States, the have an impact of National Security . With regards to your question, if our population didnt know it exists, without the a National Security from . I think where alaska resides in thehe geographic, it is significant in its location. I concur, sir. The average High School Graduate in america did not know it exists will that could have an impact on National Security. Yes or, i agree. Absolutely. I agree. I believe lack of education on the existence of u. S. Territory and High School Level constitute National Security weakness. Mr. Chairman, i just unanimous consent to enter into the two of the United States. One, representative of those hes in High School Students does not depict the United States and once which is a u. S. Map that does care for the United States. Diversity and equality and inclusion seems to have government interested in real equality or inclusion because if it were, it would not be forgotten. Can you guarantee every graduate of your Service Academy known these territories are part of the United States. Yes, sir, United States. And jester, Clear Air Force academy. We are committed. Healing with di or these barriers todays hearing has touched upon language and nda to remove families at the academy along the two nominate candidates at the academy that is presently law. One last q question, whatever ae being done to recruit military Service Academy in one . Ill start obviously have a presence on long and Anderson Air Force base and it provides great opportunity for recruiting and bringing in folks who live in want into our academy so we do have great accounting. We l have strong navy presene there with families. We also have those who served in the United States and they serve as blue and gold officers and representatives of our academy. Will have to come back with specific outreach. The university. I appreciate the witnesses in your service. I want to elaborate on this particular grant talking about understanding history and historicalor cultural context. We look at one, we have deliberation 21st from the occupational japan and it is important to look at the indo pacific and island change in these countries will. It is this comparative and everybody in the services understand where territories are geographically where they stand especially in the western pacific and first and Second Island to for the future like miami. It is imperative when we look at the understand the Historical Context educate and call Critical Race Theory or whatever you might want, there are a lot of situations where it would be who of us not educate those individuals about things occupational, hawaii by the United States which is a sensitive subject in my home state and one we often find the military and indigenous communities as well. So many others in which it is a great way. When it comes to the fighting machine here in the world, should we not look for individuals that have natural immediate change in which we are finding ourselves . Yes, maam. It is a big improvement in the United States Naval Academy since i graduated in the early 80s. Now that it is so important for the United States military forces to fight alongside partners and allies, cultural competency critical to Building Trust early on in a young military person with that they are in any of the services so that is a huge improvement with our International Programs and what we teach in our history classes in Political Science classes to have an appreciation of past history of those who are our partners and allies and fellow citizens. A number of folks in the panel here understanding how people think on the ground not just United States but we are engaging in that said, when i look is there other surveys in the pandemic is, 42 of Service Members because of fear of discrimination, racism and whee they might be assigned to and we have seen an increase in our Community Prior to the pandemic and Racial Discrimination, 57 have been subject to comments or jokes. Another is not stability to train the menhe and women who wl become members of this military so how are we making sure we create an environment for communities of color to recognize they not only have a role but strategically Important Role to play in the defense of our country . With regard to ensuring our leaders have cultural competencies but also not just the force they are leading but also cultural awareness and we look to our allies and other nations to form a joint combined force, in order to show the pacific, it is a national imperative and it is important as we continue to put develop, they have cultural awareness and understanding regardless of level of l leadership. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I like to request unanimous consent to enter into the record the air force officer source commission. I want to note in this, it specifies diversity and inclusion goals and was happy to find the fact that its broken down to individual categories and only notes male and female. Does that identify the fact that there areon only two genders . Those are the genders recognized by opm. Would you agree there are only two genders . I would agree, yes. I agree. To genders identified. That. Gree with the air force academy as gender language the air force academy so conducts inclusion programs . We didnt refrain from using it, we told him to understand the context of the people they are talking to before they refer tor them, their parents or their context so the crux of what training. I would never tell anyone to use this. To you refer to them . Im not sure where you guys are. We do allow the work but we want to help cadets to understand the people leading, to know their context before they engage. Do youli believe they should use genderneutral language when referring to parents as your training recommends . Until they know what gender their parentsts are, yes. In 2021, he signed to endorse u. S. Naval academy inclusions plan in this includes steps to maintainin comprehensive awarens training framework. Regarding areas of concern creating a metric that can measure and track a biannual survey for students. How do we track this . Since publishing that document, very little of it has been implement. The one aspect we implement it creating and improving mentorship availability of the academy across theh brigade but as we look at the document, we realize it requires further review before we implement other aspects. Your pacific question, i dont know, whos not created it nor are we measuring it. A tremendous amount of respectsp for your service and what youve done as well as a friend of mine is a former teamingav to his instructor and told me good things. Do you believe meritocracy is more substantial and creating leaders and war fighters in the idea of this . A diverse nation and our leaders based on promotions have to be aware of that and our leaders have got to understand leading men and women of our armed forces, they are aware, there is an awareness and knowledge that lead to lead to teams. Would you say is a key factor. Would you consider to be a key factor or would be about meritocracy . Thank you, i appreciate it. This is another interesting but disturbing hearing. Charles dickens wrote some years ago in the tales of two cities, the best of times, the worst of times. The age of wisdom, the age of foolishness. It goes on to drop this contract, i think this is the tale of two countries right now in which we live more divided than with the been the civil war. Everyone on this Sub Committee and the committee, we have the same information we seen in communist china, it is disturbing. For some reason, we are stuck in this over how to boost recruitment into our services that we can be that deterrent we need to be. I truly believeie our strength s a nation comes from our commonality. I know others disagree with that. Our love of country, pride in our republic but we got to figure this out. We got to get back to inspiring young people to be in the military. We got to give them a sense that they can be all they can be. We got to restore sense of patriotism. Only 9 of young people right now have any interest in joining the military and the drag queen shows that came out that we are putting a stop to end of things, we have legacy families in my district, fathers and grandfathers, mothers and grandmothers telling their grandchildren and children hey, dont get into the military because it is not what it used to be. Im glad we are having this discussion, some to the market and people were complaining because we are talking about it. Got to talk about, weve got to dig in and remove this scab that healed what is wrong with our country. General clark, who gave a list of considerations of applicants for academy, air force academy and potentialti cadets. Does the student stand a better chance of being admitted of a certain demographic . I would say not a better chance, we looked at the whole Person Concept and demographic is just one of those attributes we look at to come into our academy once we know they are fully qualified so i wouldnt say any demographic has better or worse but it is a factor . It is part of the whole person. Other numbers of certain races who feel they are not welcome in the military right now . All love to sign up but i dont feel i am welcome because i am asian or africanamerican or race. Er that could be but it is our job to make sure they do feel welcome and included. We cant afford right now to not bring in anybody willing, qualified and has the heart to serve to support. I get that, sir but do you have any empirical evidence, any secondhand knowledge of anybody saying i wouldld have joined i would have applied for my congressman or woman to appoint me to the academy but im of feelphrase and dont welcome in the military, have you heard back . I have not, sir. I have not personally. General clark . I have not heard that. Dont you think if it was a problem, it would have come up . That would be a big issue, would itit not . The somebody have empirical evidence to say i dont feel welcome in the military that is protecting our country against communist china yet we havent heard that. We are trying to find a solution to something thats not really a problem. Please respond. What i would say is to have people in the military when they see things in our country or experience things, we want to make sure you talk about divisiveness outside our walls, we want to make sure when they get to our economy, they are fully welcome and t included. Thank you and i appreciate the opportunity to join the subcommittee. Want to be here for multiple reasons, one is a proud graduate of the military and its a personallyoi amend superintendet given, in my district, i know we are here to talk about other issues and i will but the superintendent major and the whole team have led the academy through difficult Natural Disaster impeccably we did lose one but i want to commend you for something not expected and another part of your record of service and to the community. It is not only disturbing, it is sad too. Ca i know when i joined and i can assume for everyone else here, we joined to fight real wars at a moment of tremendous risk across the globe. Not culture wars. That is not what our young men and women want to be a part of. And i cannot for the life of me understand why we continued to inject the very toxic, divisive topics is culture oric topics wn we hear over and over in the data come in the conversations, and the surveys, our soldiers, sailors, airmens, marines, and guardsmen want us to focus on fighting up a broom for real wars. In the spirit that i would ask i know its a very narrow set of the curriculum and the preparation. Can you give us the holistic breath over the 47 months, what do cadets and i would ask the others to join after, focus on with a particular focus on Critical Thinking for thats a common theme i heard from all of you. Yes, sir, thank you for the questionha sir. Our curriculum is rooted in the constitution of the United States across our core courses of which our cadets swear an oath to the constitution three times during their time at west point. They swear an oath on our day, affirmation day which is the beginning of their junior year. Then the commissioning owes on graduation. Our instructors at title 10 instructors we have both uniform are also a swear an oath to the constitution also. I say that in our curriculum the Common Thread goes across our classes and the various disciplines that we teach respectively there. Which also includes our history, our military history, our law and our philosophy courses and leadership courses. I think that is where we, as we think about the different topics that are discussed at which we do not shy away from any controversy built topics. We want to have a civil discourse. When have critical w thinkers ad develop critical thinkers who are able to take on challenging topics, not only in academia but also in their formations if our airmen, our guardians, our seamen and marines, sailing sailors and marines are incredibly intelligent. They come from across the nation. They posed these questions to our leaders and in particular our junior leaders to enter the force of the academies in various visioning sources and that is why it is important sir. Before you answer, can you talk about the importance you can disagree as well being uncomfortable is the leader we are uncomfortable and lead your troops in thatle situation . Throughout all of our professional training and summer training all three of our Service Academies we are a teaching how to become comfortable being uncomfortable and living in environments that may have ambiguity or uncertainty or chaos or fog. Weve got to learn to still comprehend in those environments. Then back to the contents of our curriculum we are a very, very stem heavy school. A typical mid shipment will graduate with 140 145 credit hours. That differs from a civilian institution was down in the 120s. And 90 of those credit hours are edstem related. Because of the weaponry. I yield myself five minutes for questions. Ill begin by yielding thank you, mr. Chairman i just wanted to continue on that last line of questioning before i was interrupted. And i will say it again we want equal opportunity for every single american, equal opportunity for every single american toev serve. The concern of this committee as we have political pressure to tip the scales from a meritocracy in any way, shape, form based on some other ethnic race a factor. That is what we want to make sure is not happening. So i will ask each of you, weve talked about the whole scores. Is there any instance to where you have allowed the secession of a lower scoring candidate either in your superintendent nomination category or your additional appointee candidates, overt someone the whole candidate score based on beating diversity goals. No certain that with 96 Naval Academy. No, sir we look at multiple considerations. Did you look at race as part of that candidate . , we talk about considerations across the admissions process, which also includes scholars, leaders, athletes, and that is the goals rfor talent that we are striving for. s race a part of the whole candidate . Whats race is not part of the candidates courser. Ob no, sir for me as well. You have never elevated someone who has at lower whole candidate score because of their ethnic background question. I have not. Thank you, mr. Chairman i yelled. And reclaim my time. Let me ask a simple question to each of you. The language the past a majority of the house of representatives voted for itth last week to appy the same standards of the Supreme Court decision on that military academies as on the rest of colleges and universities, how much of a difference would it make it west point comeat . What human banks with the department of the army and ost t were still assessing Supreme Court ruling. Would it make a big difference . What you think as you assess it . I think you owe it to the committee, what you think the difference would be . To present facts i will wait till the assessment is complete. Admiral buck . Wesdm i believe the diversity tt we enjoyed the United States Naval Academy is because of the huge effort that wee make and that you all participate with us in creating an applicant pool from the country. And i believe the further and more effort we do in our outreach to teach everyone in this country with u. S. Naval academy is with that opportunity might be , i think it naturally drives a diverse brigade. In the last 20 years the female hapopulation the Naval Academy s doubled. The racial diversity at the Naval Academy over the last 10 15 years has increased. I believe that as a tribute to how hard we are working to create an applicant pool for you all to consider to t nominate. I think that hits on a really important question. Congress and nominates candidates to the academy. Why do we have to take race into consideration at all . That is the process we are using . What is one aspect of diversity we have talked about. Its one of many, many different aspectsnt of diversity all aspes of diversity are powerful and helpful to make a cohesive team. General how much difference would it make for this during Court Decision did apply to the air force academy . Do you think of make a big difference at all . I know again we are assessing that right now. What kind of difference that wouldha make. What you think youre the leader that would make a big difference or not . Im not as familiar every meaning of we are not included in the scope of this decision and exactly what that means but i do not want to get out in front of that until we are able to analyze this. At west point is there a difference between a preference is . Do you apply one or the other and how you apply race as a factor . We do not have quotas. Preference . Whats we have goals to meet. As i stated with regards to a leader goals. Subcategories of young men and women regardless of their backgrounds are volunteer leadership category. Eight scholar and an athlete category progress my time has expired i. Thank you and thank you for fcoming out here pretty wantedo read you to his sentences here. This was a brief 35 former military leaders presented to the Supreme Court, talking about diversity in our military academy and their education. They said quote the importance of maintaining a diverse highly qualified officeral corps ive been beyond a legitimate dispute for decades. They go onto set units that are diverse across all levels are more cohesive, collaborative and effective. Lieutenant general gayle and i what is get your reaction to that. Would you agree with the sentences . I agree we are responsible for building thick cohesive disciplined organizations. Those organizations are drawn fromom our nation and diverse nation our neighbors have to build to leave those forces. Admiral your thoughts . I concur with those. I agree i believe we need to pull talent from every corner of our society part every demographic in every scongressional district. I think its important. That is something we need to focus in on here. The value of diversity is something of a great honor to be out early this week to that Naval Academy and talk to mid shipment there. This is not just some ordinary Educational Institution for this is one that is there to develop erleaders. There is an understanding that those who are they are part of something bigger than all of us. I guess the question is if we establish the value and diversity the question is how a are we calibrating . Are we calibrating correctly . Too much, too little . At least of the Naval Academy at tops of the midshipmen and recent graduates not a single one of them thought any type of diversity trading or education, or curriculum was overac burdensome. They struggle to think through any significant level of mandatory requirements along eythat level. They see a handful of hours at most if they think about it in a given year. General starting with you do think your Academy Admissions and also the curriculum is overly focused on race and diversity . No, sir. Admiral . Works no super. Lieutenant general . I will say in a fouryear academy education, one of our cadets could expect to get 16 hours of diversity, equity and inclusion training they would get over 1000 hours at a minimum and or fighter training. I dont think we are overt training. 16 hours across all four years . Works out for years yes, sir. Has roughly 100 in the mid shipment. The value of diversity, we agreed upon, we calibrating correctly . Is it too much . We are saying or some of us are saying that is not the case. The third point and the question is, is the diversity considerations and the teachings of different types of curriculum is that weakening our development of leaders for this country . That mission of your organization . I guess i would ask on the road while more time here, current admissions efforts a whole person effort youre dealing with, the Academic Freedom to teach cadets at mid shipment how to think, not what to think. Is at producing lesser quality leaders in the past years . Lieutenant general . , and reference the previous question also we do not conduct diversity training at the military academy we conduct equal opportunity training i wanted to clarify. Now with regards to the curriculum they cuss back to teaching how to think, not what to think in Critical Thinking skills, and how the environment as complex for our Young Leaders going out into the forest, theyve got to be able to deal all kinds of different situations. Complexity problem sets that they may not have been exposed to. So what did they draw upon in order to solve those problems sets question what they draw upon the skills, the knowledge of the t tools that we have educated and enabled them with in order to solve those problems. Really to build a moat more cohesive discipline thats working towards a common goal that they have respectively. Thank you cannata said it better oak, vice admiral your thoughts . Whats our top two customers of the product that we produce at the Naval Academy which art leaders of character for United States navy and the marine, cos are the citizens of the United States. The military, the navy and marine corps that will defend this country more specifically the fleet. The feedback i get from the fleet says the product we are producing right now is very solid. Very good and we are accomplishing our mission for. Thank you i yield back. Like to enter into a quick second round for members who are remaining. And i will begin. I will yield myself five minutes apart on the screen there will be a slide from west point 2017 report to its board of visitors. Which i would like to enter into the record. It shows the academy use racebased class composition goals for several years. The academy also use racebased class composition goals for the class of 2027 which started a ago . Eeks , we have class composition goals but if we do not meet those goals we dont need them. But you did have those goals for the class of 2020 question requested class composition goals as i stated for leaders, for scholars, for athletes. We have composition goals for men and women. For women and respected progress racebased composition goals . We have goals. We have composition goals, sir. Quickly meeting those goals . In some instances we are. And some we are not spray. Out of the schools changed over the last few years that youve been at west point . Sir, as my colleagues indicated earlier we have seen an increase in women, significantly throughout thehe decades. We identify talent across our nation. A ute meeting at racebased composition goals at west point . This year we did not in some categories. How farar off from the goal were you . We were under a percent or two. We are talking in terms of tens of people. Okay. Does a Naval Academy at racebased composition goals like these goals at west point . Or we do not have racebased composition goal at the academy. The most diverse are great and weve had in our history to i wl hearken back to tell you i believe that is from our ground game and our effort and outreach to get across this country to let everybody know in this country who we are part what we stand for what opportunity it would beth therefore naturally weve enjoyed application this country. Object that racebased composition goals at the academy . The goals we have her areapplication goals. We have specific areas of the country, demographics we strive to bring in asav applicants. We had tooth applicants we had goals for that which then allows to pull the best talent out of all of her applicants in the light of the opportunity as a body to nominate them to our cot academy. Can you tell us more of the goals are established . Do you establish them yourself . You have a committee that establishes them, or does it come from . Basin based on the demographics in our airrc force. They are only applicant goals. Not necessarily goals of the cadets that come inri. What goes into establishing o goal theres gotta be a process . We look at her demographics are in the air force at large. We also look at our nations nationsdemographics so that we n ensure that we are reaching every community to pull that talent sprit if we see applicant goals are lower in an area wheat note whether its geographic progress at trick you can share with the committee were the goal comes from . We establish the goals based on again our population of our air force and space enforcement. Very specifically based on the population of the air force . That is used to determine the goals the population of the air force. Is there a Science Behind it . Or pull goals out of thin air . Notes are those goals are based on the composition of her army officer corps. That is the basis for. Exit is a very specific to metric to determine the goal . What is our army look at the army goal of the composition of it we would like our graduating classes to look similar to the army officer corps that exist as it currently is as each graduating class enters into the operational force. Okay, i will yield five minutes to Ranking Member. Think it mr. Chair. Just a couple of questions here. Vice admiral buck you talk about the whole person approach. You talk to me about that before it when it came on out to your academy. You talked about in terms of objective and subjective the picture of different types of factors inth there. I guess the question i have to you, is it possible to identify the best potential leaders for at leading our military force in this country to only test scores and objective factors customer do you feel like you would be missing something there . Up you like will be missing something but both the objective factor in the subjective factors are really, really important. It defines what the whole person assessment. Every aspect of thatve person we want to assess. Not all that is done objectively. Some of that you have to hear what other people think of that individual as a citizen, as a human being. There character which is really, really important to be a military leader is a man or woman of good solid character. Some teachers assessments and english teacher, a math teacher they talk about the performance inth english and math. Quite often they talk about that individual character. What kind of human being they are. We also get a subjective from what we call our blue and gold officers. Its a cadre of volunteer former alumni that also do interviews with our candidates and tell us what kind individual they think they are. That is a subjective measure. We also look at their background. Are they the first in the family to go to college . Are they firstgeneration americans . Have they overcome unusual adversity in their life that would give us an indication of the resilience . That the sun or a daughter of a diplomat and served abroad and many other countries that might bring that neat cultural competency experience. Those are subjective factors to allow us to add to the assessment the objectivity also gives us. Think its very helpful to further tease that. I want to bring it just conversation you talk of the whole approach. If you dontst mind id like to talk about this not to see juste applicant are trying to t devel, to identify here. Youre trying totrtr deliver les to deliver the country read the same way i would say when it comes to leadership is there somee objective formula or standard you can determine whos a good leader, a bad leader or do you feel a bemused to be some subjectivity and that as well . Or i feel the need to be subjectivity. But as the art of pulling in the right people to look at the whole of their Life Experience to see how they performed in different situations. We can better understand many of the things admiral buck talked about. What did they get that in the course of listening to the last last hour40 of those, filigree t at odds concepts that do not be mutually exclusive. We can talk about objectivity were constantly feeling like meritocracy and diversity are at odds with one another. Two concepts idyllic we put against eachel other over the course of the time we been in this room. I does not have to be the case. The pursuing diversity, pursuing the act effort does not means were watered down leadership as you pointed out in the previous point. I would like toe add your last points really stuck in my mind. I feel like so much about that is how do we prepare leadership. They prepare for everything not just physically mentally, intellectually. Iu knew school of thought in command. A few have time prepare them for ahead of time. My correct is that something about you be getting at . Lets have the skills and the tools and that is through development. I think our cadets are diverse. I would submit that is with their degrees in. Every single day theyre exposed to Character Development and leadership. At the b conclusion leading youg and women in our army specifically. Our vision is an institution in the world. What is key to that is its about developing leaders of the course of the 47 months. Ce they dont have men defined as such but we provide the skills and capabilities. Think i yieldk. Back too. Or present of gates . Lexus but the slideshow backup we were discussing earlier but this is the air force academy instructing students on how to use inclusive language. We add secretary kendall here and we got to the home mom and dad think secretary kendall said are probably not going to tell students they cant save mom and dad. There are other things here that you want to disclaim thats a totally reasonable thing for person to do. I want to start the contention to be inclusive cadets would have to not use the term colorblind or say we are all just people. Is there something wrong with aspiring to be colorblind and the United States military in particular the air forcece academy . I think it depends how a person uses that term in context. I think most people if you are of a different race or different color i do not want to be blind to that but i want a person to accept that. And to understand that. Include me as if they would include any other person might be of a different color. We as a country were in many ways educate on the concept of colorblindness the civil rights movement. D in doctor kings and many remarks he would talk about the virtue of judging one another. Not by the color of our skin not you as a black man, we as a white man but the context of our character. A critique of the very values that undergird the civil rights movement. Of doctor kings words is not saying dont recognize the color of a person once you recognize it dont judge them by the color . Didnt doctor king specifically called for colorblindness . Dont judge people. Courts are trying but specific terms and language. Doctor king did call it for colorblindness, right . Maybe instead of teaching we should not say boyfriend or girlfriend or mom, dad, whatever we should actually go back to the core of the values of the civil rights movement. You would need to bill answer these questions more thoroughly maybe we had a greater connection to the thoughts of doctor king and little less. What about the statement we are all just people . What is offensive about that . Is not that that is offensive sir. Whats not inclusive . Not, we are all just people. I thought we were all just people that sounds inclusive to me . Whats the context of the slide was presented was to recognize people for who they are. That we dont always all look alike. Why did the words we are all just people serve as an affront to that concept . I think the idea is we should all be treated as equals. What about we are all just people . Ive got to get you back to the words on your slide here. The words on your slide to say we are just people you say thats a bad thing because we have to say we are all equal. Does that seem circular to you . In the context it was presented the slide is a bit out of context when you cannot presented in the way it was presented to progressive gone through two of them on providing smith context as i can. Our cadets punished if they talk about colorblindness in a positive way . What steps would not progressively punish if they say boyfriend griffin rather than partner . What subsidy not progress say disabled versus set disk people disabilities . Whats there not progressed transgender versus transgender people and Service Members . Whats there not required so they instead mom or dads and the parents or caregivers . They are not. Okay to where we teaching it . Next we are teaching to understand a persons context free to understand how to talk to people within their context so as not to offend until you get to know your people for that is how we build effective. What you have to realize is when you could treat colorblindness and critique statements like we are all just people. That is the diverse of within inclusive bases of most divisive rhetoric. I see my time is expired. Think it mr. Chairman. I want to get back to something you are talking about a moment agot when you are explaining about your slide on goals. And it was noted that they based it on the core or on the demographics but it also notes there is an office in its its military academy of diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity committee. So if it is judged up the core, could you tell me what makes two things. An individual qualify for this committee . And what recommendations is that committee make . , have an office Diversity Inclusion equity at equal opportunity. That office is a tool. Is there recommending body to me because it provides information to me across our academy which is edits and closes of our entire population that exists at west point. That office again as a body that provides me advice, recommendations as we look at different aspects because of those recommendations big goals the chairman was just talking about earlier . That office does not provide the recommendations on goals with regards. Today we have fewer of this race or gender or more of this race or gender it does not plug into any recommendations it ever is that we are the goals . Quickset is dry from our admissions. And with regard to the establishment of the composition goals that is based off of c the army officer corps. It is established on a yearly basis. Moving on. I always go back to the same question seems to be very difficult question for a lot of our military. What is the difference between equity and equality . , equity is that everybody has the same opportunities. They are able to aspire to achieve the goals they have laid out for themselves. And there are no hindrances or barriers to achieve this restrictive goals. All about equality. And we have equalal opportuny as directed by the army and the department of defense, our equal opportunities again through which weather is our military occupational specialties, branches, whatever it light of work or profession they areat i. The equal opportunity provides all individuals respectively are aspire for their able to be promoted without any hindrances or barriers. It sounds like the exact same definition is similar it with a different way of saying it is equity. My definition of understanding based on pei what its metric qualities exactly since equal opportunity. It is not defined by race, gender your socioeconomic status. Equity is more based on the ideas of equal outcome. It was not eight metrics based system the diversity Equity Inclusion was going into. I would argue that part of our recruitment deficit that we see and then i say to military we are about 25000 short right now and our recruitment efforts not to mention 8600 are unconsciously purged out for the Vaccine Mandates is because we havent prioritized a little bit too much of my opinion, the diversity, Equity Inclusion as opposed to a should be focused on which is increased, readiness and the way it was when i was in the military. Between a might military government time over seven years of my life and iraq every three years of my life in afghanistan cope possible, pakistans blown up twice in 2006 in baghdad. I do not see anything wrong sing colorblind because everyone on my team we bled green. Seeing where theyre such a focus or priority which is really hurting our military recruitment efforts because people think about us being able to out pronoun our enemies as a post build to meet the challenges of thers battlefield. I wish we would get back to pl e all you can be army that we were. Not try to go ahead and drive a political agenda. Allow our military to serve the government, the country, not an agenda. With that i yield back. Think he missed her chair put like to remind the group that is the motto of the army numberd one. For each of our esteemed leaders, could you each tell us how many years you have a lead as military offers in your Respective Service . Ive been in service for over 33 years. Thank you sir. Talks, the coming weeks i will conclude 44 years in uniform. Four years as midshipmen and 40 years as a commission naval officer. Think is therapy. Or ive been active duty officer for 37 and a half years. Not counting my four years as a cadet at the air force academy pre precooked thank you sir. Rough estimate, how many of your various soldiers, sailors, airmen roughly you think of lead and commanded of those years . Just a rough estimate, sorry to put you on the spot. Tens of thousands sir. Likewise tens of thousands. Same sir. Thank you pretty asked the questions of the American People and my colleaguesof understand, who have all left, understand and respect the combined wisdom, military leadership and your commitment and service to the country. And of course the proper roles of this democratic backandforth is important. But it is important that we recognize the system we have put inat place to appoint superintendents and leaders with a tremendous leadership experience and dedication and commitment. And all of that has come into informing the processes and systems and the thoughtfulness that is got into it. I just wanted to emphasize that. And most importantly, 44 years, congratulations on a particular recognition for that tremendous amount of service. The second question, i have heard a really concerning theme and trajectory towards these conversations. Whether there is some risk of deciding there is certain qualifications or qualities which you have outlined in your recruitment and admissions goals. We may get rid of them. This may seem a little on the nose. How would you feel if we were to decide for example that only certain states could admit applicants to your academies, what impact would that have on the readiness of our workforce and your academy to fight the future wars . , get our forces made up of the entire nation paired our people come from all over the world and the academies as a commissioning source are just one source of officers that go into the operationaler force. And as such, the diverse nature of the force as it is by coming from across the United States and around the world, youve got to be aware of it. We recognize it and we have to lead it. Thats critical when we talk about her professional competencies. , we would lose the geographic diversity that would limit us too. From that geographic diversity it is the lived experience. In many places some people live in urban, some live a rural, we valued the lived experience of every one of her applicants. It would be limiting and not as healthy as wee would like to have. Thank you. Boot also miss out on a lot of talent. Talent is spread across our country. Every community, every demographic, and we have to put our tentacles everywhere that we can to pull the absolute best that america has to offer into our academies and to eventually serve in our armed forces. On that point to you all agree generally, i know the side those put up with from a few years ago. But i want to give you a chance to address the idea i think goals are broad sets of diversity, athletes, scholars, leaders, geographic and otherwise to ensuring the full breadth of the nation of all that it has to offer. I agree with previous answer is we have a goal of applicants. And as i have suggested before andy some of my other answers, the more applicants the better selectivity we will enjoy from all around thewi country. I agree sir. Last eight seconds i went to again thank you all for being here in your tremendous leadership for our country. I yield back. Thank you. Want to thank all the members for participating today. I want to enter the entire 2017 and a report of the night States Military Academy Board of visitors dated december 202017. For the record so ordered. Somewhat reassured by admiral bucks agreement that the Supreme Court decision would have little if no impact on the makeup of our academies if it was to include the military academies. That is why including race is inappropriate and unnecessary. We must do everything we can to preserve the meritocracy from our military. Much of the de i and inclusivity training not only doesnt work to decrease bias but it is actually the weaponization of one ideological position identity over all else. As superintendents im entrusting you to ensure the thatthe material we teach our fe leaders will permit them to lead troops in battle and protect our National Security. I am not sure that right now but we are teaching our cadets always does that. I do want to thank all of our witnesses again providing the testimony this afternoon. There being no further business the subcommittee stance adjourned. [silence] [silence] [background noises] healthy democracy doesnt just look like this. It looks like this. Americans can seat democracy at work with the citizens are truly informed. The public thrives. Get informed straight from the source on cspan. Unfiltered, unbiased word for word. For the nations capitol to wherever you are. You get the opinion that matters the most, your own. This is what democracy it looks lookslike cspan powered by cab. Congress returns tuesday for legislative business and votes. The house will consider first 2024 spending bill funding the agriculture department, fda and the va for next year. Current government funding expires september 30. The senate gobbles and tuesday 3 00 p. M. Eastern senators are expecte to continue work on the annual defense programs and policy bill. The final vote expecte by the end of the week. Watch live coverage ofhe house on cspa the senate on cspan2. A reminder you can watch all of our congressional coverage withh our free video app cspan now or online at cspan. Org. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government. Funded by these Television Companies and more including cox. Is extremely rare. But friends dont have to be. When you are connected, you are not alone. Foxs support cspan as a Public Service along with these other television providers. Giving it a front row seat to democracy. The cspan a bookshelf a podcast makes it easy for you to listen to all of cspan a podcast that feature nonfiction books in one place, you can discover new authors and ideas per each week were making it convenient for you to listen to multiple episodes with critically acclaimed authors discussing history, biography, current events, and culture from our signature programs about books, after words, book notes a plus and q and a. Listen to cspan a bookshelf a podcast feed today pretty and find cspan bookshelf podcast feed and all of our podcast on the free cspan now mobile video app. Or wherever you get your podcast and on our website cspan. Org podcast. Cspan now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington live and ondemand. Keep up with the days biggest events with live streams of floor proceedings of hearings from u. S. Congress, white house events, the courts, campaigns and more for the world of politics. All at your fingertips for you can also stay current with latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling information for cspan tv networks and cspan radio plus a variety of compelling podcast. Cspan now is available at the apple store and google play. It downloaded for free today. Cspan now your front receipt to washington anytime, anywhere. And now several governors and medical professionals outline efforts to improve Mental Wellness during a discussion of the annual meeting of the Governors Association and Atlantic City but speakers also weigh in on childcare, equity and training people in the field of mental health