Transcripts For CSPAN Leaders 20240704 : vimarsana.com

Mr. Banks without objection, so ordered. I want to welcome everyone to this hearing of the military personnel 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 hope this hearing provides an opportunity for our members to have a Productive Exchange with our witnesses and provide answers to their questions. First, let me say i believe our cadets and midshipmen are some of the best and brightest scholars and athletes our nation has to offer. Each year a small group of americans know their path wont be easy, that it demands sacrifice and hard work and in the end, nearly a decade or more of service to this great country. And that is why we are here today, to ensure that our cadets and mids 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 only last month when striking down affirmative action, quote, eliminating Racial Discrimination means eliminating all of it. And the equal protection clause applies without regard to any differences of race, of color or of nationality. Its universal in its application. I believe racebased admissions in any form violates a constitution and the military Service Academies must ensure immutable characteristics like race, like color, have no bearing on a candidates ability to tackle the rigors of the military Service Academy. It is for this reason that i am particularly proud of the house of representatives work last week. The ndaa strongly affirms that admission to our Service Academies must be on the basis of merit, not on skin color or ethnicity. We need the best and brightest regardless of race, nothing else. Im 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. Brand new air force cadets are taught inclusive language. They are told to use parents, 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 wasnt so dangerous. Instead of being inclusive, it simply makes words meaningless. It undermines academic rigor and the pursuit of scientific truth in an engineering school. And at the Naval Academy, instructors learn how to create safe spaces for students to fend off triggering materials, protect them from microaggressions and shelter them from violent words. Never mind that these students may one day lead sailors and marines into battle where there are no safe spaces and triggers send real bullets downrange. All of this, the inclusive language, the safe space, the microaggressions, may hide under a sheen of inclusivity, but it is actually an ideology which serves a purpose. That is, to remake society according to one moral vision. Where truth is mallable. Words do violence. And the answer to one plus one depends on your identity, not reason and fact. Finally, i am concerned about how a focus on race, identity and other d. E. I. Programs impact the education of our cadets and mids. How can a cadet or even instructor express an opinion outside the accepted ideology without being afraid of ridicule or being oft that sized . Or worse ostracized . Or being worse or worse, being called a racist. Universities have websites dedicated to calling out students and professors on campuses for microaggressions, publicly shaming them. Im afraid that the Service Academies arent much different than these other elite universities. Where dissent has been silenced and the free flow of ideas, a hallmark of Higher Education, has all but ceased. Im 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 and mids considering the focus on divisive diversity programs that elevate the importance of identity over that of duty, honor and service. Before hearing from our witnesses, let me offer Ranking Member kim an opportunity to make any remarks as well. Mr. Kim thank you, mr. Chair. I want to welcome our Witnesses Today and look forward to your testimony. I also want to thank vice admiral buck for hosting my brief visit to the Naval Academy earlier this week. I hope to visit the rest of the military Service Academies in the near future and during my visit to annapolis, i had a chance to be able to meet with recent graduates, current midshipmen, members of the faculty. A lot of what i got to see and the conversations we had painted a very different picture than the picture the chairman just went through. Very oftentimes, when were talking about this here in congress, it makes it seem like every single class and every single training session, every single element and hour of the day, whether its the military academies or other colleges and universities, is being spent talking about diversity, talking about d. E. I. , talking about these different issues that well be talking about today and that just simply isnt the case. Thats something i heard point blank from a lot of the mid shpman, from midshipman, from recent graduates, from the faculty. And 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. Its not saying that were only looking at the issues of race, only looking at these issues that were talking about today. I just feel like weve been in this hearing room several times already talking about these issues over and over again this year. When i talked with some of the midshipmen 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 were not getting to those types of issues and those priorities because we constantly keep coming back to this. So, look, i just want to say, its important for us to just constantly think about what role Congress Plays when it comes to supporting this training and the development of our future leaders. Yes, we should be thinking about what we can fund, what we can support. But our job here is not to micromanage the faculty, micromanage the admissions process, be able to give them the tools, thats what we should be doing. But i think so often were here in this hearing room trying to say that were we know better than those that are living this day in and day out. And i find that to be a characteristic of human being ris that i find hubris that i find too often here in congress, trying to dictate how some of the most extraordinary leaders, some of them we have in front of us today are trying to guide our country Going Forward. So, look, were going to have a lot of challenges getting through this today. Im sure there will be some tense moments. I just ask us to please kind of 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 . Were all in it for that same reason. So lets make sure we keep this civil, we keep this respectful, and recognizing that we have a lot of challenges Going Forward here in congress, but hopefully we can do this today in a way that doesnt devolve and doesnt get out of control. So with that, ill yield back. Mr. Banks i thank the Ranking Member. Each witness will have the opportunity to present his testimony and each member will have an opportunity to question the witnesses for five minutes. We respectfully ask the witnesses to summarize their testimony in five minutes or less. Your written comments and statements will be made part of the hearing record. With that, Lieutenant General gilland, you may make your opening statement. Mr. Gilland chairman banks, Ranking Member kim, distinguished members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the United States military academy. And on behalf of the west point team, thank you for your continued support of your military academy and our over 4400 future leaders in the United States corps cadets. The mission of the United States military academy is to educate, train and inspire leaders of character. Through this mission we are charged with forging and developing the next generation of officers to lead the United States armys greatest strength and its most important weapon system. Its soldiers. The citizens of our nation. To fight and win on the 21st century battlefield. West point is not a college or a university. Its much more than that. Because the American People expect more. We are the United States of military academy, a living, breathing, Leadership Laboratory that prepares these young men and women to build he could hes haddive teams cohesive teams. We train leaders through a values and standardsbased system that provides both the foundational military knowledge and professional skills needed to fight and win our nations wars. And the moral character necessary to lead our nations sons and daughters as army officers. Our corps of cadets, all of whom chose to attend west point, represent all 50 states and our u. S. Territories. They come from a variety of backgrounds and upbringing. But what unites them is their shared commitment to serving their country, to supporting and defending the constitution of the United States, and to our army values. It is through our shared values that we develop the leaders of character our nation and the American People expect. We edkate leaders with we edkate leaders with the skills we educate leaders with the skills instead to win on the battlefield. Through our robust curriculum of humanity and stem subjects. We provide our graduates with the intellectual foundation needed to outthink the chinese and other adversaries. West point doesnt teach cadets what to think, nor do we intellectually coddle them. Rather, we teach how to think. Pushing them beyond their Comfort Level to develop as agile, resill yents yent, resilient, critical thinkers who can lead in complex, uncertain operating environments. We also inspire the future officers who will lead our nations treasure, the men and women from across our country who chose to serve as soldiers in the United States army. Through every aspect of our developmental experience and through 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 and embody what right looks like and 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. At 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 inspiring the next generation of officers to live honorably, lead honorably, and demonstrate excellence in the 21st century army. Leaders equipped with the professional competence needed to fight and win, but more importantly, possess a tremendous character that leadership demands. I want to take an opportunity to thank this committee and your colleagues for the support as west point continues with Recovery Efforts from the recent flooding in the hudson valley. Im very proud of the hard work and efforts across the west Point Enterprise and how west point and Fort Montgomery communities have come together to help and support each other while demonstrating the grit, resilience and character the nation expects from its army. We look forward to working closely with 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. Id also invite to you come visit us and see firsthand these outstanding future leaders in action. Im confident that they will inspire you also. I look forward to your questions. Thank you. Mr. Banks thank you. Vice admirable buck. Mr. Buck chairman banks, Ranking Member kim, distinguished members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today on behalf of your United States Naval Academy. The Naval Academys mission is to develop midshipmen morally, developmentally and physically and imbue them with the 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 member of the academy, our faculty, staff, coaches, understand and are committed to this mission. We strive to be the premier leadership and Educational Institution for developing naval officers who will preserve peace and prevail in conflict. I believe, and more importantly the feedback from the operational fleet confirms, that we are succeeding in our mission. And integral to that success has been the support of congress. Accomplishing this Mission Starts with our admissions process. We striving 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 admission, is critical to our success. Knowing that we are charged with developing future leaders for our navy and our marine corps, the United States Naval Academy uses auto holistic process uses a holistic process, a wholeperson assessment in evaluating each candidate for a mission. This assessment balances objective factors included in each applicants application or each candidates application, such as rank, class rank, g. P. A. , evaluations from school officials, 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 atry beauts suched a character atry beauts such as character and resilience we desire in our future officers. Once these young patriots swear their oath to our nation on induction day in late june every year, we have 47 1 2 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. The educational core curriculum at the Naval 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 and Life Experiences to sharpen Critical Thinking skills and prepare midshipmen to lead in diverse environments. A Common Thread throughout our curriculum is that we teach students thousand think, not what to think. The academy expects students to become critical thinkers who can come to their own conclusions based on a wide variety of perspectives theyre exposed. To thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you again on behalf of the Naval Academy. While i know many members of congress often visit the Naval Academy to meet with constituents, i too encourage any congressperson or member of staff to visit at any time. 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 development of our cadets. We are preparing leaders of character ready to take on the challenges of a rapidly changing and increasingly volatile world. I thank everyone for our collaboration and im honored to have my mom and dad here today. Thank you for your unending support. Our academy is on an upward and ambitious trajectory and we also face challenges. Some are unique to our mission and others are shared with universities and communities across our country. My daily interactions with cadets leaves me proud and inspired, but we still have some work to do in upholding the high standards our society rightfully expects from us. To ensure we meet these standards, i have three priorities to overcome to meet our challenges and those our graduates will encounter in an era of rapid change and strategic competition. My first is what will always be the core noimp academy. We must develop leaders of character to lead our air force and space force. Character is the hallmark of an air force academy graduate. We put our air force graduate into action through a framework. When we put integ if i first we are living honorably. When we are committed to service before self it enables us to lift others and allow them to be their best possible selves even at our own expense. When we excel at what we do we elevate individuals and performance across the entire academy with the drive and mindset to be better every day than we were the day before. We are all leaders and we must all embrace the framework and make it part of our personal leadership. These values will ensure that were prepierg cadets to be the leaders our nation demands. My second priority is to prepare leaders for future conflict. We never lose sight that we are building war fighters. Competition is brewing and we cannot afford to fall behind in the developing domains of air, space and cyber space. Preparing for the future fight is a significant challenge but with great challenges come great opportunities. We are poised on the drivers of change the economy commands. We are focus on National Security challenges, china, russia, north korea, iran and violent extremist, making sure we develop creative, bold, and critical thinkers ready for an era where conflict sun predictable. We understand our war fighters must have the ability to execute in joint environments beyond conventional combat. Our cadets must be innovative and ready to solve problems we dont even know about yet and we must look 5, 10 or 20 year into the future to stay ahead of our adversaries and give our nation the Competitive Edge it needs. My third priority is to cultivate an air of respect. Any Sexual Assault or other issues affect ours readiness. Create agriculture of respect requires that we take a hard look at ourselves and examine whether we have an environment that allows each member of our community to thrive. Through this reflection we recognize the need for a culture reset and introduce our lets be clear campaign, focused on driving down the prevalence of Sexual Harassment and violence at our academy. We must also embrace our diversity as a strength. Our military is comprised of people from every congressional district, every community, and every demographic in america. And our cadets will have to lead people who dont look like them, dont think like them, dont talk like them but ultimately they have to build and lead teams with one common goal to support and defend the constitution of the United States. If we develop them to lead with dignity and respect theyll fully employ the creative, innovative and problem solving capabilities of our airmen and guardians. They will outpace and outthink our aderer sayres. And they will win our nations wars. Im proud of the direction of our Economy Academy and fully confident in the cadet, faculty and staff to take on challenges we face as we prepare leaders of character our nation expects and deserves. Thank you and i look forward to discussing how we can Work Together to ensure mission success. Thank you very much. Thank you to all three for being here. Ranking member kim and i will defer to members on each of our sides before we ask our questions. Well begin with representative gaetz. Mr. Gaetz a diverse and inclusive force is a war fighting imperative. This is on a slide at the air force academy do. You agree with that statement . General clark i do agree with that statement. Mr. Gaetz were the mongols diverse . General clark im not really as versed on mongol war fighting as u. S. War fighting. Mr. Gaetz were the vikings diverse . Yen clark im look at our country, the most diverse country in the world. Mr. Gaetz sure but how about the force in ukraine . Are the ukrainians fighting the russians a Diverse Force . General clark my concern is the people im charged to build into leaders. Mr. Gaetz you would acknowledge throughout history, including present history, that statement hasnt been true never example. General clark what i would say is those countries have to rely on the full force of their population to win wars and thats why its important for us to be diverse because our nation is diverse. Mr. Gaetz lets look at the population that make thips fighting force, frequently. We have more men than women, right . 7030ish . And of the men we have, most of them are not transgender men, most are cisgender men, right . General clark yes. Mr. Gaetz but we push something call the brook owens fellowship, and in that fellowship it specifically says if you are a cisgender man, this program isnt for you. So you just said the reason we do these diversity concepts is because its about the fighting force we draw from but youre pushing a program in the academies that says if youre a cisgender woman, transgender woman, nonbinary, bigender, twospirit, demi gender whats demi gender . General clark thats a toample the people that are eligible for that particular scholarship that is available. Its a person who looks at their gender in a different way than i do, sir. Mr. Gaetz thats all of those people. Youre a cisgender man, you dont get to apply. Do you know what demi gender means . General clark im not really sure. Mr. Gaetz do you know what agender means . Not a gender, but a, space, gender. Here we are pushing a fellowship calling for people how you dont even know what the words mean and the Number One Group of people, the cisgender men, are excluded. Now in the name of diversity, equity and inclusion, should we be pushing programs we cant define that exclude the Largest Group of Service Members . Mr. Clark that program is not an air force Academy Program thats open to our entire country. Mr. Gaetz but you advocate for it in the academy. General clark we allow our cadets to apply for it. Mr. Gaetz why allow them to apply if you dont know what it means. General clark because we encourage them to mr. Gaetz how do you encourage them to apply if you dont know why it mean. General clark some of those words may apply. Mr. Gaetz we dont have the same oversight from the board of visitors. I seek unanimous consent to enter into the record an article from the Washington Examiner, titled gutted military oversight board. So in this piece it goes through a timeline where on september 8, 2021, all of president trumps appointees were fired. On september 17, secretary austin created the board of visitors subcommittees. And then populated those subcommittees with people who werent on the board of visitors. Have you ever seen that happen before . General clark our board of visitors is populated and supports us in great fashion. Mr. Gaetz what about the subcommittees . Are there people on the board of visitors subcommittees who are not on the board of visitors . General clark i cant answer that. Mr. Gaetz seems like something we ought to know. General clark yes, sir, im not sure. Mr. Gaetz let me ask it this way. You dont have any basis to disagree with the reporting here in the Washington Examiner that are serving on the subcommittees . You have to basis to disagree with that . General clark im not sure what question youre asking, ill have to take that for record to understand what youre asking. Mr. Gaetz looking forward to that. Representative escobar. Ms. Escobar id like to thank the panel for your service to the nation and your presence here today. I feel like i have to apologize in advance. Youre going to have to live through what we have been living through on this subcommittee and on our committee this congress where we have colleagues who are intent on doing Everything Possible to paint any effort by the federal government tobin collusive and to be diverse and representative of our country as divisive. Thats the word thats being used. Id like to ask each one of you, please, if you can explain to us why is it important to have a diverse population in your academies . Whats the benefit of having a diverse set of talented leaders in the academies . And general clark, well start with you and then well work our way to each member general clark thank you, maam. We are developing the best fighting force. In our case, the air force and space force is made up for people across the country, regardless of socioeconomic status, every congressional district. We have to ensure our cadets are prepared to lead in that environment to lead those diverse teams, to build them as a fighting force and move them toward to the same goal, the common goal of supporting and defending our constitution. If our cadets cant lead people who dont necessarily look like them or talk like them were going to fail because our air force and space force is a series of teams made to go win our wars and thats what were trierng cadets to do. To lead our country in that endeavor. Ms. Coast bar so its in our selfinterest to promote diversity . General clark absolutely. [inaudible] my professional opinion, diversity of our teams helps them do that. I define diversity across a myriad of aspects, racial diversity, diversity of thought, diversity of life experience, background, socioeconomic status. Its been proven for over00 years in the u. S. Military when we have diverse teams sharing all of that type of diversity, we are very, very effective. Ms. Escobar thank you. Representative escobar, our Nations Armed forces are made up of the people that come in that represent our nation. The young men and women that join the armed forces come from all over the world. Theyre made up, they have come they come from different backgrounds, different upbringings, potentially have different value sets. They come into the armed forces and we develop them to achieve a common goal which is defending our nation in time of need and swearing to the constitution of the United States. As we develop leaders of character, in order to lead this force, theyve got to understand who their people are and theyve got to be critical thinkers and we develop Critical Thinking skills and theyve got to be able to have hard and Difficult Conversations in all different spaces and in different disciplines so that is why i think its a strength and why weve got to continue as the Service Academies to draw upon that strength and promote it across our armed forces. Ms. Escobar i appreciate that. I want to summarize. Its advantageous to us in order to embrace diversity, number one, number two, it makes us stronger to embrace diversity, and number three, our country is diverse so we should renect that diversity. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Representative stefanik. Ms. Stefanik studies conducted at your military academies show that Academic Merit highly correlate to g. P. A. , order of merit at graduation and even success as an officer. However, admiral buck, the Naval Academy is the only Service Academy that still does not require standardized test scores on their application cite, quote, barriers caused by covid19 and disruptions for students who plan to apply for admission. Can you explain how the u. S. Naval Academy Faces barriers faced by covid19 the two other academies do not . Admiral buck precoves we required standardized tests and had for decades and decades and decades. As one of the important, objective measures that we would like to have to consider a candidates record in competition with others that apply. When covid hit we quickly realized that many, many students around the countrys about to take the test, to find a testing facility, were limited because of things that were closed down, very limited availability. And so we, like probably every other institution of Higher Education in the country, we moved into what we called the Naval Academy test flexible, we still desired to have standardized tests as part of an applicants record. They are very good, as you state, theyre a very good indicator of success at the Naval Academy, especially in the first two years where they take a series of classes in calculus and calculusbased physics. But when we realize wed splieght to not miss talent thats applying from states where they could not take the tests, we adopted the test flexible option. Its approximately, theres approximately today present at the academy we have a little bit less than 3 of our midshipmen across three classes right now still attending that did not submit s. A. T. , they didnt take them or they did not submit them and we admitted them. Were currently conducting someage stois see how theyre doing. Were not complete with that work yet, and when we conclude that analysis thats when were going to begin to determine whether standardized testing should still be an objective measure that we demand, or whether we move away from it. But that jury is still out, maam, because these students are still progressing through those calculus classes and calculusbased physics. Ms. Stefanik you are aware of the language requiring standardized tests for all military academies, are you not . Admiral buck i understand in the ndaa as drafted thats required. Ms. Stefanik we believe its important to have a factbased, fair and equal opportunity to succeed at our academies and make sure that we are identifying the absolute best and brightest talent nationwide. So i led that amendment in this years ndaa alongside senator tom cot tan that will require all Service Academies to consider standardized test scores in their application. Its not just the Naval Academy that has problems in the admission process. Were in a postcovid time, but a rand study done at the air force academy showed that the air force academys Selection Panel score was working in the opposite way as intended and according the study the relationship between the Selection Panel score and academic success was significant but in the wrong direction. Higher Selection Panel scores were associated with lower academic success. Whats your comments on that, Lieutenant General clark . General clark we are very diligent about creating an academic composition for every one of our applicants to ensure success at the air force academy. We hold to our weighted values that we look at for every cadet and that gives us an indication as to whether or not theyre going to succeed but we also look at the whole person. We look at every aspect of them, their background, their life experience, their socioeconomic status. It is a whole Person Concept because we are a factory to develop leaders of character and we want to know that an incoming cadet has propensity to be that leader of character. So there are indicators that help us determine that as well. And its both the academic composition and that whole Person Concept that allows us to pick the right people to go out and lead our air force and space force. Ms. Stefanik but it is troubling that the panel scores are correlated with lower scores. General clark we have our cadets come in with higher academic comps. Ms. Stefanik i refer you to the rand study. I yield back. I want to thank our panel, thank you for your service. You mentioned the importance of developing diverse leads for the your service. The Supreme Court in students for fair admissions versus harvard exempted the Service Academies from its affirmative action ruling. In a footnote to the decision. Although i strongly believe the double standard demonstrates the flaws in the courts majority decision, i suspect that the decision to include that exemption was rooted in the fact that affirmative action which does still exist, is necessary for National Security. What specific initiatives and programs have been implemented by your Service Academy to foster a more diverse and inclusive environment for cadets and midshipmen . Lieutenant general gillan, good to see you again. And i know in a couple of weeks the military academy will be coming to my district to promote the academy and to see firsthand the opportunities that are available. So thank you for that. General gilland the initiatives we have for the admissions office, we have whats called leerdship ethics and diversity workshops and seminars that go out to various areas in our country to really promote awareness of the military academy, but then also our armed forces, army specifically. We go into different areas, specifically schools, looking at middle schools and high schools, in order to essentially plant the seed into young men and women that there are tremendous opportunities that reside within service in our armed forces and at the Service Academies. We also have stem workshops, stem workshops that are focused, that are conducted both at west point but ea wls, we have teams that will go to different areas and really to focus on middle School Students in order to expose them to the stem areas, in order to again identify those who may have the interest, the desire to serve their nation but also these are the topics that we have in study at the respective Service Academies and to present the opportunities that are available to our young men and women across our nation. Mr. Horsford to that end, how are the Service Academies collaborating with communities to enhance recruitment efforts . And how can congress assist in those efforts . General gilland i believe its a team effort given that every state is represented at the United States Service Academies, or the military Service Academies. We have to Work Together in identifying those young men and women who are within your districts and states, in communities, to for their passion for service, to our nation, and then are they qualified, respectively, across a host of different considerations to go to a Service Academy . Theres also many different ways to serve which includes rotc, enlistment into our armed forces, etc. But what we do is we want to work collaboratively with you all as the primary actually the majority of the nominations come from our congress. We want to Work Together to identify those young men and women that are in your respective constituents to have the opportunity to come to a military Service Academy. Mr. Horsford thats one of the best parts of this job, nominating constituents to the Service Academies. I take great pride in the program my office leads in partnership with our military bases. I have creature air force base, National Test and Training Range as well as the Hawthorne Army Depot in mineral county. I also wanted to bring up the per spiskt, Lieutenant General clark maybe you can speak to this, diversity also means geographic diversity, correct . General clerk absolutely sir. Mr. Horsford i represent 50,000 square miles throughout nevada, very remote communities, communities that can be considered frontier. Soy strongly believe Recruitment Strategies must meet people where they are. My constituents in these communities are less likely to have reliable internet and often must drive hours to recruitment events. Lieutenant general clark, how are the u. S. Military academies adapting Recruitment Strategies to cater to Rural Communities effectively . General clark thank you for that question. We go to great efforts, in fact, we added a number of gold bar lieutenants as recruiters to our air force academy to work as admissions counselor, go out and conduct that kind of outreach that youre talking about. We also have embedded lieutenants into our recruiting stations as well so they have a base to travel from and extend from there to different areas, especially some of the rural areas, and then finally we have what we call opportunity districts. If theres a district that is the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Horsford can he finish his statement . Representative waltz. Mr. Waltz i want to address the narrative we flare political appointees in the pentagon from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle that republicans are blowing these issues out of proportion. That were exaggerating. I just i cannot state strongly enough if we did not have cadets, military members, their families, bringing these issues to us, on a consistent basis, we wouldnt be addressing them here. I have an entire binder of issues, some of them from one of them from a conservative muslim family. Another from a conservative jewish family. The question i would ask the other side of the aisle, the Ranking Member and you all, why werent they comfortable in an inclusive environment going through their chain of command . And thats something that i think, i encourage you to deeply, deeply think about. In that vein, an air force Academy Professor wrote an oped that she proudly teaches Critical Race Theory at the air force academy. I want to read you some quotes of the proponents of the ideology that i dont think american noas how truly divisive and destructive this ideology is. One of them, we have here, a positive white identity is an impossible goal. White identity is inherently, because of the skin so color apparently, is inherently racist. White people do not exist outside the so White Supremacy. This isnt 100, 200 years ago, this is today. This is not this does not mean we should stop identifying as white and start claiming to be some other type of race, to do so is to deny the reality of racism in the here and now. This isnt a way of thinking or a history class, this is present day indoctrination. And this denial, the denial of that would be color blind racism. So rather this author strives to be less white and therefore less racially oppressive because of his privilege. Thats from the awe or of author of white fragility. Do you agree with that statement . General clark you mentioned our instructor who talked about mr. Waltz apparently still teaching at the academy. General clark absolutely. Mr. Waltz id only have two minutes left. Do you agree we this statement general clark id like to talk about that. Mr. Waltz youre the leader of the institution, the faculty member is on your staff. General clark thats not what she was espousing. She was not indoctrinating mr. Waltz white fragility is a leading mantra. General clark she was encouraging discussion on the topic. We encourage all civil discourse. Our ka debts learn how to think. Mr. Waltz fine but in an institution thats teaching our leaders to defend future military members to die for civilian institutions that are being described as inherently racist in a class of people because of their skin color, thats offensive. That runs against your priorities. General clark absolutely. Were teaching critical thinkers though. And we want our cadets to mr. Waltz thats racist. Just to be clear this was a speaker that was at the air force Academy National character and leadership ceremony, dr. Ed gee glod that said, that spoke to current day cadets, start reckoning start every reckoning in the United States has carried with it betrayal at every moment in which new america was on the verge of being reborn, the umbilical cord of White Supremacy has been wrap around the babys neck choking the life out of it. This was at a conference last year. I think again these type this type of rhetoric, we hear this from the other side as well. Of course we want to teach history. Of course we want equal opportunity for every american. This is device v. This isnt what unifies us. I have one more question, ill throw it over to you, admiral buck. Do you have any empirical evidence, any data for example that shows that a submarine crew is more combat ready or effective because of the diversity mix . Because of the different mix of, say, skin color . I absolutely agree but we dont see in box check, were not looking for religious diversity or other types of diversity or frankly my wife who looks white but shes 100 arab. She doesnt have a box to check. I would like to reclaim my time a few seconds just to ask a question, mr. Chairman, for the interruption. Well have another round of questions late every and have an opportunity to do that. Mr. Waltz i hope we have an environment where we dont interrupt other members. I agree. I caution all members to respect each others time. Representative sewell. Ms. Sewell i want to thank our witnesses for being here today. I want to start by saying that diversity is truly americas strength. It is something that we should take seriously and not politicize or weaponize. Second, our Service Academies teach students how to think, not what to think. Learning about diversity, our nations history, or other races and cultures helps 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 ours. One of the facts of our nations history is that for centuries, africanamericans were systematically denied the opportunity to to pursue Higher Education. Leaving a painful history of discrimination that still persists today. So when the air force Academys Class of 2027 is only 4 black, you cant tell me that our military or Service Academies spend too much time and too much money or attention on diversity. I dare say africanamericans definitely make up more than 4 of our military. Our core officers are far less racially diverse than our enlisted troops. And does not reflect society as a whole. Our military is the best in the world. And it will stay that way as long as we have the best players on the field. If you will. My first question is to you, Lieutenant General clark. When hiring for leadership positions i often tell my interns, you have to see it to be it. Or some people feel that way. I know for me, interning for my member of congress when i was in college, that was a while ago, was a really important part of me deciding to run for congress 25 years later. So black students can be told they have the opportunity to lead, but when they see general austin, i mean secretary austin and they see you and they see so many others, often thats that proves that they indeed can do it. So from your personal experience, can you speak to why representation in officer corps is so important for the students that you recruit . General clark thank you, maam. I believe its important because first of what you said, we want people of whatever demographic theyre from, whatever background theyre from, to know that they can succeed in our organization. That those opportunities are there. But also, when theyre leading our broader air force and our space force, they are going to lead a force made up of americans. And those airmen and guardians that theyre going to lead need to know that theyre not only represented amongst their own force but theyre also represented amongst their leadership. And that helps the leadership as well as the force that theyre leading to connect so that we can all drive toward the common goals. I think its vitally important that we have the a good balance of diversity. Thank you. Ms. Sewell im proud that my district is home to marion military institute, one of the four military junior colleges. Impressively, m. M. I. Has had 456 Service Academy appointments in five years. We are very proud that marion military institute, not only in the district but in the rural part of my district. Can each of you speak to the Important Role that the military junior academies and preparatory schools have in building a pool of diversed, qualified candidates for these academies . Thank you for that question, maam. We have at the Naval Academy, we have affiliated with 17 different private schools around the country that we call our foundation schools. They complement our Naval Academy prep school which is located up in new port, rhode island, to have an additional year of preparation before matriculating to the Naval Academy. Some of those 17 schools are the junior military academies that you described. Ms. Sewell are they important in terms of creating a pool of diversed candidates for your academy . Theyre very, very important. They have geographic diversity, theyre spread all around the country, their population may come from their local area that learned about the military because they were in proximity to that school. So theyre a valueadded in helping us recruit and build an applicant pool. The gentlewomans time has expired. Representative moylan. Mr. Moylan thank you, mr. Chairman. As i have been listening to my colleagues questions during this hear, diversity and equality and inclusion seems to be a hot topic. However id like to take a moment and discuss if these efforts are properly targeted to accomplish their stated goals to create a more Inclusive Society or if this training does or does not serve a role in our nations security. The question to all the witnesses, hypothetically if the average High School Graduate in america did not know that alaska exists, or is part of the United States, could that problem have an impact on National Security . Sir, if i may work regards to your question, if our population didnt know that alaska exists, would that be a National Security problem . Mr. Moylan would that impact your National Security . Thing where alaska resides in the geographic location of our United States, its significant. In its location. Mr. Moylan thank you. I concur, sir. I concur, yes, sir. A similar question if the average High School Graduate didnt know that guam exists or is part of the United States, could that have an impact on National Security . Yes, sir, i agree with that. Yes, sir. Absolutely. I agree with my colleagues, sir. Mr. Moylan i believe that the lack of education on the existence and importance of u. S. Territories at a High School Level does constitute a National Security weakness. Mr. Chairman, i request a unanimous consent to enter into the record two maps of the United States, one is representative of those often used in high schools, by high School Students that does not depict the territories as part of the United States and one which is an accurate u. S. Map that does depict the territories as part of the United States. Without objection. Mr. Moylan thank you, mr. Chairman. Activists pushing diversity, equality and inclusion training seem to have never been interested in the real equality or inclusion because if they were, guam would not be forgotten. So question, i would like to ask the qunses, can you guarantee to me that every single graduate of your Service Academy knows the 50 states, the five territories and the district of columbia are all part of the United States . I can say yes, sir for the United States Naval Academy. And yes, sir, for the air force academy. Sir, were committed. Mr. Moylan and rather dealing with d. E. I. Distractions or the perceived barriers of military service that todays hearing that has has touched upon i inserted language into the housepassed ndaa to remove the cap on nominees from guam at Service Academy, allowing me to nominate a full five candidates at each academy rather than four candidates, capped as its presently locked. One last question, also. What efforts are being done to specifically recruit for military Service Academies in guam . Sir, ill start. We voivel a presence on guam at Anderson Air Force base and that provides affords us a great opportunity for recruiting and bringing in some of the grandmaian folks who live in guam into our academy and into our service so we do have great opportunitythere likewise as naval station agana, we have a strong presence there. We also have expats who served in our United States navy who have gone back home and they serve as blue and gold officers and great representatives of our navy and advocates for our academy. Sir, ill have to come back to you with specific outreach efforts to guam. Mr. Moylan thank you. Im an rotc graduate from university of guam rotc. Thank you. And i appreciate the witnesses, appreciate your service. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. Representative tokuda. Ms. Tokuda thank you, mr. Chairman. I do appreciate the delegate from guam bringing up proper maps as sometimes hawaii finds itself in the wrong position many times. I want to elaborate slightly on that particular thread that he mentioned. You know, talking about understanding our history, historical facts. Historical cultural context as well. When we look at guam, for example, in a few day, we will celebrate the liberation of guam on the 21st from the occupation of japan. Is it important that as we train our servicemen and women, our soldiers, to look at the indopacific and the first island chain there that they do understand that guam at one point its a territory now but it was occupied by japan in world war ii and there still exists even to this day some cultural, social tensions that may exist between the two countries or those of certain ethnic origins. Maam its a strategic imperative that everybody in our navy, everybody in our military services understand where owl our ter all our territories are and where they stand out in the western pacific in the first and Second Island chains to be sure we know where the possible future fight may be it is an imperative. Ms. Tokuda absolutely. Even we we look at the complex issue of diversity, when we really understand the Historical Context and understanding that needs to be trained and educated upon our service men and women, call it Critical Race Theory or whatever you might wan there are a lot of situations where it would behoove us not to educate those individuals in our academies about things like the occupation of guam. Things like the illegal overthrow of hawaii by the United States which is a very sensitive subject in my home state and one where we often find problems between the military and local indigenous populations as well so many other instances where empathy one a great military strength. When we take a look at recruitment efforts, when it comes to making us a more effective fighting machine in the world, should we not be looking for individuals that have a natural, immediate strategic empathy to wars in the areas in which we are finding ourselves engaged . Yes, maam. Cultural competency is a big improvement at our United States Naval Academy since i graduated in the early 1980s. Now that its so important for the United States military forces to fight alongside our partners and our allies, cultural competency is critical to Building Trust early on in a young military person whether theyre enlisted or officer of any of the services. So that is a huge improvement in our Naval Academy with our International Programs office, what we teach in our history classes, what we teach in our Political Science classes, to have an appreciation of the past history of those that are our partners and our allies and fellow citizens. Ms. Tokuda as i was going ton a codel with a number of folks on the panel here, understanding how people think on the ground, not just in the United States but throughout the theater that we are engaging, in its so important to have that. That being said what we do know, i know the data is very dated, i think when i looked at the Workplace Equity opportunity survey, 2017 may have been the most recent data we were able to find, there are some other survey, again somewhat dated, not fully inclusive of the pandemic every remark but 42 of Service Members of color turned down assignments because of fear of discrimination and racism where they might be assigned to we have seen a significant increase in antiasian hate now community, even prior to the pandemic one in four asian Service Members reported harassment. They have been subject to racist comoarnts joaks. I know thats not the responsibility of our Service Academies but you train the men and women who will be part of the active duty military and we have to nip this in the bud. How do we create a safe environment so our Service Members recognize they not only have a role but a strategic role to play in the defense of our country. With regards to ensuring that our leaders of character have the cultural competency, i think its also, its not just the force that theyre leading, its also the cultural awareness and that we we look to the to our allies an other nations to form a joint and combined force that, in order to deter, specifically as you discussed, through the pacific as weve its a National Strategic imperative. I think its important as we continue to develop the leaders of character they have that cultural awareness and understanding regardless of level of leadership in order to the gentlemans time has expired. Representative. Before i get started id like to request unanimous consent to enter into the record the department of the air forces officer Source Commission applicant pool goal. So i wanted to note that in this, it actually specifies the Diversity Inclusion goals of the department of the air force and was happy to find that its broken down into individual categories. On gender it only notes male and female. Does that identify the fact that there are only two genders . Sir, those are the two doctor the genders that are recognized by the office of by by o. P. M. Would you agree then theres only two genders . Sir, i would agree yes. Vice admiral sphwhuk i agree. General. Sir two genders identified. I would agree with that. Staying with Lieutenant General clark. The air force academy recently encouraged cadets in Diversity Inclusion training to use gender neutral lang wand and refrain from using words like mom and dad. Does the air force still conduct those programs . General clark we didnt actually tell cadet to refrain from using mom and dad. We said to understand the con thoasks people theyre talking to before they refer to them, their parents, their families, or even their context. And so that was the crux of that training. Of course i would never tell anyone to not use the words mom and dad. You refer to your mom and dad as mom and dad . I do, theyre sitting right behind me. Hello, mom and dad. We do allow the words mom and dad. But we do want to help our cadets towns, to understand the people who theyre leading, to know their context before they engage with them and i think thats a leadership 101 sort of idea. Do you believe that cadets should use gender neutral language when referring to their parents as your diversity and inclusion training recommends . General clark until they know what gender the parents are, yes. Vice admiral buck, in 2021 you signed and endorsed the strategic plan. This plan includes steps such as maintain a comprehensive cultural awareness and bias lit rahty sy training framework. Regarding outlined areas of concern and creating a metric to measure and track the track belongingness. How do we track belongingness . Sir, since publishing that strategic document, very, very little of it has been implemented. The one thing, one aspect of it we have implemented is creating and improving our mentorship availability at the academy across the brigade with all the midshipmen. But as we went back and looked at that document we realized it requires much further and deeper review before we implement any of the other aspects of that so to your specific question about what metric there is, i dont know, weve not created it nor are we, many it. Thank you so much. Lieutenant general gilland, i have a tremendous amount of respect for your service and what youve done with the unit and other arias, i have a friend of mine a former teammate, casey bell. He told me good things about you when you were there previous to becoming the superintendent. I wanted to note, do you believe that meriting oncy meritocracy is more successful in creating leaders than the ideas of d. E. I. . I believe that our force is made up of a diverse nation. And that our leaders, based on their promotions through a meritocracy have to be aware of that Diverse Force and our leaders have gottowns that in leading the men and women of our armed forces, that theyre aware, theres an awareness, theres a professional knowledge in order to be able to lead forces competently, to be able to form disciplined, cohesive teams, and to be able to achieve the common goals. Would you say that d. E. I. Would be a key factor in something such as o. T. C. . Would could you repeat that . Would you expect diversity and inclusion to be a key part of o. T. C. . Or would it be about meritocracy. The gentlemans time has expired. Representative alford. Mr. Allford this is an interest bug disturbing hearing. Charles dickens wrote some years ago in the tale of two cities, it was the best of time it was the worst of times, the age of wisdom, the age of foolishness. Goes on to draw the contrasts. This is the tale of two countries right now two countries in which we live and which i think were more divided than weve ever been since the civil war. Everyone on this subcommittee and this committee, you guy, we have the same information and weve seen it about the pacing threat from communist china. Its disturbing. And for some reason we are stuck in this quagmire over how to boost recruitment into our services so that we can be the deterrent that we need to be. You know, i truly believe that our strength as a nation comes from our commonality. I know theres others who disagree with that. Our love of country, our pride in our republic but weve got to figure this out. Weve got to get back toin spiring young people to be in the military. We have got to give them a sense that they can be all they can be. Weve got to restore a sense of patriotism. As you know, only 9 of current young people right now have any interest in joining the military. And because of this the drag queen shows that came out that were putting a stop to and other 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 its not what it used to be. And so im glad were having this discussion. You know, theres some, we went through the ndaa markup and people were complaining because we were talk about. Weve got to talk about it. Weve got to dig into this. Weve got to remove this scab and heal what is wrong with our country. General clark. You gave a list of considerations of things for applicants for academy, air force academy, potential cadets. Does a student stand a better chance of being admitted if they are of a certain demographic . General clark i would say not a better chance, we look at, like i mentioned, the whole Person Concept. Demographic is just one of those attributes that we look at for a cadet to come into our academy, once we know they are fully qualified to be there. So i wouldnt say that any demographic has a better or worse chance. But its a factor, is it not . It is a part of that whole person look that we take for each applicant. Are there members of certain races who feel theyre not welcome in the military right now . Have you heard that personally from anyone . Who said, i would love to sign up but i dont feel welcome because im asian, africanamerican or whatever race . General clark there could be but its our job to make sure they do feel welcome and included. We cant afford right now to not bring anybody who is willing, qualified and has a heart to serve to go in and support and defend. I get that, sir. But to Lieutenant General gilland or vice admiral buck, do you have any emperrical evidence, any secondhand knowledge of anybody saying hey, i would have joined the air force, i would have applied for my congressman or woman to aive appoint mep to this academy but im of this race and i dont feel welcome in the military. I have not, sir. Lieutenant general . I personally have not. General clark . Sir, i have not heard that personally. Dont you think if it was a problem it would have come up . I mean that would be a big issue, would it not . Does someone have imperrical evidence to say, i dont feel welcome in the military thats protecting our country against the pacing threat of communist china . Yet we havent heard that. So is this were trying to find a solution thats not really a problem. Please respond. Yes, sir, what i would say is we do have people in the military when they see things in our country or they experience things, we want to make sure that you talk about divisiveness outside of our walls, we want to make sure when they get to our academy they feel fully welcome and included. Thank you, i yield back. Representative ryan. Mr. Ryan thank you, i appreciate the couldnt opportunity to join the subcommittee. I want to be here for multiple reason, one as a proud graduate of west point and two to personally commend superintendent gilland. West point is in my district. I know were ha here to talk about a set of other issues, i will ask those questions. But the superintendent and the whole team is led the academy through an incredibly difficult Natural Disaster impeccably, where we did lose one life in the community, thank god no cadets or faculty or staff or soldiers were hurt. But i want to commend you for certainly something you probably didnt expect to do and another part of your incredible record of service to the academy and cadets and to the community. I also just want to say that i agree that as my colleague who i know had to leave said, the tone and tenor of these discussions is disturbing. As someone who served, as someone who has tremendous pride in our military and our country and our Service Academies, i think it is its not only disturbing its sad. Because 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 continue to inject the very toxic, divisive topics these culture war topics when what we hear over and over in the data, in the conversation, in the surveys, are soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and guardian they want us to focus on fighting and preparing for real wars. So in the spirit of that id ask, starting with general gilland, can you give us, i know we talked about a very nor roe sort of the curriculum and preparation, can you give us the wholistic breadth of those 47 months what do cadets and what do they focus on with a particular thank you for that question sir. The curriculum, which is rooted in the constitution of the United States across all of our courses, which is where cadets swear an oath to the constitution three times during their time at west point. They swear an oath on affirmation day, the beginning of their junior year, and then the commissioning oath on graduation. Our instructors, title x instructors, we have both uniformed and surveillance instructors, they also swear an oath to the constitution, and again, i say that, that our curriculum, that our Common Thread ghost across all of our classes, and all of our various disciplines that we teach respectively there. Which includes throughout history, our military history, our law, and philosophy courses and leadership courses, etc. I think that is where we, as we think about different topics that are discussed, which we do not shy away from any controversial topics. We want to have civil discord. Discourse. We want to have critical thinkers and develop critical thinkers who are able to take on challenging topics, not only in academia, but also dealing with their soldiers and their formations. Because our soldiers, our airmen, are guardians, our seamen and marines sailors and marines are incredibly intelligent. They pose these questions to our leaders and particularly our junior leaders that enter the force of the academies and the various commissioning sources. And that is why it is important, sir. Just to bill, before you answer admiral buck, can you talk about the importance and you can disagree as well, of being uncomfortable as a junior military leader, to have to be in a situation you are a comfortable and leader troops in that situation . Throughout all of our professional training and summer training i think at all three of our Service Academies, we are teaching architects cadets and midshipmen to become come to uncomfortable and living living in environments that may have beauty or uncertainty or cows or fog. They have got to learn to still be able to comprehend and critically think and decide in those types invite of environments. Getting back to your question about the content of our curriculum, we are very very stem heavy school. A typical midshipmen will graduate anywhere from 100 to 145 credit hours, different from a civilian institution which is down in the one 20s. And 90 of those credit hours are stem related because the weapon the gentlemens time is expired. I give myself five minutes for questions but i will yield to representative balls. Thank you, i just wanted to continue on that last line of questioning for i was interrupted, and i will state again, we want equal opportunity for every civil american, equal opportunity for every single american to serve. The concern of this committee is that we have political pressure to tip the scales from a meritocracy in any shape or form, based on some other ethnic race factor and that is what we want to be sure is not happening. So i will ask each of you. There are we have talked about the whole candidate scores. Is there any incidents to where you have allowed the selection, the accession of a lower scoring candidate, either in your superintendent nomination category or your additional appointee candidates, over someone with a higher whole candidate scored based on meeting your diversity goals. No sir. Not at the United States Naval Academy. No sir. We look at multiple considerations but. Not but you look at race as part of that candidate. As we talk about, considerations across the admissions process which also includes scholars, leaders, athletes, that is the goal for talent that we are striving for. And then is race part of that whole candidate . It is not part of the score, sir. Thats a no from me as well. You have never elevated someone who might have a lower whole candidate scored because of their ethnic background. I have not. Thank you, mr. Chairman, yelled back. I reclaim my time. The be ask a simple question from each of you. If the leg was passed that the majority of the house of representatives what a for leslie to apply the same standards of the Supreme Court decision on about her academies as on the rest of colleges and universities, how much of a difference would it make at west point . Chairman banks, with the department of the army and ost we are still assessing the Supreme Court really. Would it make a big decision, a big difference if you apply the symbols . We are assessing and we will have to come back to. What do you think as uss it . I think you owe it to the committee to tell us how much, what do you think the difference would be . I owe it to you to present facts and i will wait into the assessment is complete. Admiral buck, i believe that the diversity that we enjoy at the United States Naval Academy is because of the huge effort that we make and that all of you participate in creating an applicant pool from the country. And i believe the further and the more effort that we do in our outreach to teach everybody in this country country what the Naval Academy is and what that opportunity might be, i think it kind eventually drives a diverse brigade midshipmen from the last 20 years, the fema publishing of the Naval Academy has doubled. And the racial diversity at the Naval Academy over the last 1015 years has increased. I believe thats a tribute to how how hard we are working to create an applicant pool for youall will to consider, to nominate. I think that hits on a really important question, if Congress Nominates candidates to the academies, why do we have to take race into consideration at all . If thats a process we are using . It is one aspect of diversity we have talked about, but it is one of many, many different aspects of diversity and all aspects of a it are powerful and helpful to making a cohesive team. General clark, how much difference does it make if the Supreme Court decision did apply to the air force academy . Would it make a big difference . Sir, i know again, as general guillen mentioned, we are assessing that and what difference that would make. What you think, you are the leader. Wouldnt it make a big difference or not . Im not as familiar with every morning of we are not included in the scope of this decision and what that means. So i dont want to get out in front of that so we until we are able to analyze this. General, at west point. Is there a difference between preference and quotas . And do you apply one of the other and how in how you applied race as a factor . Sir, we dont have quarters at the United States military academy. Preference. We have goals to meet as i stated with regards to leader, leader goals. So, categories of young men and women, regardless of their backgrounds. Our leaders fall into a candidate leadership category, is color category, and at the category. Might time has expired. I revealed to the raking member. Thank you mr. Chair and for the three of you to come out here. I just wanted to read your a couple of sentences here. This was a brief that 35 former military leaders presented to the Supreme Court. Talking about diversity in our military academies and their education. They said the importance of maintaining a diverse highly qualified offer core has been beyond legitimate dispute for decades. And they go on to say units that are diverse across all levels are more cohesive, collaborative and effective. Lieutenant general, i wanted to get your reaction to that. Would you agree with those sentences . I agree that we are responsible for building fit, cohesive disciplined organizations. Those organizations are drawn from our nation, it is a diverse nation. And our leaders have to be able to leave those forces. Vice admiral, your thoughts. I concur with those exact thoughts. Lieutenant general. I agree, and we need to pull talent from every corner of our society, every demographic, and every congressional district. So i think that it is important. I think that is something that we need to kind of focus in on here, the value of diversity. This is something i had the great honor of being able to go out earlier this week to the Naval Academy talking to midshipmen, the sense that this is not just some ordinary Educational Institution, this is one that is there to develop leaders. And there is this understanding that those that are there are part of something bigger than all of us. And i guess the question is if we stab set value of diversity, the question as well, how are we calibrating, are recalibrate correctly, too much, too little . And at least with the Naval Academy, when i talked about with some of the mission midshipmen and recruit graduates, not a single one of them thought that any type of diversity training or education or curriculum was over burdensome. In fact, they struggle to think through any significant level of mandatory requirements along that level. They said it was just a handful of hours at most, that they could think about it in a given year. So i guess, Lieutenant General, starter starting with you, do you think that your admissions and the curriculum is overly focused on race and diversity . No sir. Christ vice admiral. No sir. Lieutenant general. And i will say in a fouryear academy education, one of our cadets is expected to get 16 hours of diversity, equity and inclusion training. They would get over 1000 hours of minimum in war fighter training. So, i dont think we are over training. You said 16 hours across all four years. That is what i heard from some of the midshipmen. So we are thinking through the valley of diversity, we agree on this sense, are recalibrate incorrectly . Is it too much . And if we are saying at least some of us are saying that is not the case. The third point and the question is is the diversity considerations and the teaching of different types of curriculum, is that weakening out of element of leaders in this country, the mission of your organization. I just want to bask down the road one last time here, the current admissions efforts, the whole person efforts were dealing with, the Academic Freedom to teach cadets and midshipmen, how to think and what not to think, is that producing less quality leaders Lieutenant General . Sir, in reference to the prewas question, we dont conduct diversity training at the military academy. We conduct equal opportunity training. So i just want to cry for that. Thats awful. With regard to the curriculum, it goes back to teaching how to think, not what to think, and Critical Thinking skills, and how the environment is complex and for our Young Leaders going out into the forest, theyve got to be able to do with all kinds of different situations. Complexity problems that they may not have been exposed to. And so what do they draw upon in order to solve those problems sets, they draw upon the skills, the knowledge, the tools that we have educated and enabled them with in order to solve those problems to enable to really build a more government cohesive, disciplined force that is working towards that common goal that they have, respectively. , right, thank you. Couldnt have said it better. Vice admiral, your thoughts . Are top two customers of the product that we produce at the people academy, which are leaders of character for the navy and the main cart are citizens of United States. They are military, navy and marine, who defend this country and more specifically the fleet. So the feedback i get from the fleet, which really i am attuned to, says that the product that we are producing right now is very solid, youre good, and we are, pushing our mission. Great, thank you. I go back. We would like to turn into a quick second round for members were remaining, and i will begin, yield myself five minutes on the screen. There will be a slide from west points 2017 report to its board of advisors visitors, which i would like to enter into the record. It shows that the academy used race based class composition goals in its admissions process for several years. General, did the academy also used race based class composition goals for the concert 2027 which started just a few weeks ago . Sir, we have less composition goals. If we dont meet those goals, we dont meet them. But you did, you did have those goals for the class of 2020. We have class composition goals as i stated for leaders, for scholars, for athletes. We have composition goals. Racebased. Composition goals for our men and women, for women and our respective racebased goals for the class of 27. 2027. Some question. We have composition goals. Are you meeting those goals . In some instances we are and in some not. How have they changed over the last few years . As my colleagues indicated earlier, we have seen an increase in women seem to make throughout the decades. As we identify talent, are you meeting your racebased composition goals . This year we did not and some categories. How far off . We were under a percent or two. We are talking tens of people. Vice admiral buck, does the Naval Academy have racebased composition goals like those at more was point . We do not have racebased composition goals at the academy but we also have the most diverse brigade of midshipmen we have ever had. And i will harken 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, what we stand for and what opportunity it would be. Therefore, naturally we have enjoyed medications from a very Diverse Group of people in this country. General clark, can you tell us about racebased composition goals at the air force . That the goals that we have our application goals, and that we have are the application goals, and we had 10,200 applicants and we did have goals for that, which would then allow us to pull the best talent out of all of our applicants and allow you the opportunity as a body to nominate them to our academy. Can you tell us more about how those goals are established . Do you establish them yourself or you have a committee . May establish them based on the demographics in our air force and they are only applicant goals not necessarily the goals of the cadets that come in. What goes into a step she ago . There has to be a process. What we look at, our demographics are in the air force writ large. We also look at our nations demographics so that we are reaching every community to pull that talent. And if we see that our applicant goals are lower in an area, we know whether its geographic or demographic could you share where that goal comes from . We establish the goals based on again, our population of our air force and spaceport. Very specifically based on the population of the air force. That is used in determining the goals. Is there a committee, is there a science, or do you pull the goals out of thin air . And also sir. Those goals are established based on the composition of our honest army officer corps. That is the basis for. So its a very specific metric. As our army looks at the army officer corps and the composition of it, we would like our graduating classes to looks similar to the army officer corps that exists as it is currently is as each graduating class enters into the Operational Force. I will yield five minutes to Ranking Member kim. Thank you mr. Trump. Just a couple questions here, vice admiral buck. You talk about that whole person approach and you talk to me that about that before when it came on out to your academy and you talked about in terms of objective and subjective. Its a mixture of different types of factors in there. I guess the question i have to you is is it possible to identify the best potential leaders fort lee been our military force in this country through only test scores and objective factors . Or do you feel like you would be missing something there . I feel like we would be missing some thing. But the objective factors and the subjective factors are really really come important. It really defines what that whole person assessment every aspect of that person we want to assess. Not all of that is done objectively, some of it, you have to hear what other people think of that individual as a citizen, a human being, their character, which is really, really important to be a military leader, is that man or woman of good solid character. So teachers assessment from school in the ghost teacher, a math teacher, they talk about their performance in english and math, they also talk about that individuals character. What kind of fuming they are. We also get a subjective assessment from what we call our blue and gold officers. It is a culture of volunteers, former alumni, that do interviews with our candidates and tell us what type of individuals they think they are. Thats a subjective measure. Also, we look at their background. Are they the first and their families to go to college . Are they firstgeneration americans . Have they over overcome some very unusual adversity in their life . Which might give us some indication of the resilience. Have they, are they the sun or daughter of a diplomat and served abroad in many other countries that might bring that type of unique cultural competency experience. So those are subject subjective factors that are really really important to allow us to add to the assessment that the objectivity also gives us. Thank you that is very hopeful. Just to further delays teach that out. And Lieutenant General, i want to bring you in because you talked about that whole person approach. If you dont mind, i would just like to think about this as not just the applicant you are trying to develop, to identify here, you are trained to develop leaders who are leading this country. In the same way, i would say, when it comes to leadership, is there some objective formula or objective standard by which you can determine who what is a good leader or a bad leader or it does that have to be subjective as well . I absolutely feel that there needs to be subjectivity, that is the art of pulling in the right people, to look at their the whole of their life experience, to see how they performed in different situations so that we can better understand many of the things that admiral buck just talked about. But really what we can expect from them and their development at the air force academy. I think for that, and i just over the course of just listening to the last hour and 40 minutes of this, i just feel like we are trying to put at odds concepts that dont have to be mutually exclusive food, you know. That we can talk about objectivity subjectivity, recognizing that there is an ability for us to packets that in look through that and use our best judgment in that capacity. And in that same way, i feel like were are constantly feeling like meritocracy and diversity are at odds with one another. Again, to concepts that i feel like we keep putting against each other over the course of the time that we have been in this room. But it doesnt have to be the case, that pursuing diversity, pursuing that effort to be be reflective, the country, that does that mean we are watering down leadership as you pointed out. I would just like to add, general, i felt like your last point is really stuck in my mind. And i just feel like so much about that is about how do we prepare, how do we develop leaderships and part of it, i think, what i took away is that we have to prepare for everything. Is that right . Youre preparing for everything, not just physically, but mentally, intellectually, that you would want them to not encounter a new idea or a new school of thought out in command. If you have an ability to kinda prepare them for that ahead of time, is that correct, is that what youre getting at . I think it is about having the skills and the tools and that is through develop it. I think that our cadets at west point are immersed in development and leadership. I would cement that is what their degree is in because everything will day they are exposed to character develop meant, leadership in order to bring be able to at the conclusion of 47 months, graduate and leave young men and women in our army specifically. And as our vision is the preeminent Leadership Institution in the world, what is key to that is that it is about develop develop in leaders over the course of that 47 months, they dont miceli come in defined as such. We provide the skills and capabilities. Thank you, go back. Reppo sensitive gaetz. Lets put that slideshow backup. This was at the air force academy instructing students on how to use inclusive language. We had secretary kendall here and when we got into the whole mom and dad think, secretary kendall said yes, we probably arent going to tell students they cant see mom and dad, that was not artful. There are things here that are not artful you want to disclaim, that is a totally reasonable thing for a person to do. So i want to start with this contention that to be inclusive, cadets were not have to use the term colorblind or safe we are all just people. Is there something wrong with aspiring to be colorblind in the u. S. Military, in particular the air force academy . Sir, i think it depends on how you use, how a person uses that term in context. I think that most people if you are a different race or different color you dont want to be, you want to be seen for who you are. You dont want to look at someone and someone to look at you and not see a black man because that is who i am. I dont want you to be blind to that. But i want to person to accept that and to understand that and to include the as if they would include any other person that might be a different color. As a country we were in many ways educated on the concept of color blindness to the Civil Rights Movement. And dr. Kings 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 or me as a white man but by the content of our character. He worried that the air forces critique of colorblindness could be viewed as a critique of the very values that undergird the Civil Rights Movement . I dont think so. In my interpretation of the doctors words, he is not saying dont reckon eyes the color of a person. He is saying what wrecking isaac, dont judge them by that color. Did dr. King not dismissively call for colorblindness . I think he called for what he said. Dont judge people i that. We are talking about specific terms and my wish. Dr. King did expressly call for columbine is right . He may have, im not sure what he did. Im starting to think maybe instead of like teaching that we should not say boyfriend or girlfriend or mom data or whatever, we should as she get back to the court of the values of the Civil Rights Movement because remind about you would be able to answer these questions more thoroughly if maybe we had a greater connection to the thoughts of dr. King and maybe a less abrahams candy. What about the statement that we are all just people . What is offensive about that . Is not that it is offensive. Is not inclusive, because this is saying not, underlined, not, we are all just people. So why is that a no . I thought we were all just people. That sounds inclusive to me. In the context that this slide was presented, the folks who presented it were saying was that recognize people who they are, we dont always look alike, and that we are not always the same color. Why do the words why do the words offend that concept . I think that we should all be treated as equals. We should. What about we are all just people, i have to get you back to the words on your side here. So the words in your size said the slide said that we are out of people and you say that a bad thing because we have to say that we are all equal. Does that seem so circular to you . I think in the context it was presented, the slide is a bit out of context when you can presented in the way that was presented. Ive gone through two of them, im providing as much context as i can. Our cadets punished if they talk about colorblindness in a positive way . Absolutely not. Are they punished if they say boyfriend or girlfriend rather than partner . Are they punished if they say disabled as opposed to people with his abilities . No. Same transgender instead of transcend people or Service Numbers . No. Are they punished if they say mom or dad instead of parents caregivers or guardians . No. So i teach it . What we want to teach is how to understand people within their context so as not to offend unto you get to know your people. That is how we build effective wen yu critique colorblindness and wen yu critiques statements like we are all just people, that is the divisive rhetoric, in the name of diversity, equity and inclusion, we see some of the most divisive rhetoric. I see my times expired, i yield back. Thank you mr. Chairman. I want to go back to something you were talking about just a moment ago where you were expanding about your slide on goals. And it was noted by the Lieutenant General that they base it on the court or on the demographics of the United States. But i also note that there is an office in the United States military academy of diversity and inclusion and equal opportunity committee. So if it is just off of the court, could you tell me what makes two things and individual qualify for this committee . And what recognitions does that committee make . Sir, i have a office of diversity and inclusion, equity and opportunity. That office is eight cool. It is a recommended body to me as it provides information to me across our academy, which also is not just inclusive or the corps of cadets, it is inclusive of our entire population that exists at this point. That office again, is a body that provides me advice and recommendations as we look at different aspects of those would be those with those we like the goals we were talking about earlier . Would those be like the goals we were talking about earlier . That office does not provide recognition on goals. This is not plugged into any recommendations whatsoever am aware we are at echo at all . With regards to the establishment of the composition goals, based off of the army officer corps, as we establish a regular basis. I always go back to this same question which seems to be a difficult question for a lot of our military. What is the difference between equity and equality . Sir, i think that as we think of equity, equity is that eveready has the same opportunities they are able to aspire to achieve the goals that they have laid out for themselves and that there are no hindrances or barriers to achieve those respective goals. What about equality . So, as we have equal opportunity offices as directed by the army and department of defense, equal opportunities through which whether it is through our military occupational specialties, branches, whatever line of work or profession that they are in, equal opportunity provides that they have, all individuals respectively are able to aspire, they are able to be promoted without any hindrances or barriers. That sound like the exact definition similar to just a different way of saying it. Equity. And by definition and understanding based on di and what its magic was and what was utilized is that equality is exactly what you said. Equal opportunity. It does not defined by race, gender, socioeconomic status, things like that. But equity is based on the idea of equal outcome. It wasnt a metricsbased system that the diversity Equity Inclusion was going to. And i would argue that as part of our equipment deficit is that we see between 5000 short right now on our current efforts, not to mention the 8600 which worked unconstitutionally purged out for the vaccine mandates, its because we have prioritized a little bit too much. In my opinion. That diversity equity and inclusion is important to as opposed to what we should be focused on, increase lethality, readiness and being properly equipped. I spent between my time, over seven years of my life in iraq, three years in afghanistan, pakistan, was blown up twice in outback baghdad. I did not see anything wrong with saying colorblind because we all blade green. And ive seen that there is just a subject just to soak focus or priority which is really hurting our military recommend efforts because people think that it is about as being able to out pronoun our enemies as opposed to being able to meet the chapters on the battlefield. I wish that we would get back to the be all you can be army that we were, and not try to go ahead and start writing political agenda, allow our military to serve our government, our country, not an agenda. With that, he yelled back. Rep. Ryan . Thank you mr. Chair. I would like to remind the group that is the motto of the army, number one. Correct. Chicagos. For each of our esteemed leaders, could you each tell us how many years you have led the military as officers in your Respective Service . Cripes i have been inservice for 33 years. In the coming weeks i will conclude 44 years in uniform. Four years as a midshipman at 40 years as a commissioned naval officer. I have been on active duty for 37 point five years, not counting my four years as a cadet at the air force academy. Thank you. And rough estimate, how many of your various soldiers, sailors, airmen, roughly do you think you have led and commanded over those years . Just a rough estimate. Sorry to put you on the spot. Tens of thousands. Likewise, tens of thousands. Thank you, and i ask the questions of the mecca people at my colleagues 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 small d democratic backandforth is important. But i think it is important this that that we recognize the system that we put in place to appoint leaders with tremendous leadership experience and dedication and commitment. And that all that has come into informing the processes and systems and the thoughtfulness that has gone into it. And i just wanted to have says that. Most of portly, admiral buck, 44 years. Congratulation and particular recognition for that tremendous amount of service. Second question. I have heard really concerning theme and trajectory to some of these conversations where there is some risk of deciding that there are certain qualifications or qualities which you have outlined in your recruitment and admissions goals that because if you people dont like them, we may get rid of them. So this may seem a little bit on the nose. But how would you feel if we were to decide for example that only certain states could admit applicants from your academies . What impact would that have on the readiness of our force in your academy to fight future wars . Sir, again, our force is made up the of the entire nation. Our people come from all over the world. And the academies as a commissioned source are just one source of officers that go into the Operational Force and as such, the diverse nature of the force as it is by coming from across the world, we have to be aware of it and recognize it and be able to lead and that is critical when we think about our professional competencies. Sir, we would lose the geographic diversity that would limit us to and from that geographic diversity. It is a lived experience and in many places, some people live rural. We value the lived experience of every one of our applicants. It would be limiting and not as healthy as we would like to have. Answer, we would miss out on a lot of talent because 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 in r. Kellys and to eventually serve in our armed forces. s do you all agree generally and another slide that was put up was from a few years ago, but i just want to give the chance to address the idea that having goals for various broad sets of diversity, athletes, scholars, leaders, geographic and otherwise is important to ensuring that we get the full wrath breadth of the nation that it has to offer. Yes sir, i agree. I agree with Lieutenant General clarks previous answer that we have a goal of applicants. And as ive said i should before, in some of my other answers, the more applicants, the better selectivity that we will enjoy for iran all around the country. Who a greaser. In the last eight seconds, i just want to thank you for being here and for your to minister leadership to the country. Thank you. I want to thank all of the members for participating today. I want to enter the entire 2017 annual report of the United States military Academy Board of visitors dated december 20 17th and the record into the record without objection so in closing i am somewhat reassured by admiral bubs agreement that the Supreme Court decision would have little if no impact on the makeup of our academies. If it was real to include military academies, that includes is why including race is inappropriate and unnecessary. We must do everything that we can to preserve the ameritas eight of our military. Meritocracy of our military. Consider that much of the di and inclusivity training not only does not work, to decrease bias, but it is actually the weaponization of one ideological position, identity over all else. As the superintendents, im trusting you to ensure that the material that we teach, our future leaders will permit them to lead troops in battle and protect our national secured. Im not sure that right now we are teaching our cadets and midshipman always does that. What i do want to thank all of our witnesses again for providing your testimony this afternoon. There being no further business, the sum committee stands adjourned. Subcommittee stands adjourned. [no audio] [no audio] [indiscernable