A new report claims that documents obtained from the U.S. Air Force exposes the military branch’s “goal” of reducing the number of white male applicants in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program through diversity and equity initiatives under the Biden-Harris administration.
According to The Daily Caller, while serving as the highest-ranking member of the U.S. Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman C.Q. Brown issued a memorandum in 2022, announcing that the Air Force was changing its racial and gender demographic goals for potential officer applicants in an effort to promote “diversity and inclusion.”
Internal documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Center To Advance Security In America (CASA) and shared with The Daily Caller show a 2022 slideshow outlining the Air Force’s plans to “achieve” a reduced number of white male applicants in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps applicant program.
The Daily Caller reported that a document labeled “AFROTC White” reveals a graph of the declining percentage of white male applicants in the program as the Air Force prioritized other demographics. The graph shows a percentage drop of white male applicants from 60 percent of applicants in 2019 to an estimated 50 percent in 2023.
The graph also shows a projected drop to 43 percent by 2029, noting that the percentage is the Air Force’s “goal.” The slide states, “White male population will decline as other demographics increase.”
CASA Director James Fitzpatrick told The Daily Caller, “These documents show us that the Air Force has taken steps toward implementing their new directive of specific racial quotas for officer recruitment and enrollment throughout the branch,”
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The Daily Caller reported that the slides obtained by CASA also reveal the Air Force’s marketing goals with regard to minorities in the military branch. On one slide highlighting the number of African American officer applicants, the Air Force recommended targeting “[the] male population through ongoing programs and marketing,” while highlighting the military branch’s success in meeting its “female goal” for the program’s black officer applicants.
The documents also highlight a $500,000 budget for “diversity advertising campaigns” and a $250,000 budget for “influencer engagements.”
Warning against the Biden-Harris administration’s emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in the U.S. military, Fitzpatrick said, “The American people are rightly concerned that, at a time when our country is facing dangerous and increasing threats throughout the world, the Air Force is focused on recruitment efforts based on arbitrary racial diversity goals — not merit or increasing the force’s lethality.”
