WASHINGTON, DC – The Pentagon has come under fire in recent weeks from lawmakers, local leaders, and citizens after purging online content that highlighted the contributions of women and minorities in the military, reported AP News this week.
The removal, part of a broader directive to eliminate content tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), has resulted in the deletion of thousands of posts and the loss of critical historical records, detailed AP.
Facing mounting criticism, writes AP News, the Pentagon has scrambled to restore some content, including pages honoring baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson. However, officials warn that many deleted posts, removed in error, may be permanently lost.
Among those still missing as of last weekend are pages about the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military pilots who served in a segregated World War II unit, reported AP News.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell addressed the controversy, insisting that mistaken removals would be corrected swiftly, wrote AP News, noting, “History is not DEI,” but the scope of the removal and the lack of clear guidance have left military officials uncertain about what can be restored, wrote AP News.
Officials, speaking anonymously, said the confusion stems from the broad Pentagon directive that ordered the removal of any content linked to DEI, stated AP News.
AP added officials confessed the directive left room for interpretation, with some military commands unsure whether stories about “military firsts,” such as the first female Army Reserve graduate of Ranger School, Maj. Lisa Jaster, or the first female fighter pilot, Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, could be considered historical facts or DEI-related content.
One Army team reportedly removed entire heritage pages that highlighted the accomplishments of women and minority service members, according to AP News, explaining the team is now working to recover and repost as much content as possible on a new website dedicated to Army heroes, a process that could take months.
AP News reports the mass purge was driven in part by artificial intelligence, noting military officials said that AI programs scanned online content for key terms such as “gay,” bias,” and “female.”
And, added AP, if a flagged word appeared, the content was marked for removal, regardless of the context, resulting in the deletion of tens of thousands of posts. Social media content was harder to purge automatically, leading to a labor-intensive manual review by military service members and civilians working long hours, including the weekends.
Despite the Pentagon’s public insistence that errors will be corrected, AP News reported restoration efforts have been uneven, and significant gaps remain.
After backlash from Native American tribes, the Pentagon recently reinstated material about Navajo Code Talkers and other Native American veterans, stated AP News, adding pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor recipient and Japanese American service members have been restored.
AP News writes Corey Lohrenz, one of the Navy’s first female F-14 Tomcat pilots, took to X (formerly Twitter) to express her frustration, charging, “Most female aviator stories and photographs are disappearing, including from the archives. It’s an across-the-board devastating loss of history and information.”
Among the deleted content are pages, said AP, about the Women Air Service Pilots (WASPs), the female pilots who ferried warplanes during World War II, and the Air Force Thunderbirds.
The Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, is also missing from Pentagon websites, adds AP News.
The Pentagon’s response to the controversy has shifted over time, said AP News, noting that, initially, the Defense Department’s “Rapid Response” social media account denied any removals, calling reports of the purge “fake news.”
However, AP News notes, as more examples of deleted content resurfaced, Parnell acknowledged mistakes were made because of the use of AI tools.
AP News cited Parnell as stating, “Because of the realities of AI tools and other software, some important content was incorrectly pulled offline to be reviewed…We want to be very very clear: History is not DEI.”
