Maddow Blog-Pete Hegseth's 'warrior ethos' is increasingly focused on banning books

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1. Pentagon orders military to pull library books about diversity, anti-racism, gender issue

Hegseth is fighting culture wars and not making our military stronger

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https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/pentagon-orders-military-to-pull-library-books-about-diversity-anti-racism-gender-issues

The Pentagon has ordered all military leaders and commands to pull and review all of their library books that address diversity, anti-racism or gender issues by May 21, according to a memo issued to the force on Friday.

It is the broadest and most detailed directive so far on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s campaign to rid the military of diversity and equity programs, policies and instructional materials. And it follows similar efforts to remove hundreds of books from the libraries at the military academies.

READ MORE: Pentagon restores some webpages honoring minority service members but defends DEI purge

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the memo, which was signed Friday by Timothy Dill, who is performing the duties of the defense undersecretary for personnel.

Educational materials at the libraries “promoting divisive concepts and gender ideology are incompatible with the Department’s core mission,” the memo states, adding that department leaders must “promptly identify” books that are not compatible with that mission and sequester them by May 21.

By then, the memo says, additional guidance will be provided on how to cull that initial list and determine what should be removed and “determine an appropriate ultimate disposition” for those materials. It does not say what will happen to the books or whether they will be stored away or destroyed.