The Pentagon is about to get its first adviser to directly advise the defense secretary on issues of diversity in the armed forces – including the extinction of the scourge of white supremacy in the ranks.
According to two sources familiar with the nomination, Bishop Garrison will begin next week as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s senior adviser on human capital, diversity, equality and inclusion. Both sources said that Garrison will report exclusively to the Pentagon chief.
The appointment has not yet been announced and the scope of the work has not yet been fully defined as it is a new position. But Garrison, a West Point graduate who served twice in Iraq and advised Hillary Clinton’s presidential foreign policy campaign, is likely to advise Austin on how to improve diversity in the Pentagon, curb sexual attacks and confront white supremacists and uniformed domestic extremists.
The Department of Defense already has an office for diversity, equity and inclusion. But having a senior official with direct access to Austin addressing these same issues increases his prominence in the Pentagon. Austin is surrounding himself with senior advisers for many of his top priorities, including one for China’s politics.
The appointment of Garrison, a black man, underscores the Biden government’s emphasis on diversity across the government.
In January, for example, President Joe Biden signed an executive order reversing former President Donald Trump’s ban on members of trans military service in the armed forces. This is the kind of movement that Biden, Austin and others have promised.
During his confirmation to be secretary of defense, Austin – now the first head of the Black Pentagon – told lawmakers if confirmed: “I will fight hard to eradicate sexual assault, to rid our ranks of racists and extremists and to create a climate where everyone fit and willing have the opportunity to serve this country with dignity. ”
And while visiting the Pentagon this week, Biden honored black Americans who had served in the armed forces for decades. There is “a long history of black Americans fighting for this country,” said Biden, “even when their contributions are not always properly recognized or honored.”
Garrison did not respond to a request for comment. A Pentagon spokesman did not deny Garrison’s pending appointment, but said: “Bishop Garrison is not, at the moment, a DoD official, so we will not comment on that.” The spokesman then said: “We intend to update the list of employees who take their oath at the beginning of each week.”
The Pentagon has a lot of work to do on diversity
After protests across the country triggered by the death of George Floyd last summer, the Pentagon – like other government institutions – has started to pay more attention to issues of diversity.
In July 2020, then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said what many already knew: “We, the military, are not immune to discrimination, prejudice and prejudice” and announced some measures to address these problems. Among other things, they included the effective banning of the Confederate flag from military installations. However, Esper continued to elevate mainly white men to positions of power, even after the uprisings for racial injustice.
It looks like the Austin Pentagon is taking diversity issues more seriously, although it has a lot more work to do.
As the New York Times noted, about 43% of the military is a minority, but only two of the 41 most important military positions are held by blacks. In fact, 36 of those 41 leadership positions are held by white men.
Furthermore, the Capitol uprising on January 6 featured an excessive number of veterans in the attacking crowd. Ashli Babbitt, the rogue non-QA believer who was shot dead while trying to break into spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi’s office, served in the Air Force.
Pentagon officials are aware that white supremacists and extremists currently serve in uniform, although they are quick to note that most troops do not believe in odious ideologies. Still, Austin announced on February 3 a 60-day “withdrawal” for the entire force, so that military leaders could discuss these issues with troops.
It is a start, analysts and experts say, but for many, it is not enough.
“A withdrawal is not a solution. It is a reserved space that gives defense officers time to find real solutions, ”wrote Jeff Schogol of the military news website Task & Purpose. “It will be almost impossible for any senior leader to deal with the problem of extremists in the armed forces as long as the Department of Defense has so little data on how many military personnel have links to domestic terrorist groups.”
And the Pentagon is also struggling to track the number of sexual assaults by civilians, according to the Government Accountability Office this week. During the 2015 and 2019 fiscal years, only 3 percent of about 12,500 cases were reported, the report noted. And as for sexual violence within the armed forces, the most recent official report for fiscal 2019 found 7,825 reported cases – an increase of 3% over the previous period.
The hope is that Garrison can help Austin improve on these and other issues, as the Pentagon needs to elevate qualified minorities to more positions of power and keep extremists out of uniform. If he cannot, the US military will continue to struggle with problems it has long been unable to resolve.