Senior NATO official Vice Admiral Chatfield has been sacked as the Trump administration purges wokeness and DEI from the Pentagon. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for Ellis Island Honors Society)
CONSERVATIVE GROUP COMPILES LIST OF 'WOKE' SENIOR OFFICERS THEY WANT PETE HEGSETH TO FIRE
It was unclear if her firing was related to any U.S. policy direction on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Trump and Hegseth have been vocal in their insistence that so-called woke policies are dead and have vigorously sought to remove leaders who promoted diversity, equity and inclusion and to erase DEI programs and online content. The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, is ditching almost 400 books from its library with DEI content.
In December, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF), a conservative research group, sent a letter to Hegseth with a list of 20 general officers or senior admirals whom it said were excessively focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and other similar left-wing initiatives. AAF wrote that focusing on such policies is an impediment to national security and Chatfield was one of eight women who made the list.
Chatfield made the list due in part to a 2015 speech where she bemoaned that lawmakers in the House of Representatives at the time were 80% males, proclaiming that "our diversity is our strength." The group said she also quoted a slide from a presentation by the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute highlighting "Investing in gender equality and women's empowerment can unlock human potential on a transformational scale."
Chatfield, a Navy helicopter pilot who also commanded a joint reconstruction team in Afghanistan, had been serving as one of the 32 representatives on NATO’s military committee. The panel is the primary source of military advice to the North Atlantic Council and NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group, according to NATO. It serves as the link between the political decision-makers and NATO’s military structure.
Trump and Hegseth have been vocal in their insistence that so-called woke policies are dead and have vigorously sought to remove leaders who promoted diversity, equity and inclusion and to erase DEI programs and online content. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images, left, US Army, right.)
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"I cannot fathom how anyone could stand silently by while the President causes great harm to our military and our nation," Reed said.
"I will continue to call out this unconscionable behavior and sound the alarm about the dangers of firing military officers as a political loyalty test. I urge my Republican colleagues to join me in demanding an explanation from President Trump and Secretary Hegseth."
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
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