The U.S. Air Force’s diversity office touted a scheme to track the “race, ethnicity and gender” of individuals promoted to leadership positions as a way to address perceived diversity gaps, according to an inaugural Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) newsletter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Air Force’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion (SAF/DI) found racial disparities in the selection of Air Force airmen and Space Force guardians promoted to leadership positions, the DEIA newsletter, dated February 2023, says. To close those gaps and “support an inclusive culture,” the Air Force is “reporting status of officer promotions, civilian hiring, and force development data from a race, ethnicity and gender standpoint.”
Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall directed SAF/DI to “identify approaches to close the gaps between senior leaders’ and DAF members’ (at all levels) understanding of barriers to service for female and underrepresented Airmen and Guardians (military and civilian),” in a 2021 memo, the newsletter says.
The Air Force’s diversity organization identified five “gaps” in DEIA after conducting the mandated review of ongoing efforts to allegedly make representation of ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ identifying people in the total force more equitable, the newsletter states.
For example, SAF/DI found that leaders have “differing levels of resolve” to address discrimination and bias and discrepancies in how judicial and nonjudicial punishment was distributed, the newsletter states. In addition, “some members of underrepresented groups perceive that they must work harder than” the majority “and believe leaders do not value their ideas and contributions.”
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