Opposition to the Pentagon’s DEI efforts has spiked among select
conservative lawmakers since 2020, when Congress first expanded
such programs and mandated the Defense Department’s hiring of
a chief diversity officer, said Liz Yates, a researcher with the advocacy
group Human Rights First.

Attempts by some lawmakers to dismantle the military’s DEI programs
has reached a flash point as the House and Senate struggle to come
to terms on the Fiscal Year 2024 Defense Department Appropriations'
Act, which Congress must pass annually to determine military
spending.