APRIL 5, 2025 – A nine-member Defense Department task force headed by Jules W. Hurst III, an Army veteran who is performing the duties of undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, will visit numerous military installations, including military service academies, in April and early May.
The task force will evaluate the implementation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent “Restoring America’s Fighting Force” memorandum. Signed Jan. 29, 2025, and addressed to all senior DOD leaders, the memo called for the creation of a task force to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and initiatives. Hurst led the creation of the task force, which first issued guidance across the department. That task force has now entered the validation phase of the department’s accomplishments.
Hurst said the task force’s job is to ensure military installations have a thorough understanding of the secretary’s directive so DOD leaders can be successful.
“When a policy is issued, you want to ensure seamless implementation from the headquarters down to the unit level,” he said. He added that the task force will also ensure the policy is implemented correctly and that the service academies are returning to solely merit-based practices.
“My team and I are traveling to installations and service academies to ensure the president and secretary’s intent and guidance are being carried out across the department. We want to hear from the leaders and service members on the ground, identify any challenges to implementation, and help our warfighters overcome these obstacles,” Hurst said.
He also noted that the task force wants frank feedback, honesty and candor from the people they interact with during the upcoming visits, as such feedback is necessary to ensure consistency across the force.
“Really, it’s an educational visit for us to make sure that we have conveyed what [President Donald J. Trump and the secretary] want [to communicate] to the force and that they understand it,” Hurst said.
He acknowledged that moving from policy issuance to full implementation at the ground level requires significant work, communication and validation, and that issues usually occur because individuals interpret policies differently, rather than because of intentional mistakes by the force.
As an example, Hurst referenced a challenge regarding the removal of culturally and historically significant content from some DOD organizations.
“I think the department is executing well and that organizations are exercising more diligence as they go through these processes to make sure they’re compliant [with the policy] but not overzealous,” Hurst said.
He also said that one of the task force’s key priorities is ensuring the sites they visit in the coming weeks have returned to a culture of meritocracy.
Meritocracy is one of five key focus points the defense secretary mapped out in his Jan. 25, 2025, message to the force, along with lethality, accountability, readiness and standards.
“This is about the Department of Defense getting back to merit-based, colorblind policies because, at the end of the day, our responsibility is to make sure that we take the best people and put them in positions of responsibility to lead America’s sons and daughters,” Hurst said.
He added that the Defense Department owes the American people the best fighting force it can possibly muster, which involves getting the best people in positions of responsibility that are in accordance with their talents.
The task force will visit six military installations, including two military service academies, over the next four weeks. The military services and DOD components plan to conduct similar validation exercises during the coming months, to ensure that the department delivers on the intent of the “Restoring America’s Fighting Force” memo.
The task force will produce a final report on DOD’s actions to terminate any DEI initiatives no later than June 1, 2025.
By Matthew Olay, DOD News