Pompeo blasts Pentagon's focus on 'green energy and racism'
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responds on 'Jesse Watters Primetime' to President Biden's diversity officer's comments.
EXCLUSIVE – Republican lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee blasted the Pentagon for what it called indoctrinating the children of service members in its K-12 schools in a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Friday, which also derided sexually explicit and "racist" materials being taught to children.
The Department of Defense Education Activity services over 66,000 military-connected children in the Americas, Europe and the Pacific, and it has met the ire of watchdogs and GOP politicians over what they say is a "woke" agenda plaguing the agency.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Rep. C. Scott Franklin, R-Fla., said, "The mission of DoDEA is to provide high quality education to the children of America’s men and women in uniform, not indoctrinate those children with the radical ideologies of those who seek to divide us by race or ethnicity, nor to promote sexually explicit material for child audiences."
"Under [the Biden] administration, your leadership at the Department, and the guidance of [diversity chief] Ms. [Kelisa] Wing, DoDEA has abandoned that mission in pursuit of the social engineering agenda of the ‘woke’ left," the letter said.
Sexually explicit books in Department of Defense Education Activity K-12 schools for military children. (iStock | Respective authors)
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The letter referred Fox News Digital to investigations which found that the DoDEA schools were infested with extremely sexually explicit materials; some of its contents were so graphic that they weren't included or paraphrased in the original story.
"Apparently the Biden administration did not understand the first time, so we will make it clear: They must explain why racist and pornographic materials are being taught to military children in government-funded schools," Franklin told Fox News Digital.
Another investigation by Fox News found that DoDEA's diversity chief, Kelisa Wing, wrote a series of disparaging tweets about White people on Twitter.
"It is past time for the Department of Defense to release the findings of Kelisa Wing’s divisive and radical ideology she is imposing in our DoDEA schools," Stefanik said.
Kelisa Wing, a diversity chief at the Department of Defense, posts disparaging posts about White people on Twitter. (Kelisa Wing/Twitter)
Additionally, Wing's books – which included some misleading information and ideas about "White privilege" – were found in DoDEA schools.
The lawmakers demanded that the "toxic materials" be removed from DoDEA.
The Pentagon previously released a statement to Fox News, which said, "The Department of Defense Education Activity… serves a diverse community of military families, and their library materials reflect that diversity."
"All titles in DoDEA’s catalog undergo a review process. We welcome parents to review DDEA library materials and there is an administrative process available if a parent has concerns about a particular book."
Twenty-two Republicans demanded in September that the Pentagon take action against Wing.
The equity chief was under probe and a final decision was supposed to have been reached on or about Oct. 19.
"More than 30 days have passed since the Department announced the review of Kelisa Wing. However, the Department has made no public announcement, nor communicated with Congress… regarding the findings of the review," the letter stated.
"It is clear that the DoD Education Activity is aggressively pursuing its woke agenda with no accountability from the Pentagon," Rep. Franklin said.
Reps. Elise Stefanik and C. Scott Franklin blasted the Biden administration for overseeing pornographic books being placed in Department of Defense Education Activity schools. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
"[T]he Pentagon failed to perform a thorough vetting of Ms. Wing’s views and rhetoric before placing her in a leadership role involving education curriculum," Rep. Franklin previously said. "It’s yet another example of how the Biden administration has sought to politicize our military."
Wing — who oversees curriculum at DoDEA — co-created "racial justice" children's books which said that White people must confess their privilege and were de facto hurting Black people by being benefactors of unearned advantages.
"White privilege hurts a lot of people. If you are White you might feel bad about hurting others or you might feel afraid to lose this privilege," the book, "What is White Privilege?" said.
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It said that, "Overcoming White privilege is a job that must start with the White community."
"[W]ill you really feel good at the end of the race when you look back and see others fighting obstacles that you didn't even have?" the book added.
The book was reportedly taken down for review along with other controversial titles by a Florida district, according to a nonprofit that monitors books taken down from the shelves.
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"Honored to be involved with work that causes good trouble," Wing said on Twitter about the report.
The GOP lawmakers demanded that the Pentagon answer whether Wing's statements about White people and subsequent works were "consistent with the educational curriculum of the DoDEA."
"The Department of Defense must realign their priorities away from woke ideologies and back to strengthening our national defense. I am committed to continuing to work to restore Americans’ trust in our military by providing our servicemembers with the resources needed to win our nation’s wars and support their families," Stefanik said.