08-02-2025
The Assault on Diversity
To the Editor:
Re 'D.E.I. Will Not Be Missed,' by Bret Stephens (column, Jan. 29):
Mr. Stephens's column centers the decision to open all combat roles to women — decreed in 2015 by my late husband, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter — as the primordial event from which all D.E.I. efforts flowed. The attempt to label this decision a D.E.I. strategy is simplistic. Instead, let's revisit the common sense that continues to underpin it.
It was crucial to Ash, who was also a physicist, that the decision be rooted in logic — the hypothesis that opening all positions would be additive, and would help the military build and maintain the world's finest fighting force. To Ash, that meant filling each position with the most qualified person; he recognized the illogic in excluding half the population from the available talent pool.
An honest accounting of the occasional excess in this policy's execution must acknowledge that our services have at crucial times revisited standards for male service members as well. With formidable military recruiting challenges and no shortage of global crises, our emphasis must be to repair these issues with a scalpel — not a machete.
Let's remember that in America, we have an all-volunteer force; our military — like any organization — competes for top talent in a competitive environment. People are unlikely to pursue a job where their forward progress is unnaturally capped — even if it is unlikely that they ever reach the top rung of the ladder. These challenges require nuanced thinking over dismissive labels. Ash's decision wasn't woke — it was just work.
Stephanie Carter
Boston
To the Editor:
Bret Stephens's column about banning D.E.I. because, in part, 'a young female soldier would only have to be able to complete 10 push-ups' is shortsighted and an insult to those thousands behind the front lines providing support to the ones wielding guns. Brute strength may be a requirement, but there's no military without brainpower.
Consider the work of communications teams, maintenance crews, supply teams, food preparers and servers, doctors, nurses, medical technicians and all in field hospitals. Military infrastructure is dependent on technologies that require vital skills that have nothing to do with muscular power, sex, gender or race.
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