Following the removal of an article honoring Jackie Robinson’s military service in World War II, Black Medal of Honor recipient Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers, and numerous other pages highlighting contributions by women and minority groups, a spokesperson for the Pentagon blamed the use of artificial intelligence for the accidental takedowns.
“We enforced an aggressive timeline for our DOD services and agencies to comb through a vast array of content, while ensuring that our force remains ready and lethal,” said Sean Parnell, U.S. Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, when discussing President Donald Trump’s administration’s efforts to eliminate all content it considers DEI from federal agencies. Parnell admitted that, “Every now and then, because of the realities of AI tools and other software, some important content was incorrectly pulled offline to be reviewed.”
“We want to be very, very clear, history is not DEI when content is either mistakenly removed or if it’s maliciously removed, we continue to work quickly to restore it,” he added, while also portraying former President Joe Biden’s administrations efforts to address minority underrepresentation as a “zealous and destructive commitment to DEI” that “divided our nation.”
Since his return to the White House, Trump has issued multiple executive orders aimed at purging the government of anything related to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, while his administration has steadfastly worked to wipe government websites and social media accounts of DEI references.
The sudden removal of pages featuring venerated veterans such as Robinson and Rogers prompted backlash from those calling the purge a disrespectful erasure of history. “This pattern of racial cleansing from the Department of Defense’s historical record is not just disturbing — it is dangerous,” wrote author Michael Embrich in a commentary for Rolling Stone. “It will lead to morale and recruitment problems, compounding the broader crisis of an all-out demagogic assault on the contributions of historic military figures.”
While the pages were later restored, details about the department’s removal process were not given at the time.
Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Pentagon to purge its digital footprint of all content that promotes diversity, including months that celebrate cultural awareness. Hegseth also fired several top military leaders he deemed overly focused on diversity and equity in the ranks.
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