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Two of the country’s top military leaders pushed back questions about the critical race theory taught within the military and reiterated their commitment to keeping the Pentagon out of politics at a press conference on Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley have said the US military is an “apolitical” entity.
Milley had declined to comment in response to a question on recent books saying he feared former President Donald Trump would try to stay in power after January 20.
“I want America to know that the US military is an apolitical institution,” he said.
“It’s really important to me that this department remains apolitical,” Austin added. “And so we are going to do everything in our power to make sure that our troops, our leaders, both civilian and military, stay focused on the task at hand and understand that they are not part of the political apparatus there. -low. “
And when asked whether the controversial Critical Race Theory program should be part of military education, both men downplayed the program’s importance as a distraction.
“Critical breed theory is not something this department teaches, professes, embraces,” Austin said. “You’ve also heard a few people in academic institutions say that they’ve demanded that this be read for their students in specific courses. But just because it does doesn’t mean this department is adopting this theory.”
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley speaks at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
(Department of Defense)
Austin said military leadership “will be like what’s in the ranks” and that he didn’t want critical race theory to distract the Defense Department from its focus.
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“We’re not going to spend a lot of time debating the merits of this theory or any other theory,” he said. “We will stay focused on creating the right force to defend this country and promote our values.”
Milley said it was about understanding and not embracing the controversial CRT program.
“I’m not going to specifically address white rabies or black rabies or Asian rabies or Irish rabies or English rabies or German rabies or any other rabies,” Milley said. “The events of January 6 have happened. This is all going to be settled… But I think it is important that we as professional military personnel understand not only foreign countries and foreign cultures in foreign societies, it is is important that we do that. We also need to understand our own society, understand the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and the society they come from. “
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He then said that there was not enough time to discuss his previous comment of “White Rage”, but that he would be “happy to do so later”.
During congressional testimony before the House Armed Services Committee on June 23, Milley said he wanted to understand “white rage” and what motivated thousands to participate in a January 6 riot. at the Capitol.
“I have read Mao Zedong, I have read Karl Marx, I have read Lenin. That does not make me a communist,” Milley said. “So what is wrong with understanding, having some understanding of the situation in the country that we are here to defend for? And I find it personally offensive that we are accusing the US military, our general officers , our commission non-commissioned officers being, I quote, “awake” or whatever, because we are studying some theories that are out there. “
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During that same hearing, Austin called the CRT talks a “spurious conversation” and said the military neither taught nor endorsed the theory.
Thomas Barrabi of Fox News contributed to this report.
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