Pentagon Orders to Remove Books That Promote Gender Ideology From Its Library

In another memo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the military service academies to admit students based exclusively on merit.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the Cabinet Room at the White House on April 24, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Pentagon issued a memo on May 9 directing Defense Department leaders to review library materials and remove books that promote “divisive concepts” or “gender ideology” from its educational institutions.

The memo, signed by Timothy Dill, who is performing the duties of the defense deputy undersecretary for personnel, directs department leaders to identify books that conflict with the Pentagon’s core mission of ensuring national security and sequester those materials by May 21.

Department leaders will then be required to conduct a deliberate review of the materials before deciding on “an appropriate ultimate disposition,” according to the memo.

It stated that a temporary Academic Libraries Committee comprising leaders, educators, and library professionals from across the military departments would be established to carry out the review.

“The Secretary has been clear: We are building a colorblind, merit-based culture that promotes and rewards individual initiative, excellence, and hard work,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

The memo included an attachment with a list of search terms to help identify books that require review. Among the listed terms are “diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI),” “anti-racism,” and “gender dysphoria.”

In a separate memo issued on May 9, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the military service academies to admit students “based exclusively on merit” and to ensure that “no consideration of race, ethnicity, or sex” is involved in the admission process.

The academies may, instead, give weight to “unique athletic talent” or experiences such as prior military service or performance at a military service academic preparatory school.

“This ensures only the most qualified candidates are admitted, trained, and ultimately commissioned to lead the finest fighting force in history,” Hegseth stated in his memo.

“Selecting anyone but the best erodes lethality, our warfighting readiness, and undercuts the culture of excellence in our Armed Forces,” the Pentagon chief added.

The move follows the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate DEI-related programs from federal agencies and government initiatives. President Donald Trump issued an executive order after his inauguration on Jan. 20 that the previous administration had forced “illegal and immoral discrimination programs” across virtually “all aspects of the federal government” through DEI initiatives.

“The public release of these plans demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination. That ends today,” Trump stated in the order.

Trump also issued another executive order on Jan. 27, stating that individuals “expressing a false ‘gender identity’” do not meet the standards for military service.

“Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life,” the order stated.

“The Armed Forces must adhere to high mental and physical health standards to ensure our military can deploy, fight, and win, including in austere conditions and without the benefit of routine medical treatment or special provisions.”

Following that order, Hegseth issued a policy on Feb. 26 stating that service members and military applicants with gender dysphoria are incompatible for military service.

He urged the Pentagon to create a procedure and implement steps to identify troops who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms indicative of gender dysphoria before initiating “separation actions” for those individuals, according to the memo.