| MATTHEW M. ROSENDALE, SR. | 1037 Longworth House Office Building | |
| Montana | Washington, DC 20515 | |
| (202) 225-3211 | ||
| Congress of the United States | ||
| House of Representatives | ||
| Washington, DC 20515-2600 |
May 25, 2021
The Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III
Secretary of Defense
U.S. Department of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301
Dear Secretary Austin:
We write to express concern about the growing trend of left-wing extremism and politicization in our armed forces. The military’s long history of standing above politics has made it one of the most respected institutions in America and enabled our armed forces to both defend the Homeland and serve as one of the bulwarks of our constitutional order. That legacy is now in jeopardy.
Under the guise of reviewing “extremism” within the ranks of the Department of Defense, it appears that political actors such as Bishop Garrison, the head of the working group tasked with defining extremist views for the Department of Defense[1], have been given broad freedom to both catechize and root out servicemembers who will not affirm far-left doctrines.[2] Your order for a “stand-down” to ideologically assess servicemembers[3] appears to have been connected to these efforts.
In March of this year, the U.S. Special Operations Command, which trains and oversees special forces like the SEAL teams, Green Berets, and Delta Force, hired Richard Torres-Estrada to be their first ever Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and announced a new “Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan” for our special forces.[4] Days later, amid widespread backlash, he was reassigned after his vast trove of far-left social media posts came to light, one of which compared President Donald J. Trump to Adolf Hitler.
Recently the United States Army released a recruitment video titled “The Calling”[5] which describes marching in left-wing social protests as “defending freedom,” depicts “two moms” raising a child, features a lesbian wedding, and refers to the subject of the video’s service to this
- ↑ https://thehill.com/policy/defense/547447-pentagon-takes-step-toward-new-screening-procedures-to-weed-out-extremists
- ↑ https://www.revolver.news/2021/05/bishop-garrison-pentagon-hatchet-man/
- ↑ https://www.stripes.com/news/us/defense-secretary-will-order-military-wide-stand-down-to-address-extremism-1.660899
- ↑ https://americanmilitarynews.com/2021/03/us-special-forces-announce-1st-ever-diversity-and-inclusion-officer/
- ↑ The film referred to here is not titled "The Calling"; it's actually titled "Emma", and is part of a film series called The Calling. (Wikisource contributor note)
