Letter to Conferees:
Diversity and Inclusion in the FY21 NDAA

To: 
The Honorable Adam Smith, House Armed Services Committee
The Honorable Mac Thornberry, House Armed Services Committee
The Honorable Jim Inhofe, Senate Armed Services Committee
The Honorable Jack Reed, Senate Armed Services Committee

Dear Chairman Smith, Chairman Inhofe, Ranking Member Thornberry, & Ranking Member Reed:

As you begin conference negotiations on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), we write to urge the preservation of bipartisan provisions related to diversity and inclusion. At a time when the United States is reckoning with and acknowledging its history of persistent and pervasive forces of prejudice and bias, the Department of Defense (the Department) and the military services must reckon with the same. We are pleased that Secretary Esper acknowledged as much in his June address to the Force. Concurrently, as the military services face a shrinking recruiting pool, improving the Department’s ability to access a wide range of talented individuals is critical. Our armed forces – at all levels from the junior enlisted ranks to general and flag officers – must reflect our nation’s diversity and democratic values and be at the forefront of grappling with our most difficult tasks and challenges. Therefore, it is only appropriate that we take the necessary steps to ensure that our military represents the diversity of the United States and leverages all of the nation’s talent to enable our armed forces to tackle the challenges we face.

As stated in the Department’s most recent five-year Strategic Plan for Diversity and Inclusion, “diversity is a strategic imperative, critical to mission readiness and accomplishment, and a leadership requirement.” Preserving diversity across our military – including enlisted personnel and the officer corps – supports creative problem solving and decision making and contributes to mutual understanding of other countries and cultures. Moreover, a diverse military force reflects our values as a democratic society, improving public perception and trust in our armed forces. In fact, our military is the finest fighting force in the world precisely because of its diversity. As Secretary Esper stated in his June address, our military has reached this level of excellence “because we attract the best America has to offer: young men and women across the land and beyond our shores who not only love our country and share these values, but who also represent a wide range of creeds, religions, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and other attributes that not only distinguish us as individuals, but also make us stronger when combined together.”