In an effort to align with President Donald Trump’s recent executive order that terminated diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives across the federal government, the Army and Navy have taken down web pages that highlight the history and myriad contributions of female soldiers and sailors.
While webpages on the history of female service remains intact on the U.S. Army Reserve website, the Army’s link to its “Women in Army History” page has been taken down as of Monday and leads readers directly back to its homepage.
Similarly, last week, a page devoted to women’s service in the U.S. Navy, as well as a page entitled “Navy Women of Courage and Intelligence,” was removed by the Navy History and Heritage Command, replaced by a “page not found” message.
“We are working to fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the Executive Orders issued by the President, ensuring that they are carried out with utmost professionalism, efficiency, and in alignment with national security objectives,” Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Ivester, a spokesman for the command, told Military Times.
The landing page URL has since been renamed and reuploaded.
In speaking to Military Times, Lauren Chatmas, the Navy News Desk Director for the Navy Office of Information, stated it was never the Navy’s intention to “not recognize the awesome accomplishments of individuals and groups of people in the past, but there’s just ways of doing it to make sure that we align with our Commander-in-Chief, all the way down the chain.”
In regards to the Navy History and Heritage Command website, the process of revising and reuploading the sub-landing pages regarding diversity, women and Black service members is ongoing but, according to Chatmas, will eventually all be back online, in accordance with Trump’s directives.
“Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) is in the process of reviewing and updating their online content to ensure compliance with directives outlined in Executive Orders issued by the President,” Chatmas added. “As this alignment systematically occurs, content will be available in the Heritage section of NHHC’s website. The Navy is executing and implementing the directives with professionalism, efficiency, and in full alignment with national security objectives.”
Elsewhere across Navy websites, some pages remain intact, including a “Women in the Navy” landing page.
Last Tuesday, the web page for the U.S. Army Women’s Museum at Fort Gregg-Adams in Hopewell, Virginia — the only museum in the world dedicated to “preserving and sharing the history of the contributions of women to the Army” — was removed, showing an error message. Since Friday afternoon, however, the webpage has since been restored, and the museum is operating at its normal hours.
Other government entities, such as the National Park Service, Library of Congress, the National Archives and the Smithsonian, have so far eschewed removing their history landing pages regarding women in uniform.
On Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order deeming that “influential institutions, including the Federal Government … have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) or ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation.”
The order left many of the branches scrambling to halt DEI programming, with the Air Force pulling a basic military training course on Jan. 23 that included videos on the Tuskegee Airmen and Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, before reinstating it after initial outcry.
On the eve of Black History Month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared “Identity Months” dead at the Defense Department and “that DoD Components and Military Departments will not use official resources, to include man-hours, to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness months, including National African American/Black History Month, Women’s History Month … Pride Month” among others.
Claire Barrett is the Strategic Operations Editor for Sightline Media and a World War II researcher with an unparalleled affinity for Sir Winston Churchill and Michigan football.
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