Military was instructed to search keywords including 'first' and 'history' during rushed purge of Pentagon websites
Source: KIMB FM - News Channel Nebraska/CNN
Thursday, March 20th 2025, 4:50 PM MDT
Updated: Friday, March 21st 2025, 4:09 AM MDT
(CNN) — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s February memo ordering all diversity, equity and inclusion-related content to be removed from Pentagon websites was so vague that military units were instructed to simply use keyword searches like “racism,” “ethnicity,” “history” and “first” when searching for articles and photos to remove, and to interpret the directive “broadly,” multiple defense officials told CNN.
The implications of Hegseth’s memo were overwhelming, since the Defense Department manages over 1,000 public-facing websites and a huge visual media database known as DVIDS – with officials expected to purge everything relevant within two weeks. As a result, the manual work of individual units was supplemented with an algorithm that also used keywords to automate much of the purge, officials explained.
Other keywords officials were instructed to search for included “firsts” in history, including content about the first female ranger and first Black commanding general, as well as the words “LGBTQ,” “historic,” “accessibility,” “opportunity,” “belonging,” “justice,” “privilege,” respect” and “values,” according to a list reviewed by CNN.
A defense official acknowledged that, in hindsight, the strict timeline could have been handled differently and said the search terms were suggestions from an internal defense agency to help units meet the secretary’s directive. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video posted to X on Thursday that the effort “was an arduous – but incredibly important – undertaking,” with an “aggressive timeline.” “Every now and then, because of the realities of AI tools and other software, some important content was incorrectly pulled offline to be reviewed,” Parnell said. “We want to be very, very clear: History is not DEI. When content is either mistakenly removed – or if it is maliciously removed – we continue to work quickly to restore it.”
Read more: https://panhandle.newschannelnebraska.com/story/52599710/military-was-instructed-to-search-keywords-including-first-and-history-during-rushed-purge-of-pentagon-websites
CNN, et al buried this story deep and despite their purported publication time, it only bubbled up early this morning. Luckily, local news site wire subscribers grab the stories.
And from the article -
They lie. This WAS intentional. Their credos is "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission". Unless someone spots an "error" and calls them out on it, the purged material will remain purged (although thanks to the Wayback Machine, there are records of it).
= new reply since forum marked as read
