A high-ranking Marine Corps Reserve official nominated by President Joe Biden previously celebrated a NATO agency’s embrace of neo-Marxist ideology.
Promoted by Biden to the rank of major general on Friday, then-Brig. Gen. Douglas K. Clark penned an article published by the NATO Joint Warfare Centre (JWC), touting the organization’s embrace of “diversity” and “inclusion,” concepts often used by leftists to justify the dismissal of a merit-based system in favor of one that makes personnel decisions based upon characteristics such as race. Clark previously served as JWC’s deputy commander and chief of staff from 2020-2022 and is currently the commanding general of the 4th Marine Division in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In his article on JWC’s “organizational culture,” Clark commended the organization for “embracing diversity as one of [its] leadership goals” and further claimed he was “proud” the JWC launched a “human capital-focused programme built upon [its] commitment to diversity and inclusion.” “This is because people truly are our most important asset in meeting the JWC’s goals and objectives,” Clark wrote.
But the brigadier general didn’t stop there. In the subsequent paragraphs, Clark wrote that “commonalities and differences” are what “enable the growth of any organization” and opined that the current security climate doesn’t demonstrate the JWC’s “need” for diversity but its “demand” for it.
“In this environment, we do not need diversity. We demand it!” Clark wrote. “‘Together! We make NATO better!’, the JWC’s maxim, is exactly about our emphasis on diversity. Because this is how we will meet NATO’s evolving requirements, holding on to curiosity, innovation, and cooperation.”
Clark is hardly the only notable military official to espouse support for so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI)-type ideology. Several of the service members promoted by Biden in recent months have been caught promoting leftist philosophies and causes — and in some cases — attacking those who don’t support such positions.
The Air Force’s Benjamin Jonsson, for example, penned an article in the Air Force Times in the weeks following George Floyd’s death claiming that “white colonels” are the “biggest barriers” to addressing so-called “racial injustice” in the U.S. military. Jonsson asserted that “[d]efensiveness is a predictable response by white people to any discussion of racial injustice” and that white colonels are “largely blind to institutional racism, and we take offense to any suggestion that our system advantaged us at the expense of others.”
Meanwhile, Navy Rear Adm. Derek Trinque often denigrated non-leftists, particularly those questioning the government’s unscientific Covid response. On Aug. 17, 2021, for example, Trinque “endorsed” an Aug. 2, 2021, article from The New York Times encouraging insurance companies to “penaliz[e]” people who didn’t receive the Covid jab. He also criticized Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s executive order allowing optional masking at schools and supported the Pentagon’s vaccine mandate, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the desecration of Confederate monuments and installations named after Confederate figures.
To read about Biden’s other “woke” military promotions, see here, here, here, and here.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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