The report was authored by Will Thibeau, a former U.S. Army Ranger officer and Director of the American Military Project at the Center for the American Way of Life. Thibeau has since been advising the Department of Defense transition team on the implementation of these sweeping reforms, ensuring that military leadership is reoriented toward mission-first principles rather than ideological social experiments.
Ryan P. Williams, President of The Claremont Institute, praised Thibeau's report and its influence on these policy changes:
“Will Thibeau has been one of the country’s strongest voices leading the charge to purge the U.S. military of the divisive and un-American DEI ideology. You can have excellence in warfighting or you can have DEI–you can’t have both. And trading excellence for racial and sex quotas in the military is deadly business. This is an excellent move by President Trump, the new Commander in Chief under the Constitution.”
These executive orders reflect key recommendations outlined in our report, which provided a data-driven assessment of the damage caused by DEI policies and offered a roadmap to restoring military effectiveness. Informed by the findings of Claremont’s Center for the American Way of Life, the administration has taken necessary and long-overdue action to ensure that military policy is dictated by the demands of national security—not ideological agendas.
This decision sets a powerful precedent, demonstrating that institutional integrity must take precedence over ideological mandates. While this marks a major victory, the work is far from over. We now look to other federal agencies, academic institutions, and corporate leaders to follow suit—ensuring that the corrosive influence of DEI is removed from policies and programs that weaken our competitiveness, cohesion, and the American way of life.
