Support Historic Military Reform

Dear John,

Last year, with your generous support, The Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life released Identity in the Trenches: The Fatal Impact of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on U.S. Military Readiness.

Authored by former Army Ranger Will Thibeau, Director of our American Military Project, it exposed a crisis years in the making. 

Every branch of the military began substituting race and gender quotas–and ideological conformity–for excellence, merit, and lethality.

The results were predictable: 

• Recruiting shortfalls 
• Falling readiness 
• A military increasingly adrift from its sacred purpose–to defend America and secure peace through strength

Claremont’s American Military Project was created to call for bold, principled action from a new administration to reverse decades of progressive capture of the Pentagon.

Thanks to your support, that new administration has now arrived–and is listening to our counsel.

HISTORIC REFORM AT THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR

Since President Trump returned to office in January 2025, the Department of Defense—now led by Secretary Pete Hegseth under its restored name, the Department of War—has moved with historic speed to implement the reforms we’ve long championed.

• DEI offices shuttered or dramatically reduced
• Race and gender quotas eliminated in recruiting, assignments, and promotions 
• Sex-neutral physical fitness standards ordered for all combat roles
• A renewed insistence on the clear distinction between the professional military and civilian political debate

These are not marginal adjustments. 

They are the most significant restoration of merit-based standards since the founding of the all-volunteer force.

Soldiers must be selected and promoted on merit alone, united by excellence, and focused on one mission: victory.

None of this would have happened without the groundwork laid by Claremont scholars—especially Will Thibeau, whose agenda aligned with the priorities of the Department of War transition team and the new administration’s earliest reforms.

Your investment last year ensured the right ideas were in the right hands at the decisive moment. 

Because of you, The Claremont Institute was prepared with:

• Rigorous and actionable scholarship
• Strategic relationships on Capitol Hill
• A clear roadmap–now becoming reality.

But the fight is far from over. 

Entrenched bureaucracies resist reform, and ideologues in uniform and in Congress are already plotting to reverse these gains the moment political winds shift.

THE NEXT BATTLEFIELD: THE NDAA
 

The upcoming National Defense Authorization Act will determine whether this progress becomes permanent.

To secure lasting change, we must:

• Codify Secretary Hegseth’s fitness standards into law
• Eliminate remaining DEI infrastructure
• Ensure identity politics is driven out of our military once and for all

That is why the American Military Project is doubling down–publishing new research, briefing key congressional committees, advising administration officials, and holding accountable any leader who puts politics above readiness.
 

But, we cannot do it without you.

Will you renew your commitment today and help us finish what we started?

Your gift—at any level—directly fuels the scholarship, advocacy, and leadership already delivering transformational victories for our country. Because of supporters like you, the American military is once again becoming the unstoppable force that secured liberty for generations.

Thank you for standing with us at this critical moment as we work to reset the world’s greatest fighting force.

Sincerely,

Ryan P. Williams

President, The Claremont Institute

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