Air Force Sued After Claiming it Lacked Records on Racial Diversity Quota Plan
“In its response, the Air Force claims that there are “no records” responsive to the request when the specific public documents referenced in the request contain the very search words which the Air Force claims there are no records for…This cannot be accurate.”
Although the previous Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Army General Mark A. Milley, was terrible, as we reported almost a year ago, his relief and the current Chairman, Air Force General Charles Q. “CQ” Brown, is even worse: Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley’s Replacement Even More Woke, If That is Possible. Please read the whole post to refresh your memory, but this, for me, was really the key:
Brown also presided, as Chief of Staff of the Air Force, over the publishing of “one of the most shocking and destructive racist documents ever produced by the modern military.”
What could be so shocking and destructively racist, you ask?
Well, that document, available here, establishes “officer quotas set by race and gender”:
Similar quotas had been issued by political appointees in a politically correct military, but they had focused on slowly boosting minority officers rather than calling for a purge of white men.
The 2014 quotas had looked for an 80 percent white, 10 percent black and 8 percent Asian officer corps. While choosing officers by any racial category rather than merit is racist, wrong and illegal under civil rights legislation, this fell short of Brown’s proposed racist purge.
Brown’s quotas limit the number of white officers to 67% and cut white men down to 43%. [emphasis mine]
Brown’s racial “balancing” plan is blatantly unconstitutional:
- “‘[O]utright racial balancing’ is ‘patently unconstitutional.’” Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1, 551 U.S. 701, 730 (2007) (Roberts, Chief Justice) (quoting Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306, 330 (2006)).
- “It would be a sad day indeed, were America to become a quota-ridden society, with each identifiable minority assigned proportional representation in every desirable walk of life.” Grutter, 539 U.S. at 342-43 (quoting Nathanson & Bartnik, The Constitutionality of Preferential Treatment for Minority Applicants to Professional Schools, 58 Chicago Bar Rec. 282, 293 (May–June 1977)).
- “Accepting racial balancing as a compelling state interest would justify the imposition of racial proportionality throughout American society, contrary to our repeated recognition that ‘[a]t the heart of the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection lies the simple command that the Government must treat citizens as individuals, not as simply components of a racial, religious, sexual or national class.’” Parents Involved, 551 U.S. at 730 (quoting Miller v. Johnson, 515 U.S. 900, 911 (1995)).
Well, it turns out that I wasn’t the only one upset about the blatant racialization of the military. The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA), a “watchdog group focused on security and civil liberties,” was also upset, and sent a federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Air Force asking them for records associated with Chairman Brown’s Air Force officer quota plan. The result? No records!
The Daily Caller has the story: EXCLUSIVE: Air Force Slapped With Lawsuit After Claiming It Has No Records On Officer Diversity Quotas:
A watchdog group filed a lawsuit against the Air Force on Wednesday for allegedly withholding records shedding light on the service’s efforts to set racial diversity quotas when taking on new officers, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., then Air Force’s top officer, updated demographic goals for applicants to become officers in the Air Force in an August 2022 memo, calling the effort “aspirational.” The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA), a watchdog group focused on security and civil liberties, requested communications related to the memo using a federal transparency law the following year, and when the Air Force said it couldn’t find anything, CASA decided to sue, according to a copy of the filing obtained by the DCNF in advance.
CASA appealed the denial in October, arguing it “cannot be accurate” the Air Force was unable to produce any responsive records to the request, the appeal letter states. The explanation contained in the denial did not even address major components of the FOIA request. The Air Force has not responded to the appeal, CASA said.
CASA reasons that Brown’s August 2022 memo “undoubtedly” triggered internal discussions among staff, according to the letter. Further, since the request included some of the same language in the memo that was emailed out to staff, it’s almost “impossible” that AETC was unable to find any communications matching the request.
The watchdog “lost hope” the Air Force would comply with the records request without involving the court, CASA Director James Fitzpatrick told the DCNF.
CASA’s federal court Complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, is available here. CASA is represented by Gary Lawkowski (@TheLawLawkowski) of the Dhillon Law Group, and the case has been assigned to Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman, a 1994 Bill Clinton appointee to the federal bench. Review the whole Complaint, but this is key:
6. On or about August 7, 2023, CASA submitted a FOIA request (attached as Exhibit A) seeking the following records related to a USAF memo on diversity, equity, and inclusion goals in USAF’s recruitment:
1. All meeting requests, calendar entries, virtual meeting invitations, call logs and any chats in the relevant virtual platforms (e.g., Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Webex, etc.) pertaining to the development of “Officer Source of Commission Applicant Pool Goals”….
3. We are seeking all emails, text messages, chat sessions, or other forms of written or electronic communication used to discuss the development of the USAFA’s “Officer Source of Commission Applicant Pool Goals” and communications by and between those in #2 above containing the following phrases and/or words; “Officer Source of Commission Applicant Pool Goals”, “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”, “DEI”, “race”, “ethnicity”, “gender”, “quotas”, “racial”, “white”, “black”, “Hispanic”, “African-American”, “Latino”, “Indian”, “Asian”, “American Indian”, “Native Alaskan”, “Native Hawaiian”, “Other Pacific Islander”, “male”, “female”, “transgender”, “non-binary”, “pool”….
7. The release of these documents is in the public interest because it will help the public understand whether the U.S. government is prioritizing military readiness and is appropriately using taxpayer resources to keep Americans safe. CASA’s explicit purpose in requesting these documents is to inform the public so they can be engaged with their leaders and ensure their decisions are consistent with America’s best interests.
8. On August 8, 2023, USAF confirmed receipt of CASA’s request and assigned it tracking # 2023-05524-F.
9. On September 26, 2023, USAF sent CASA a response letter to its request. The letter stated that USAF was providing a “No Records” response because its search produced no responsive records.
10. On October 6, 2023, CASA appealed USAF’s “No Records” response. As part of its appeal, CASA submitted a letter explaining that USAF’s “No Records” determination, and the search process USAF described it used to reach it, were insufficient:
In its response, the Air Force claims that there are “no records” responsive to the request when the specific public documents referenced in the request contain the very search words which the Air Force claims there are no records for. For example, the August 9, 2022, directive entitled “Officer Source of Commission Applicant Pool Goals” from CQ Brown, Frank Kendall, Gina Ortiz Jones, and John Raymond, uses the terms “White”, “Black”, “Asian”, “Hispanic”, “American Indian”, and “Officer Source of Commission Applicant Pool Goals”, and “diversity and inclusion”. All of these search terms were included in the original FOIA request. In its response, the Air Force claims there were “electronic searches performed” using these keywords and that “no records were found”. This cannot be accurate. Further, the Air Force’s response ignored the other parts of the FOIA request, which asked for communications between Air Force officials and media organizations as well as third party non-profit organizations.
[emphasis added]
Since that time, the Air Force has wholly stonewalled CASA’s document requests, according to the Complaint.
Keep in mind that it is fundamental FOIA law that a government agency must respond to a valid FOIA request with responsive documents even if those documents were in the public record already, which means that if these allegations are accurate, and the Air Force refused to provide its copy of the “Officer Source of Commission Applicant Pool Goals” document, it violated FOIA.
Tellingly, the Air Force did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment on the story.
CASA is asking for the following in the lawsuit:
Center to Advance Security in America respectfully requests this Court:
(1) Assume jurisdiction in this matter and maintain jurisdiction until Defendant complies with the requirements of FOIA and any and all orders of this Court.
(2) Order Defendant to produce, within ten days of the Court’s order, or by other such date as the Court deems appropriate, any and all non-exempt records responsive to CASA’s FOIA request and an index justifying the withholding of all or part of any responsive records withheld under claim of exemption.
(3) Award CASA the costs of this proceeding, including reasonable attorney’s fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred in this action, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(E).
(4) Grant CASA other such relief as the Court deems just and proper.
We will keep you updated as this case proceeds through the courts. Others are watching as well:
EXCLUSIVE: Air Force Slapped With Lawsuit After Claiming It Has No Records On Officer Diversity Quotas https://t.co/02FLb3BqgV via @dailycaller Let's bring this into the light of day. It amazes me they are pulling this crap. No wonder recruitment is down!
— Concerned Vet (@Dpirinku) April 25, 2024
Air Force slapped with lawsuit after claiming it has no records on officer diversity quotas https://t.co/v9a0QTikAz
— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) April 25, 2024
EXCLUSIVE: Air Force Slapped With Lawsuit After Claiming It Has No Records On Officer Diversity Quotas
'Cannot be accurate'https://t.co/3Z8agji6GR
— News Exchange (@newsexcg) April 25, 2024
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Comments
Air Force “General” Charles Q. “CQ” Brown,
four stars (followed by an AA asterisk)
* AA in the beginning, AA in the middle and AA at the end. AA all the way. For there’s no other way to go all the way except AA.
In the past “4F” was an embarrassment … now “4A’ is “Affirmative Action African American”
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff can be removed through impeachment. Then a dishonorable discharge? Followed by loss of all benefits?
>>. . . which means that if these allegations are accurate, and the Air Force refused to provide its copy of the “Officer Source of Commission Applicant Pool Goals” document, it violated FOIA.
Which of course means that the relevant Air Force leadership will be also be held accountable for the violation of federal FOIA law and will be charged and tried for that violation, right? Right?!??
Yep, right after HRC.
Not quite.
When was the last time Leftists in the Federal government were held accountable to Federal law?
Subotai Bahadur
Biden going to appoint RuPaul as DEI officer for air force?
CQ- He be so fly.
The transformation into Uganda is proceeding as planned.
CQ CQ CQ…this is Kilo Alpha Fower Bravo Golf X-ray calling CQ, over.
No response.
According to NPR, blacks make up 12.1 % of the US population.
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/13/1014710483/2020-census-data-us-race-ethnicity-diversity
The Air Force goal is to have 13% of its officers black.
Assuming that you must make selections based upon race, another way to select goals by race is to evaluate the applicants by the number of qualified candidates of each race.
For purposes of discussion only, assume that only 5% of all qualified candidates are black.
Under this goal method, only 5% of the candidates should be black.
Clearly, the Air Force wants blacks to be overrepresented in the qualified applicant pool.
An airman in combat, who has their life on the line, deserves the best officers!
Officers should not be selected based upon a box that they check.
The argument over Vietnam was that blacks were overrepresented…. which wasn’t the case.
Still trying to get an attorney to return my call.
The federal bureaucracy, very much including the DoD, have for some time been behaving like some Hollywood stereotype of the tyrannical small town Police Chief/Sheriff who does what they want, when they want, how they want with no regard for statutes or the Constitution much less civic norms.
The practice of establishing quotas and recruiting goals in officer recruitment based on race and sex goes back at least as far as the 1970s in ALL of the services. It wasn’t as bald as this travesty, but it definitely existed.
The higher ups swore that wasn’t true, even in front of a class of newly commissioned officers who just went through the process and saw it first hand. This from the same higher ups who lectured them on honor and integrity.
Oh I am well aware of it, as was anyone in the military with any observational ability over the past several decades. No question that ‘soft’ quotas existed but the transition to ‘hard’ quotas is IMO more alarming b/c it means they won’t hiding it anymore. They are emboldened enough, powerful enough to feel themselves to be able to do it without consequences.
A prime example of how diversity hires are a recipe for complete failure.
They don’t call them the Cheer Force for nothing
“the Air Force claims that there are “no records” responsive to the request when the specific public documents referenced in the request contain the very search words which the Air Force claims there are no records for”
In retrospect, was probably a mistake to have awarded the contract for their data management system to Google Gemini.
cmrlink.org good on these issues
If you are a parent or grandparent, even one who is an honorably discharged veteran; would you quietly accept your child or grandchild going into what passes for the current American military? For me, no way on G-d’s green earth.
Note that this is coming from someone who grew up wanting a career as a Navy officer, who got the grades and convinced a US Senator to give me an appointment to Annapolis [which fell through when my dad had to move the family to another state], and whose career eventually involved retiring after 28 years as a Commissioned Peace Officer.
Subotai Bahadur
Caught with a hand on the scale, and will hide everything that showed it.
Oh no worries. Sue them hard enough they’ll make a production … of documents redacted all but part of the title.
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