Tom Bowman
Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-23-2025 6PM EST
Clearly, he's going to get rid of the diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Pentagon. And there's concern among the senior ranks at the Pentagon that he may make personnel changes. He's been critical of the first woman to run the Navy, Admiral Lisa Franchetti. She could be out of a job. He's also basically said they want to bring their own people in. So that could mean, again,
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-23-2025 6PM EST
Some military, senior military officers are losing their jobs. We just don't know at this point.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-01-2025 8PM EST
Captain Rebecca Lobach was 28 and from Durham, North Carolina. She was a distinguished military graduate from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, commissioned in 2019 as an active duty aviation officer. She died along with fellow pilot Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves and crew member Staff Sergeant Ryan O'Hara.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-01-2025 8PM EST
Lobach's best friend, First Lieutenant Samantha Brown, an active duty field artillery soldier, described her as brilliant and dedicated, a fierce competitor. She would march 12 miles with a 45-pound pack at a pace faster than the standard for infantry soldiers. Lobach hoped to fly her Black Hawk at some point in a combat deployment and dreamed of one day becoming a doctor. Tom Bowman, NPR News.
Up First from NPR
Trump Visits Disaster Zones, DEI and the Military, London Hacking Hearing
Well, these programs have been seen as pretty effective in bringing more women and minorities into the ranks at all levels. President Biden chose the first woman, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, to run the Navy, as well as the first black defense secretary, Lloyd Austin. But Donald Trump and his defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, have dismissed these programs as woke and divisive.
Up First from NPR
Trump Visits Disaster Zones, DEI and the Military, London Hacking Hearing
Another thing they question is extremist activity. My colleague Lauren Hodges and I talked about all this in our recent podcast, A Good Guy. It focused on an active duty Marine, Sergeant Josh Bate, who was in the Capitol on January 6th and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Abate told the court in a written statement that he was wrong about the election being stolen.
Up First from NPR
Trump Visits Disaster Zones, DEI and the Military, London Hacking Hearing
And by the way, a Marine panel voted to keep him in, and he's still on active duty.
Up First from NPR
Trump Visits Disaster Zones, DEI and the Military, London Hacking Hearing
Well, first of all, it's important to note that about one in five of those who were arrested for January 6th activities had military backgrounds, nearly all veterans. Now, Pentagon officials have long insisted that they don't have an extremism problem, that the numbers are small. You know, they really don't know because they've never collected data.
Up First from NPR
Trump Visits Disaster Zones, DEI and the Military, London Hacking Hearing
And the services within just within the last several months said they would collect such data. And they outlined prohibitive behavior such as joining militia groups, raising money for them or attending rallies for extremist groups.
Up First from NPR
Trump Visits Disaster Zones, DEI and the Military, London Hacking Hearing
Well, he has been very outspoken, not only about his opposition to DEI programs, but also efforts to better understand whether the Pentagon and the military services have an extremism problem. Here he is at his confirmation hearing when he was asked about that by Republican Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. Let's listen.
Up First from NPR
Trump Visits Disaster Zones, DEI and the Military, London Hacking Hearing
Now, officials who worked on these anti-extremist efforts say, no, it's not political. It's not what politician you support or even ideas you might have. It's all about action. Again, like joining the militia groups, taking part in racist or anti-government rallies. But clearly, all these efforts to collect data on extremism, will end.
Up First from NPR
Trump Visits Disaster Zones, DEI and the Military, London Hacking Hearing
Well, we could see him making some personnel changes, maybe removing military leaders he believes got the job, not based on merit, but because of their gender or race. There is concern with people I talk with in the Pentagon, in the officer corps. At this point, we'll just have to wait and see.
Up First from NPR
Trump Visits Disaster Zones, DEI and the Military, London Hacking Hearing
You're welcome.
Up First from NPR
Trump Visits Disaster Zones, DEI and the Military, London Hacking Hearing
The holes were so filled with bodies that there wasn't enough dirt to reach the other side to cover.