Last month, Defense Department leadership directed administrators of U.S. military public media platforms to remove all content related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
"Over the past few weeks, we've taken action to identify and archive DEI content from our websites and social media platforms," Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video posted to social media yesterday. "Without question, this task was an arduous but incredibly important undertaking."
As part of the effort, some content was removed from public view so department personnel could further review it before making a final decision on archiving. However, some content was archived that should not have been.
Department personnel are reviewing archived content to determine if it was mistakenly removed or, in other cases, if it can be edited to make it eligible for reposting.
"When content is either mistakenly removed or if it's maliciously removed, we continue to work quickly to restore it," Parnell said.
The Defense Department website, defense.gov, contains thousands of articles about U.S. service members, their warrior ethos and the historic actions they have been involved in while serving the nation. That content is part of the department's history, Parnell said.
"We are so proud of our nation's heroes and our heritage," he added. "We honor the accomplishments of our warfighters and the content of their character. Americans, past and present, are the greatest people the world has ever known, and we live in the greatest country the world has ever known, and our strength, now, and has always been, our unity and shared purpose."