The Department of Defense (DoD) is imposing a comprehensive censorship regime across its network of 161 primary and secondary schools — eliminating content that acknowledges the contributions of women, minorities, and LGBTQ people.

The restrictions, detailed in a February 7 memo issued by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) earlier this month, purport to implement President Trump's executive orders, including "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government" and "Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling." The speech crackdown is important not just because it impacts 67,000 students in military families, but because it likely reflects an agenda that the Trump administration will seek to impose on all public schools.

The memo cancels "all planned special events and non-instructional activities related to cultural awareness observances." That means schools are prohibited from celebrating Black History Month, Women's History Month, Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, American Indian Heritage Month, and other events. As part of complying with the directive, some schools are removing posters and social media content that honor women and people of color. One military school, according to Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD), "removed photos on the walls of Susan B. Anthony and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." A photo of Leonardo DaVinci was allowed to remain.

The prohibition illustrates that the Trump administration's agenda goes well beyond curbing "radical indoctrination" and seeks to eliminate content that recognizes the value of people who are not white men. The effort extends beyond cultural awareness months into school libraries and the curriculum itself.

Some students are not happy with the changes. When Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was scheduled to make an official visit, "[d]ozens of American students at a U.S. military installation in Germany walked out of their middle school." According to the Washington Post, the "walkout was organized in part by an eighth-grade student who is not yet 14 years old." The student "said that she and other students decided to act after seeing how Trump’s executive orders would target diversity events, including a drama club performance that celebrated Black History Month with Motown songs."

We started a new publication, Musk Watch. NPR covered our launch HERE. It features accountability journalism focused on one of the most powerful humans in history. It is free to sign up, so we hope you’ll give it a try and let us know what you think.

Subscribe to Musk Watch

Military school book bans

Librarians and teachers at DoDEA schools around the world have been instructed to remove books that are “potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology” from libraries, according to the memo.

School staff have until March 3 to review such books, but the memo provided no guidance on how the reviews should be conducted. One middle school in Germany completely shut down its library while the librarian removes any books relating to gender or racial equity. The memo left it up to individual schools to decide which titles need to be removed in order to comply with Trump’s executive orders.

According to Task and Purpose, titles already removed from one DoDEA school in Europe include “Hillbilly Elegy” by Vice President J.D. Vance, “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, and “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz.

Since the February 7 memo, the DoD has also directed all schools to pull specific titles from their shelves. According to The Guardian, a February 10 memo informed parents of several titles that would be removed pending review. These books include “No Truth Without Ruth,” a picture book about Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s path to the Supreme Court which discusses the gender discrimination she faced, and “Freckleface Strawberry” by actress Julianne Moore, another picture book about a young girl learning to accept her freckles.

Teachers have also been instructed to review classroom libraries and remove books about “gender ideology or equity.”

Censoring the curriculum

DoDEA schools are also being ordered to alter their curriculums and restrict certain materials in order to comply with Trump’s executive orders. In the DoDEA memo, educators were instructed to stop teaching “resources potentially related to gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology that are under the operational compliance review.”

The DoDEA also issued guidance on specific classroom materials and lessons that teachers are prohibited from teaching during the review period. The Washington Post reported that

the prohibited materials included a chapter covering gender and sexuality in an Advanced Placement Psychology book, material covering Black History Month for sixth graders, a fifth-grade lesson about immigration, and a biography about Albert Cashier, who was a transgender Union soldier in the Civil War.

The guidance also restricts access to the book “Becoming Nicole,” a nonfiction book about the experience of a transgender girl and her family, and material covering “comprehensive health skills” for middle school students.