The Pentagon’s budget request for fiscal year 2022 totals $715 billion, and among the Defense Department’s stated priorities are fighting the “climate crisis” and “extremism” in America’s armed forces.
A combined $40 million in the new Pentagon budget request is earmarked for fighting climate change and extremism in the ranks. https://t.co/Sg9RQ4KSJG
— Hope Hodge Seck (@HopeSeck) June 1, 2021
The 2022 budget proposal highlights climate change as a “national security priority,” stating that DoD will “elevate climate as a national security priority” and integrate “climate considerations” into “policies, strategies, and partner engagements.”
Funds will be reallocated to bolster “climate resiliency” and invest in clean energy. The request allocates $617 million for ensuring military installations can operate efficiently and recover from infrastructure disruption, R&D for new energy technologies and “climate-informed” wargaming, analysis and contingency planning.
Rooting out the supposed extremism within the military is another focus of the budget, with almost $31 million requested for strengthen tools to “identify and address extremism.” (RELATED: ‘Not Too Soft’: Def Sec Austin Responds To Criticism That Diversity Policies Turn Military Into ‘Pansies’)
One section of the proposal states that the Department of the Navy will “put people first” by creating a “positive work environment devoid of sexual assault, sexual harassment, racism, and violent extremism.”
The document also states the DoD will seek to improve its social media screening and “tracking activities of concern.”
The proposal includes a quote from President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin. He said, “I will fight hard to stamp out sexual assault and to rid our ranks of racists and extremists.”
He continued, “The job of the [DoD] is to keep America safe from our enemies, but we can’t do that if some of those enemies lie within our own ranks.”
Shifting focus from the Middle East to China and ramping up space and cyber capabilities were also listed as key priorities in the 2022 budget request. (RELATED: Woke Warriors? US Generals Want More Women And ‘Ethnically Diverse’ Officers In Combat Roles)
Certain elements of the national defense apparatus have come under fire from conservatives in recent months for appearing to place a new emphasis on progressive social messaging.
Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson went through a public spat with Defense leaders in March after he criticized the Pentagon for spending resources on things like maternity flight suits.
More recently, conservatives hammered the CIA for a recruitment ad which featured a woman touting her various intersectional identities and how the agency accepted her. Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz blasted the “woke cancer” allegedly taking hold in the armed forces in May.