![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/navy-promotion-300x211.jpg\")
\nNavy Mustang<\/p>\n
\nNavy Mustang<\/p>\n
Back in July 2020, then SecDef Esper banned the use of photos in promotion and selection boards to counter any racial bias.<\/p>\n
In a memo to the service secretaries and the JCS, Esper included the photo removal as part of a series of steps aimed at eliminating “discrimination, prejudice and bias in all ranks” to promote equal opportunity, morale and the readiness of the force.<\/p>\n
“We must root out prejudice and bias that may exist but isn’t always transparent” throughout the military, he said.<\/p>\n
His tenure as SecDef was terminated by President Trump.<\/p>\n
Now the Chief of Naval Personnel, Vice Adm. John Nowell Jr., is saying the photo ban has just the opposite effect.<\/p>\n
Poetrooper sends.<\/p>\n
KRISTINA WONG<\/strong><\/p>\n The Navy admiral in charge of personnel admitted at a conference this week that a step taken last year to increase racial diversity among leaders has backfired and actually hurt diversity.<\/p>\n Vice Adm. John Nowell Jr., chief of naval personnel, said Tuesday while speaking at the Navy League\u2019s 2021 Sea-Air-Space Exposition that after the Navy decided to eliminate photos as part of its promotion and selection boards for sailors, diversity went down, not up as intended.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we should consider reinstating photos in selection boards,\u201d he said at the conference, according to the Navy Times. \u201cWe look at, for instance, the one-star board over the last five years, and we can show you where, as you look at diversity, it went down with photos removed.\u201d<\/p>\n He argued that although promotions and selection is a \u201cmeritocracy\u201d and the Navy is \u201conly going to pick the best of the best,\u201d \u201cwe want them to consider diversity across all areas.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd therefore\u2026I think having a clear picture on this just makes it easier. So, actually, our data show that it would support adding photos back in,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Diversity or meritocracy, Admiral? One is a time-tested, proven path to promote the most qualified; the other is a quota system. Which choice best “…defends the Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic…”<\/p>\n