Naval Academy removes nearly 400 pounds from the New Dei Purge library commanded by the HegSeth office

By Lolita C. Baldor

Washington (AP) – US Naval Academy withdrew nearly 400 pounds from its library after being informed by the office of the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, to review and get rid of those who promote diversity, equity and inclusion, US officials said on Tuesday.

Academy officials were invited to review the library at the end of last week, and initial research had identified around 900 pounds for a more in -depth exam. They decided to remove nearly 400 and started doing so on Monday, ending before Hegseth arrived on Tuesday visit which had already been planned and was not connected to the library purge, officials said. A list of books has not yet been made available.

Pulling the books from the shelves is another step in the large -scale effort from the Trump administration to eliminate the so -called Federal Agencies content, including policies, programs, online publications and social networks and study programs in schools.

The Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, Colorado and the US military academy in West Point, New York, had not been included in the executive order of President Donald Trump in January which prohibited the instruction, the programs or kindergarten programs in the 12th year which receive federal funding. This is because academies are colleges.

Pentagon leaders, however, suddenly turned their attention to the Naval Academy last week when a media report noted that the school had not deleted books that promoted. An American official said that the Academy was invited at the end of last week to examine and abolition. It is not clear if the order was led by Hegseth or someone else in its staff.

An official of West Point confirmed that the school had completed an examination of its study program and was ready to examine the content of the library if it was led by the army. Air Force and Naval academies had also carried out curriculum exams as necessary.

An Air Force Academy official said that the school continuously examined its study program, its courses and other documents to ensure that everything is in accordance with the executive and the policies of the Ministry of Defense. Last week, Lieutenant-General Tony Bauernfeind, the superintendent of the Air Force Academy, told Congress that the school was in the middle of his course review, but there was no mention of books.

Officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the academy policies.

Hegseth aggressively pushed the Department to erase Dei’s programs and online content, but the campaign has met issues of angry legislators, local leaders and citizens for the abolition of military heroes and historic mentions of the web for defense department and social media pages.

In response, the department has blurred to restore some of these messages, because their moves have been revealed.

The confusion on how to interpret the DEI policy was highlighted on Monday while the staff of the Naval Academy wrongly suppressed some photos of distinguished Jewish graduates from a window while they were preparing for Hegseth’s visit. The photos were given.

In a statement, the navy said he was aware that the photos were deleted by mistake from the Naval Academy Jewish Center. He indicated that the management of the US Naval Academy immediately took measures to examine and correct the unauthorized dismissal.

Hegseth spoke with the students and had lunch at the academy on Tuesday, but the media were not invited or authorized to cover the visit.

Originally published: April 1, 2025 at 4:26 p.m. PDT