Pentagon's Gil Cisneros grilled on Kelisa Wing probe
The Pentagon said it would not bring disciplinary action against its former diversity, equity and inclusion chief over a series of divisive statements about White people.
Senior Biden-appointed Pentagon official Gil Cisneros, responsible for overseeing a six-month-long investigation into a "racist" Department of Defense diversity chief who authored anti-White social media posts, will be leaving the agency.
The Monday announcement from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin thanked Cisneros for his efforts at instilling diversity, equity and inclusion in the agency.
"This is long overdue," said Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y. "While Gil Cisneros was in charge, DoD schools hired an DEI official who had made multiple public racist statements on her Twitter account."
The Pentagon launched an investigation into Kelisa Wing, its former DEI chief in its education wing, after Fox News Digital reported on her social media posts, which contained hostile statements about White people.
Gil Cisneros' investigation into Kelisa Wing concluded with no professional consequences for her anti-White posts on Twitter. (FOX NEWS DIGITAL)
Cisneros, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, was responsible for determining the outcome of the probe. Cisneros, while condemning her statements, defended Wing. He said no disciplinary action would be brought against her since she was "speaking in a personal capacity."
The decision angered House Republicans, who forced him to read Wing's statements during a public hearing in March as he was probed on the decision.
Wing had said, "So exhausted at the White folks in these PD sessions. This lady actually had the caudacity to say Black people can be racist, too. I had to stop the session and give the Karen the business. We are not the majority. We don't have power."
She also referred to White people as "Karens" and said that Black people cannot be racist because they do not hold positions of power. When Cisneros was challenged on Wing's point of view, he declined to answer or disagree with Wing.
Wing, formerly an antiracist author, was the DEI chief at Department of Defense Education Activity, which provides K-12 education to the DoD community in the U.S. and all over the world.
Wing's books, which were placed in Pentagon schools for military kids, demanded that White people check their privilege.
Kelisa Wing is a DEI chief at the Department of Defense. (Leigh Ann Erickson and Kelisa Wing | YouTube/Screenshot)
"White privilege hurts a lot of people. If you are White you might feel bad about hurting others or you might feel afraid to lose this privilege," the book, "What is White Privilege?" said.
It said that, "Overcoming White privilege is a job that must start with the White community."
"[W]ill you really feel good at the end of the race when you look back and see others fighting obstacles that you didn't even have?" the book added.
"Cisneros then enabled this Chief DEI officer to proliferate her own books containing radical racial ideology throughout our Servicemembers children's schools. Instead of answering for this unacceptable behavior, Gil Cisneros covered up for his employee and has tried to keep Congress and U.S. Servicemembers in the dark about DoD's school's curriculum and hiring practices," Stefanik told Fox News.
"This is wildly inappropriate and unacceptable. Do you agree with that, Mr. Cisneros?" Stefanik asked him in the hearing.
Reps. Stefanik and Gaetz question the Pentagon's Gil Cisneros, March 23. (Fox News Digital | Getty)
"I do agree that that is not acceptable. It's not condoned by… the Department of Defense," Cisneros said.
Cisneros' investigation, which promised to reach a conclusion within a month, took over six months to determine that Wing would not face professional consequences.
He also said – after the extended time of investigation – that he did not know what "caudacity" meant, leading to the ire of Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
"You took six months to investigate one tweet. You didn't even figure out what the words meant?" Gaetz asked.
Cisneros responded by denying his role in the investigation, despite repeated statements from the Pentagon that he was leading it.
During the hearing, Gaetz called Wing "the racist lady that works for you."
Kelisa Wing Gil Cisneros (Fox News Digital)
"I have no idea," Cisneros said about the Pentagon listing him as the head of the investigation. "We do not support racist tweets. We do not support racism."
Gaetz said, "Well, did you fire this lady?"
"I did not hire her," Cisneros said.
Despite the fact that the Pentagon did not take any actions against Wing, the unit she worked in was disbanded.
According to the email announcing the dissolved DEI unit, existing DEI specialists were placed into other units to further entrench a DEI agenda in every aspect of the Pentagon's schools.
"What Does it Mean to Defund the Police" by Jessica Henry with Kelisa Wing. (Jessica Henry and Kelisa Wing)
Wing maintained that her social media posts were not racist in a media interview.
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The Pentagon's education wing for the children of military members – the Department of Defense Education Activity – privately announced that it was gutting an entire unit devoted to diversity, equity and inclusion as Republicans mounted pressure, criticizing what they said was a "woke agenda" in the military, Fox News Digital uncovered.
The DEI unit was created after Biden directed all federal agencies by executive order to "establish or elevate Chief Diversity Officers," among other priorities. A few months later, Wing was selected to lead the DEI unit, and be involved in curriculum, professional development and hiring.
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