[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 129 (Wednesday, July 22, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H3615-H3616]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          THE CULTURE WE CREATE IN OUR ARMED SERVICES MATTERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Brown) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith and my 
colleagues on the House Armed Services Committee for their bipartisan 
work on this year's National Defense Authorization Act.
  We advanced progressive ideals to support our military families; 
improve readiness; sharpen our technological edge; and foster American 
leadership, our alliances, and a culture that is in line with the 
values of our Nation.
  This bill is truly transformational when it comes to advancing 
diversity and inclusion, as well as fairness and justice, in our 
military.
  We are at an inflection point when it comes to race in this country, 
demonstrated by peaceful protests across the country and at a time when 
a pandemic has widened disparities in healthcare, education, economic 
opportunity, and housing along racial lines.
  Our armed services are not immune to these currents.
  The military has historically prided itself as leading in opportunity 
and advancement for men and women of color, but we have fallen far 
short of our expectations. Today we are still grappling with a military 
that doesn't fully reflect our country's diversity. Forty-three percent 
of the Active-Duty servicemembers are people of color, yet only two of 
the 41 most senior generals and admirals in the military are Black, and 
only one woman.
  As recent events have brought a reckoning in our society, we are 
still debating symbols of oppression. White supremacy, racism, and 
other toxic beliefs exist within our ranks, impacting how Black 
soldiers advance, their assignments in career fields, and how they are 
treated and assessed.
  African Americans comprise just a single-digit percentage of fighter 
pilots and navigators, only 5 percent of Army Green Berets, 2 percent 
of Navy SEALs; and only 0.6 percent of the Air Force's power rescue 
jumpers are Black.
  Structural racism still exists in our military formations. Fifty-
three percent of minority servicemembers report they have seen examples 
of white nationalism or racism within the ranks. These issues didn't 
happen suddenly, but festered unchecked by a culture of indifference or 
intolerance.
  This culture extends to gender disparities we still see in our Armed 
Forces. We have made progress and, this year, witnessed historic 
barrier-breaking firsts:
  Chief Master Sergeant JoAnne Bass was selected as the first woman to 
serve as the highest ranking noncommissioned officer in a service 
component;
  Lieutenant Junior Grade Madeline Swegle became the Navy's first Black 
female tactical jet pilot;
  The U.S. Army just welcomed its first female Green Beret.
  However, there is more work to be done:
  Women have never exceeded 27 percent of nominations made by Members 
of Congress to the prestigious service academies;
  In 2009, more than 6,000 cases of sexual assault in the military were 
reported. The Pentagon estimates these reports amount to just 30 
percent of assaults, primarily against women.
  Women and men, whose trust in their fellow soldiers has been shaken, 
need our support and for this Congress to step up.
  This year's NDAA takes important steps to create a more diverse and 
inclusive military. It builds on the work in 2008 of Majority Whip  Jim 
Clyburn, Representative Hank Johnson, and former Members of this 
Chamber Elijah Cummings and Kendrick Meek. As members of the 
Congressional Black Caucus, they recognized years ago that the military 
was not living up to the potential unlocked in 1948 when President 
Truman signed the executive order removing racial segregation in the 
Armed Forces.
  Together, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Cummings, and Mr. Meek led 
the effort to create the Military Leadership Diversity Commission, 
whose recommendations in 2011 are the basis for many of the diversity 
and inclusion provisions found in this year's NDAA, which are some of 
the most significant steps towards diversity and inclusion

[[Page H3616]]

that Congress itself has taken since the desegregation of the Armed 
Forces in 1948.
  It seeks to foster opportunities for women and minorities.
  We bring new visibility to congressional nominations to our service 
academies to train a more diverse next generation of leaders.
  We create a special investigator to review and investigate racial 
disparities in the military justice system and personnel practices.
  We create a special prosecutor for sexual assault committed at our 
military academies.

  We foster and train a greater number of minorities within the special 
forces and aviation communities.
  We tap into the talent at our historically Black colleges and 
universities and other minority-serving institutions.
  We hold the Secretary of Defense and service component leadership 
accountable for progress and give them the tools to make it happen.
  This package updates workplace and climate surveys to include 
experiences with supremacist and extremist activity, anti-Semitism, and 
racism, allowing leadership to understand the full extent of these 
beliefs and better tailor responses and disciplinary action.
  Finally, after decades of inaction, we reckon with one of the darkest 
periods of our history, the institution of slavery. This NDAA bans the 
display of the Confederate flag on Department of Defense property and 
directs the removal of the names from military installations of those 
men who betrayed their country--our country--and who fought a war to 
defend the institution of slavery.
  The culture we create in our armed services matters. Diversity and 
inclusion in our armed services matters. It enhances unit cohesion and 
it improves military effectiveness. We have known this since 1950.
  Our work is far from finished, but this year's NDAA represents an 
important step toward this pivotal moment.

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