FBI shuttered DEI office last month
The FBI shuttered its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) office last month, according to the law enforcement agency.
“In recent weeks, the FBI took steps to close the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), effective by December 2024,” an FBI spokesperson said Thursday in a emailed statement to The Hill.
DEI initiatives have received increased criticism in recent weeks following the deadly New Orleans terrorist attack on New Year’s Day that killed at least 14 people and injured dozens more, according to authorities.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) criticized federal law enforcement agencies after the New Orleans attack, claiming the focus on inclusionary initiatives has distracted the agents hired to ensure safety in the U.S.
“Some of these agencies have gotten so wrapped up in the DEI movement. You know, call it wokeness, call it whatever you want,” Scalise said during a radio interview earlier this month. “But where their main focus is on diversity and inclusion as opposed to security. And they’re two very different things. And we’ve got to get back to that core mission.”
Scalise’s remarks came as anti-DEI advocates criticized New Orleans’s FBI office for hosting “Diversity Agent Recruiting” events too.
Similarly in the upper chamber, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) accused the outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray of prioritizing DEI over the agency’s “core mission of protecting the American people.”
“Put simply, your focus on woke DEI initiatives at the FBI has endangered our national security and the lives of all Americans,” Blackburn wrote in a two-page letter dated Jan. 3.
“Americans now feel increasingly unsafe because of incidents like the January 1 terror attack, and the FBI’s prioritization of diversity over competence shows that their concerns are well founded,” she said. “Fortunately, the American people have spoken, and President Trump will soon bring law and order back to our nation.”
Several U.S. companies, including retail giant Walmart, have rolled back their DEI initiative since President-elect Trump won the White House. Apart from Walmart, several other major corporations have taken similar steps including, Meta, Ford and McDonald’s.
The closure of the FBI’s DEI office was reported earlier Thursday by Fox News.
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