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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shocked the Defense establishment Thursday
when he ordered the dismissal of dozens of Defense advisory committee
members. "To support the new strategic direction and policy priorities of
the Department, we require fresh thinking to drive bold changes," wrote
Hegseth in a memo dismissing the committee members. "Therefore, informed
by the recently concluded 45-day review, I direct the conclusion of
service of all members of each DoD advisory committee, board, or panel
subject to the attached memorandum (hereafter collectively referred to as
'DoD advisory committees'), consistent with applicable law."

While most of the attention has focused on the demolition of the Defense
Policy Board and the defenestration of Obama factotum and harbinger of geopolitical disaster, Susan Rice, the impact goes much farther; see
Hegseth Makes Move About Advisory Board That's Sure to Infuriate Dems...Especially Susan Rice – RedState.

Federal advisory committees are ubiquitous. "Federal advisory committees
are created by Congress, Presidents, and executive branch agencies to gain expertise and policy advice from individuals outside the federal
government. While they may be called by other names—such as task forces, panels, commissions, working groups, boards, councils, or conferences—the practical purpose of federal advisory committees typically remains the
same: to facilitate an exchange of policy ideas among experts and affected parties and to provide recommendations to the federal government. Since
1972, many federal advisory committees have been subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA; 5 U.S.C. Chapter 10)."

The Department of Defense has 41 advisory committees created under the
Federal Advisory Committee Act, ranking it fifth among federal agencies in terms of committees. Health and Human Services has about 260.

https://www.scribd.com/document/854271467/FACA-Agency-Department-of- Defense#from_embed

Conceptually, the FACA system is supposed to bring together a broad range
of views and opinions to provide the best possible advice to cabinet secretaries and, through them, to the president on a range of issues. In practice, it has at least three other purposes. First, all advisory
committee meetings must meet the requirements of "open meetings" laws, so whatever advice the secretary gets is available to Congress. Membership on these committees is a patronage job that rewards political supporters and
makes nice to political powerbrokers in the opposition party. Finally, the
fact that the committees are composed of members appointed by both parties
and the committee members know their advice will be public ensures that
the recommendations don't rock the boat. There is one exception that I'll
hit momentarily.

Regarding the possibilities and problems with defense advisory
committees, I'd recommend these posts (here | here). Here's how I'd
summarize them: For these boards to be useful, they need outside-the-box thinkers seeking high-impact solutions to critical problems. It needs
Billy Mitchells and John Boyds. The problem is that no one in DOD wants to
deal with controversial ox-goring solutions; they want more of the same,
only a little better than before. By salting the committees with political adversaries of the party in power, you ensure nothing gets done.

These committees also serve as a source of leaks that damage the current administration and sabotage potential changes. Democrat members of the
Defense Policy Board may have been active in trying to sandbag Hegseth.

The exception to that is the Defense Advisory Committee on Women In The
Service (DACOWITS), which has single-handedly done more to destroy the US military than anything the USSR accomplished. This is a politically
charged committee filled with feminist activists and deep links to
powerful members of Congress. No matter how harebrained, its
recommendations frequently become DOD policy because the SecDef usually
finds it less painful to go along. To his credit, George W. Bush disbanded
this committee only to relent and reestablish it toward the end of his presidency.

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Cynical Publius
@CynicalPublius
Hey Pete Hegseth!

Want to cut waste and get away from bad ideas like putting women into SOF units?

Do away with the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS). Abolish it.

DACOWITS has been around since 1968. It has always been a bastion of high-powered, radical feminists and their weak male accomplices, hellbent
on making the US military an experimental gender lab, always with a focus
on feminizing the military, and never with a focus on improving
warfighting capabilities.

Save us the millions in their budget, save us their radical social re- engineering, and save us from our daughters being massacred in front line combat units.

Abolish DACOWITS. Improve warfighting. It’s a win-win.

(Don’t believe me? Check out their 2023 DoD “recommendations” in the
attached JPEGs. Pay special attention to #5, #6, #7 and #8: feminizing
the Marines and SOF. Also, #9 and #10: fat female service members are A-
OK. Also, #12 through #20: let’s have more pregnancies and time off so readiness suffers more. Just a sample.)

Men and women are different. Warfighting doctrine needs to be built
around this reality, and we should not be degrading w

https://x.com/CynicalPublius/status/1866244247843737668

https://x.com/CynicalPublius/status/1866244247843737668/photo/1 https://x.com/CynicalPublius/status/1866244247843737668/photo/2 https://x.com/CynicalPublius/status/1866244247843737668/photo/3 https://x.com/CynicalPublius/status/1866244247843737668/photo/4

To be clear, not all these advisory committees have been eliminated
because many are required by law. What Hegseth has done is clear the decks
for new membership that is much more in line with his priorities than the current cast of characters. Hopefully, Hegseth will find some way of
getting useful work out of these committees, but at a minimum, he is
moving to neuter their downside.

https://redstate.com/streiff/2025/04/26/pete-hegseth-demolishes-one-of- the-lefts-power-centers-in-the-pentagon-n2188339

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