West Point teaching Marxism

NEWS AND ANALYSIS:

Future officers at the U.S. Army’s military academy at West Point are being taught several leftist courses that an active-duty military official says are part of Marxist indoctrination.

Three classes in particular at the academy are being taught with what critics say is the goal of social engineering and politicization of the 4,294 cadets: “Social Inequality,” “Military Leadership: Leading Inclusive Teams” and “Politics of Race Gender and Sexuality and Diversity.” West Point also offers a seminar on diversity and inclusion that features images of Black Lives Matter protesters.

“All of those classes are primarily focused on teaching our nation’s young men and women Marxism in the name of ’social equality,’” the military official told The Washington Times, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The leftist courses were implemented under Army Brig. Gen. Cindy Jebb, who recently retired as West Point’s dean of the academic board. Under Gen. Jebb, West Point loosened academic rigor by giving cadets “study days” that ended Saturday classes and produced a four-day workweek for students.

That critical race theory (CRT) is being taught at West Point was first disclosed by Rep. Michael Waltz, Florida Republican, at a House Armed Services Committee hearing in June during an exchange with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Mr. Austin contended that the controversial theory was not being taught in the U.S. military.

Mr. Waltz then quoted from a letter written by the West Point superintendent, Army Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams, who confirmed that the academy is teaching CRT.

“Another thing that was raised to me was a seminar that over a hundred cadets attended titled ’Understanding Whiteness and White Rage,’ taught by a woman who described the Republican Party and Republican Party platform as a platform of White supremacy,” Mr. Waltz said during the hearing.

Specific courses at West Point said to be neo-Marxist include one, designated PL377, on “social inequality” in the United States. The course requires cadets to discuss the relevance of class, race, ethnicity and gender on social opportunity and inequality.

Course PL300B explores leading “diverse teams” while applying case studies on race, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability and religion as part of diversity and inclusion studies. The seminar designated SS392 teaches concepts of race, gender and sexuality in the U.S. political system, emphasizing inherent inequalities and how they apply to the Army and Army officers.

The military official said the ideologies taught in the classes are part of a “postmodernism” approach that, along with critical race theory, seeks to attack science and reason to reshape society.

Black Lives Matter is a political organization that seeks to dismantle traditional societal norms, including attacking the nuclear family and further socializing public education. Its founders include avowed Marxists.

“This Marxist postmodern ideology has no business in the military,” the official said. “The United States cannot have a military that endorses one ideology over another. The military is an organization that gives and receives orders. Therefore, once the ideology is prevalent, it will be mandated throughout the organization. This was a welcomed practice in Nazi Germany. All Brownshirts were ordered to go through a racial and political purity test.”

A spokeswoman for West Point had no immediate comment.

DIA strategy emphasizes China threat

The Defense Intelligence Agency outlined its strategy for the next 10 years in a report that identifies gathering secrets from China and thwarting Beijing’s spies as priorities.

“We will aggressively illuminate opportunities for partners, at home and abroad, to seize the initiative and challenge our competitors across the conflict continuum,” Army Lt. Gen. Scott D. Berrier, the DIA director, stated in a preface to the unclassified strategy report. “Simultaneously, we will remain the nation’s preeminent source of foundational military intelligence.”

The main mission of DIA is to spy on foreign militaries and “prevent and decisively win wars,” the strategy report states.

In the strategic competition with two main adversaries, China and Russia, the report rates the Chinese government and military as the greater threat.

“China is the pacing challenge — no single actor matches Beijing’s capability to use economic, diplomatic, military, and technological levers to alter the free and open international system,” the report said.

Moscow’s newly modernized nuclear forces and anti-U.S. policies post an “existential threat to the homeland and global security,” the report says.

The Chinese threats listed in the report include advanced technology testing, influence operations, naval operations in disputed waters, the danger of a Taiwan attack and growing space power.

In the next decade, the DIA said, it will rely on a number of tools, including the use of open-source intelligence, counterintelligence against foreign spies, and the use of electronic measurement and signals intelligence, or MASINT, and human intelligence gathering, or HUMINT.

Under “mission focus,” the strategy makes China the most significant priority, while Russia, North Korea, Iran and “violent extremist organizations” remain enduring targets.

The strategy also reflects the Biden administration’s focus on politicizing intelligence through so-called diversity and inclusion initiatives. Under a section on building an “adaptive workforce” at DIA, the strategy states that “diversity and inclusion [will be] driving innovation” at the spy agency.

Xi said facing internal opposition

U.S. analysts who monitor the Chinese internet say a split appears to be emerging between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the military.

Recent Chinese language posts on the internet reveal that Mr. Xi, who also heads the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has written in a directive that Beijing’s foreign policy is under his exclusive control and that the Foreign Ministry is in charge of executing those policies.

The declaration is said to reflect growing opposition within the ministry to aggressive, “wolf warrior” diplomacy by party hard-liners that involves widespread use of lies and disinformation in public statements.

An example is that of Deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, a key CCP mouthpiece and one of the most outspoken officials in promoting the false narrative that the virus that causes COVID-19 originated not in China but in a U.S. Army laboratory.

There also are online indicators that the Chinese military, the People’s Liberation Army, does not support the wolf warriors, fearing their heated rhetoric and disinformation could lead to a shooting war.

One phrase capturing the military’s view of Mr. Xi is that a “li” — or Chinese mile — separates the president and the PLA on policy. The saying can be interpreted to mean the military is cautioning the president: “Don’t count on us to execute some irrational plan.”

The PLA also is said to be upset about Mr. Xi, who has ultimate authority over the military as chairman of the party’s Central Military Commission, frequently rearranging military forces. The signs also indicate that unspecified contradictions are developing between Mr. Xi and the Foreign Ministry on one side and the PLA and the military-dominated Ministry of Defense on the other.

Analysts warn that the divisions could increase the threat of a conflict with the United States if Mr. Xi’s hard-line approach to world affairs prevails in the internal debates that are said to be going on.

• Contact Bill Gertz on Twitter @BillGertz.