The military prioritized "woke" agendas over operational readiness, KT McFarland told Newsmax on Friday, as the former adviser to President Donald Trump discussed a study that she said found naval accidents some five years ago stemmed from a shift toward diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
Appearing on "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE," McFarland responded to a question about the presence of DEI-related activities in the armed forces, including what host Higbie referred to as "rainbow cakes on aircraft carriers and drag queens."
"Well, those people were doing it because that's why they got promoted, and that's how they got promoted. If they were championing the woke agenda about five years ago, there were a number of naval accidents, you know, where Navy ships were running into other ships," she said.
McFarland referenced a study conducted at the time that investigated the root causes of these incidents beyond high-level military leadership.
"This was a study that was done across the ranks, so it was the most lowest enlisted guy on a ship. It was maybe the captain of the ship," she said.
"And there were hundreds of people — sailors — asked what's wrong? And they all came back to say, 'We spend so much time filling out forms, DEI forms, these classes on, you know, sexual aggression, blah, blah, blah, blah, name your woke agenda thing. We don't have any time left.
"'There are only so many hours a day. We don't have any time left to learn about navigation skills or targeting or all the military missions they're supposed to have,'" McFarland said.
Her comments come as the Navy continues to investigate recent operational mishaps. In April, a U.S. Navy carrier strike group lost a F/A-18E Super Hornet and an associated towing tractor when both went overboard during an onboard movement operation.
"All personnel are accounted for, with one sailor sustaining a minor injury," the Navy said in a statement. "The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard."
The incident occurred aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which was operating near Bahrain with a strike group that included three destroyers and one cruiser.
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