Acting VA Director Warns Efforts To Disguise DEI Programs Will Have ‘Adverse Consequences’

Trump said this would happen....

Department of Veterans Affairs Acting Secretary Todd Hunter advised staff disguising diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs or job titles to avoid termination “may result in adverse consequences,” USA Today reports.

The email warned employees that he was “aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language.” Hunter continued to push for reports of such efforts within 10 days of knowledge, and failure to “snitch” “may result in adverse consequences.” “These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination,” he wrote.

Hunter’s warning comes just days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle all DEI programs at the federal level. Similar language was sent to employees at other agencies, such as the Social Security Administration. On Jan. 21, U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Acting Director Charles Ezell sent a memo for all DEIA office employees to be on paid administrative leave no later than 5 p.m. on Jan. 22., according to NPR. By noon on Jan. 23, agencies were asked to send in a complete list of names of staff who have been employed since Election Day 2024.

In addition, a written plan for DEIA layoffs needs to be sent in by Jan. 31. “Given the broad brush that they have painted, it’s potentially very large numbers of people,” acting head of OPM under former President Joe Biden Rob Shriver said.

Shriver and others view the move as part of a larger effort to sideline employees’ careers as a favor to political loyalists. Alaysia Black Hackett, who served as chief diversity and equity officer at the Labor Department, says one common misperception of DEI work is it is only about race. Trump’s order labeled DEI work “illegal” while federal programs recruit job candidates from underserved communities, address pay inequities, curate training programs to heighten equity and inclusion principles, and more.

Hackett says in reality, it uplifts economic prosperity. “A lot of what we did in DEIA, specifically at the Labor Department, was to ensure that we were creating pathways to good paying jobs. Our strategy was to build an economy for all workers,” she said.

“It’s not just something that we morally do, but it actually helps with the economic prosperity of our country.”

While Hackett walked away from her position prior to Trump’s efforts, other advocates and employees have condemned the indicted president’s ways of penalizing people for simply doing their jobs. “Penalizing career civil servants for faithfully doing their jobs during a prior administration is wrong,” President and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service Max Stier wrote in a statement.

“The affected employees are everyday people who have to support themselves and their families, and the abrupt and rushed approach chosen here will have a traumatizing impact on not just them but their colleagues who remain in their roles serving the public, as well.”