Top Contender To Lead Air Force Under Fire For Embracing DEI Programs
Air Force Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach has emerged as a leading contender to become the next Air Force Chief of Staff, but his history of championing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs is raising alarms among critics who argue such initiatives undermine military readiness.
Sources told Breaking Defense in August that Wilsbach is among the top names under consideration to replace retiring Gen. David Allvin. Yet Wilsbach’s outspoken support for DEI and left-wing racial justice narratives may clash directly with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s stated mission of removing partisan politics from the armed forces, The Daily Caller reported.
During his time as commander of the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), Wilsbach appeared in a video following the 2020 death of George Floyd. The video, titled Dialogue on Race, featured the general pledging to make “diversity and inclusion a reality in PACAF.”
In 2021, he doubled down in a written article, stating that DEI ranked among his four major priorities for the Air Force.
“The command isn’t a command without the people, and in my time here I can say we have the best people. I’m grateful and thankful for each and every one of you,” he said.
“When I took command, I laid out four priorities – diversity, readiness, innovation, and lethality – to focus our efforts,” Wilsbach wrote at the time. He also participated in virtual conferences with PACAF that hosted guest speakers promoting the importance of DEI.
Critics say this record makes him unfit to assume the service’s top uniformed post at a time when Hegseth and his allies are vowing to restore a culture of discipline, readiness, and warfighting over what they describe as social engineering.
“The fight against decades of politicization must be more stringent and absolute to reclaim America’s military,” Will Thibeau, director of the American Military Project, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“As such, DEI advocates like General Wilsbach cannot be allowed to serve as senior leaders in the Air Force. His brazen, public embrace of DEI is disqualifying, because it is clear diversity is something in which he wholeheartedly believes in and out of uniform,” Thibeau told the DCNF.
The Biden-era Pentagon elevated DEI programs as a priority, embedding them in training, promotions, and recruitment. But since Trump took office, Hegseth has declared the dismantling of those policies to be a central part of his reform agenda.
In his view, decades of politicization inside the Pentagon have created a culture in which partisan social projects overshadow mission focus.
Hegseth has said his job is to make the military “a lethal fighting machine again” by eliminating programs that emphasize ideology over effectiveness. Supporters argue that DEI is not only unnecessary but also corrosive, as it promotes division within the ranks and prioritizes demographics over merit.
Wilsbach’s critics warn that putting him in charge of the Air Force could undercut Hegseth’s broader effort to remove left-wing politics from the military altogether. They point to his consistent, unapologetic defense of DEI as proof that he cannot be trusted to reverse course now.
Despite the concerns, Wilsbach’s supporters within the Air Force point to his decades of experience and his leadership role in the Indo-Pacific, where countering China remains a strategic priority. As PACAF commander, he oversaw operations involving some of the most advanced aircraft in the fleet, giving him direct command experience in one of the most contested theaters in the world.
Still, the pushback against Wilsbach highlights the broader debate over the direction of the U.S. military itself. Should future leadership continue to embrace DEI, or should those policies be dismantled in favor of what Hegseth calls a return to readiness and lethality?
The Pentagon deferred to the Air Force for comment on Wilsbach’s candidacy. The Air Force did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request.
