By CASEY HARPER | THE CENTER SQUARE

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio blasted the Pentagon’s increasingly leftward bent as it struggles to keep up with national security interests.

“The United States military is the greatest fighting force in the world, but woke activists in the Biden Administration are undermining military readiness, cohesion, and purpose,” Rubio, R-Fla., told The Center Square. “We cannot allow these left-wing crazies to hollow out our military. The world is an increasingly dangerous place and America’s security requires a strong military capable of deterring – and if need be, defending – our nation.”

Rubio’s comments come after The Center Square reported that the Pentagon is struggling to fulfill military requests even as it increasingly gives attention, and funds, to diversity, gender and critical race theory issues.

The Pentagon would struggle to manufacture enough precision missiles if conflict with China broke out, reports indicate. That comes after the U.S. sent over a decades worth of Stinger missiles to Ukraine as soon as the war there broke out, one of multiple shortages or potential shortages exposed by the U.S.’ support for Ukraine.

Critics argue the military has become distracted. For example, a recent Department of Defense Comptroller report points to $86.5 million for “dedicated diversity and inclusion activities.”

“The Department will lead with our values – building diversity, equity, and inclusion into everything we do,” the report said.

In a hearing earlier this week, Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Chairman Glenn Grothman, R-Wisc., raised concerns about “progressive ideals” infiltrating the military.

“We all know that the primary mission of the Armed Forces is to protect and defend the nation and our interests abroad,” Grothman said. “However, the military is not the institution for social experiments and political correctness. This Administration seems to be willfully blinded by how its progressive ideals are affecting military readiness and recruitment.”

GOP lawmakers have introduced legislation to ban the teaching of critical race theory in the military as well as cut off the funding for the diversity offices that push these ideas, but the legislation has not gotten enough traction.

Grothman said the liberalization of the military is hurting recruitment, which has become more difficult in recent years. The Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps all failed to meet their recruiting goals last year.

“Despite lowering fitness standards, relaxing tattoo policies, and increasing recruiting bonuses, fewer and fewer young adults are joining our military ranks,” he said. “Meanwhile, the Biden Administration is more focused on how cadets at military academies use the correct pronouns rather than learn how to lead, work as a team, and defend our nation.

“The Biden Administration thinks that service members understanding ‘white rage’ – as recently described by General Mark Milley, our highest-ranking military official – is more important than promoting cohesiveness throughout the armed forces,” he added.

Rubio and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, commissioned a report on these kinds of concerns that was released last year. It showed several examples of gender and racial ideology in U.S. military training, policies and leadership.

In one case, official training materials for West Point cadets lecture them on white privilege. The report points to another example where a slide presentation for the Air Force Academy is titled, “Diversity & Inclusion: What it is, why we care, & what we can do.” This taxpayer-funded training warns cadets to avoid using gendered language, which includes terms like “mom” and “dad.”

Casey Harper is a Senior Reporter for the Washington, D.C. Bureau. He previously worked for The Daily Caller, The Hill, and Sinclair Broadcast Group. A graduate of Hillsdale College, Casey’s work has also appeared in Fox News, Fox Business, and USA Today.

A new report shows that 67 percent of suspects arrested in Washington D.C. over the course of a year were not prosecuted by President Joe Biden’s handpicked U.S. prosecutor.

As reported earlier this month on the Substack newsletter DC Crime Facts, the decision to not prosecute has nearly doubled from 2015, when prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office refused to prosecute about 35 percent of such cases.

“This is the anarchy Mary Peltola embraced when she backed lower penalties for violent crime like murder, robbery and carjacking in Washington D.C.,” said National Republican Congressional Committee Spokesman Ben Petersen, speaking of Alaska’s lone congressional representative. “Mary Peltola threw her lot in with the extreme defund the police wing of the Democrat Party. Now she must own the total lawlessness and anarchy that has resulted from their dangerous ideology.” 

On Feb. 9, Peltola voted with the Democrats against a measure that, due to its passage in the House and Senate and approval by the president, reversed the get-out-of-jail law, similar to Alaska’s unfortunate experience with SB 91 under Gov. Bill Walker (repealed under Gov. Mike Dunleavy).

The cases that the U.S. Attorney last year refused to prosecute include 52% of all felony arrests and 72% of all misdemeanor arrests in the nation’s capital, which has become a violent dystopia, where law-abiding citizens cannot carry firearms without going through a rigorous and lengthy concealed-carry permitting process.

“Pursuant to recent amendments to the Firearms Regulations Control Act of 1975 (D.C. Act 20-447), anyone wishing to carry a concealed pistol must submit an application to the Metropolitan Police Department, including proof of firearms training and the basis for requesting a concealed carry pistol license,” the MPD says on its website. The District of Columbia has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. It is illegal to open carry and in order to conceal-carry a handgun in DC, you must have the local permit. Out-of-state conceal-carry permits are not valid in DC and you can be arrested for having a firearm.

The D.C. violence is so bad that even lawmakers and their staff are being attacked. On Feb. 10, a day after Peltola’s vote for criminals, Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., was attacked in her apartment building. Craig had voted for the D.C. pro-crime law as well.

On Saturday, an aide to Sen. Rand Paul was stabbed in daylight hours on H Street in Northeast Washington. The suspected assailant, Glynn Neal, 42, was charged with assault with intent to kill. The victim, Phillip Todd, was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, including a deep knife wound to the head, abdomen, and lungs. He underwent multiple surgeries over the weekend.

Tim Todd wrote on Facebook Tuesday that his nephew Phillip, who is the chief economist for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, had more surgery Monday on his ear and was scheduled for yet another surgery Monday: “His lung is collapsed and his skull is fractured.” He is still in critical condition and may suffer seizures due to the brain injuries.

The suspect had been released from prison the day before the attack.

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is scheduled held a hearing on Wednesday to consider crime and safety in D.C.

“The citizens of D.C. and the visitors to our nation’s capital deserve to feel safe and our police deserve to have the resources to ensure safety for all,” said Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican and chair of the committee.

There have been more than 50 murders so far in 2023 in the District of Columbia.

This is the kind of lawlessness Peltola endorsed when she backed lower penalties for violent crime in Washington D.C. Peltola’s dangerous position was too extreme for President Biden and even Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The local ordinance that ended up being overturned by the president, was even too radical for D.C. Mayor Muriel Bower, who tried to get the D.C. Council to reverse its ruling. The House and Senate passed a law overturning the lawless legislation, and Biden signed it.

Questioned about her vote for criminals, Peltola told a reporter she was “learning how things work here.”

Peltola won’t join delegation in support of Ambler Road