Thread by @AbbieRBennett

.@HASCRepublicans @HASCDemocrats hearing this afternoon on military diversity in recruiting and retention. Doesn’t look like any of the witnesses are women. armedservices.house.gov/hearings?ID=B2…

Hearing was expected to start at 2 p.m. but is delayed.

@HASCRepublicans @HASCDemocrats Public and media were just allowed into the hearing room. Hearing still delayed, but here's where you should be able to stream it when we begin:

@HASCRepublicans @HASCDemocrats We've got brass from 4 branches:
- Lt. Gen. Thomas Seamands, deputy chief of staff, G-1 for Army
- Vice Adm. John Nowell Jr., chief of Naval personnel
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@HASCRepublicans @HASCDemocrats - Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly, deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, services for Air Force
- Lt. Gen. Michael Rocco, deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs, Marine Corps. 2/2

@HASCRepublicans @HASCDemocrats Witness bios for all four here: docs.house.gov/Committee/Cale…

.@RepSpeier in her opening statement gives these stats:
- 1.3M active duty troops
- 83.5% men, 16.5% women
- 17.1% black, 16.1% Hispanic/Latino, 4.1% Asian, 70% white
- 30k non-citizens

@RepSpeier Both @RepSpeier and @MikeKellyPA mention the need to recruit more women, particularly for officer roles.
None of the witnesses today are women.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA Seamands says the Army has increased its Hispanic population to 14.6% and 18.8% of the total Army are women.
Touts first woman to graduate Ranger School.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA Seamands says Army can and plans to do more to recruit more diversely, including marketing products in multiple languages and recruiting and outreach activities to educate minority groups about Army opportunities.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA Nowell touts Navy's first female 4-star admiral and other diversity accomplishments, but notes "We have made far too little progress far too slowly."

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA Nowell, like Seamands, points out how much marketing his branch dedicates to minority/diversity outreach, as well as other programs to increase diverse recruiting.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA Kelly says about 57 percent of women are eligible to serve in the Air Force, but the AF is about 22 percent women.
77 percent of black men and women in the US could be eligible for AF, but AF is 15 percent black. 6 percent of officers are black.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA All three branches so far mentioning targeting diverse candidates for ROTC scholarships.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA Kelly says AF has created working groups to learn more about the challenges facing minorities and women to combat low retention.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA Rocco says the Marine Corps has increased its marketing for women.
Says 650 women are serving in previously-restricted unit and more than 200 are in previously-closed MOS, including the first woman F-35 pilot and the first woman reconnaissance Marine.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA Rocco: "Even with our success, there is still more to be done."
Says women in some areas of the Corps are promoted at a higher rate than other Marines.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA All 4 branches represented today mention what we've known for a while: that enlisted service members are often far more diverse than officers, and much, much more than higher-level officers across the board.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA .@RepSpeier pushes Rocco on this report's depiction of sexism in the Corps. Also mentions the Marine video released a while back that showed just a split-second of women Marines. usmcu.edu/Portals/218/CA…

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA Rocco on the video: "We possibly could have gotten that a little bit better" but said he "thought the message was well received" and he personally did not "look at" the video in terms of the "female Marines, tall Marines, or minority Marines."

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA .@RepSpeier asks Seamands about his comments that "we want our Army to look like our nation and reflect what's best of our citizens."
She says by 2040, most Americans will be minorities.
Seamands says Army is tracking those same demographic predictors and working on it.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA .@MikeKellyPA asks what branches are doing to make sure recruiters themselves are diverse.
Branches say they're making sure diverse leaders in the branches are involved in recruiting and recruiting materials (promotional videos, etc.)

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA .@RepSpeier asks the branches to bring HASC data on the demographics of their recruiters.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA Rocco said right now diversity is in the same category as readiness for the Corps.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA .@RepSusanDavis asks what the services are doing to remove barriers to retain diverse troops but also to make sure they rise through the ranks.
"They're there in our service and yet in every report there are countless barriers that are recorded."

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis Kelly says some issues include balancing career and family, or equipment for women.
@RepSpeier asks about women's uniforms being more expensive than male uniforms.
Lots of head shakes from branch leaders on the panel. She asks them to take the question for the record.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis More on the alleged "pink tax" for women's uniforms and equipment: connectingvets.radio.com/articles/pink-…

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis Seamands: "Army is working to make up lost ground" on recruiting, retaining Hispanics/Latinos & other minority groups. "We won't solve it today or tomorrow, it has to be a long-term approach and an investment in those young men and women. We have to get after it and focus on it."

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis .@MikeKellyPA says he cautions branch leaders here today "If we start pulling all our women and minorities into drill sergeants and recruiters, we could ... cheat them out of being senior leaders ... we cheat them out of opportunities to become GOs."

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis Panel of branch brass is done but now we move on to second panel, first up @kwilliams101:

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis @kwilliams101 Where the last panel had few answers about challenges minorities and women face in the service branches, @kwilliams101 launches right in to the sexual harassment and assault, among other issues that hurt recruitment and retention of women.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis @kwilliams101 Williams says top military brass don't take many of these issues seriously and the statistics bear that out.
She's got a laundry list of indignities and overt discrimination women and minorities face.
"Death by a thousand cuts," as she describes them.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis @kwilliams101 Pamela Campos-Palma, an Air Force veteran, a queer woman of color, says "sexual violence, harassment and gender hostility are part and parcel to military service."
She's a survivor of multiple sexual assaults, including by a fellow airman who resented her rejections.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis @kwilliams101 Campos-Palma says she felt "preyed upon and undermined" during her service because of her gender, sexual orientation and race. She says the system is "broken and biased" and for women and minorities, it "sets us up for failure."

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis @kwilliams101 "Unchecked toxic leadership" operating with "impunity and a culture that enables it" makes women and minorities "targets for outright racist and sexual discrimination" while their futures are "held hostage," Campos-Palma says.

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis @kwilliams101 Diversity is a "matter of national security," says Bishop Garrison, director of national security outreach at @humanrights1st. "A more cohesive unit is a stronger fighting force. Diversity helps overcome group think or tunnel vision, which in war can prove fatal."

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis @kwilliams101 @humanrights1st Garrison: "Eradicating white nationalism in our ranks has to be of paramount importance. It's affecting discipline of our units and recruitment and retention in our ranks."

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis @kwilliams101 @humanrights1st Campos-Palma: "If we allow people to get away with toxic leadership, abuse and corruption in the military, it sets a standard."
Says that bleeds over into the veteran community "because we're not rooting this out."

@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis @kwilliams101 @humanrights1st Williams says she has a "grave concern" that amid rising attention on sexual harassment and assault, #MeToo movement, there's evidence of men in the military "being more reluctant to mentor women in this climate."
Says military must find a way to combat that.
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@RepSpeier @MikeKellyPA @RepSusanDavis @kwilliams101 @humanrights1st Williams: "We don't have enough women to do all the mentoring for the rising ranks." 2/2