The Defense Language Institute is reviewing class materials for terms deemed to be critical of the U.S. government or related to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) as a result of President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive orders.
Emails obtained by the Weekly show that at least some instructors were asked in March to translate terms into their subject languages in order to review or remove specific terms in the foreign language material.
Twenty-three terms labeled as “Remove” include: “LGBTQ+, DEI/DEIA, Gender expression, Critical Race Theory, Oppression, Microaggression(s), Implicit Bias, Environmental justice, racial justice,” and more. In addition, 17 terms having to do with gender or sexual orientation, racism or equality are labeled for context review to determine compliance.
According to a Sept. 2 email to faculty members, if DEIA-related language comes up during instructional time, the instructor is not required to end the discussion immediately, but should avoid expanding it into advocacy or instruction on the topic.
“It’s going to kneecap our military, it hurts our military,” says a teacher at DLI who spoke to the Weekly on the condition of anonymity due to fears about impact to their job. “If our students cannot understand the language our adversaries speak, how are they going to collect intelligence?”
The instructor notes that students are put through rigorous courses lasting several weeks to years, and at advanced levels, understanding criticism of the U.S. government is integral to courses. Especially in Persian Farsi and Arabic, the potential elimination of criticism of U.S. support for Israel would eliminate an important part of the course.
The focus of the review and removals is on supplementary materials, which teachers often develop and personalize in addition to long-standing curriculum.
A Microsoft 365 Copilot AI agent was developed to search supplemental materials and label them as compliant, or out of compliance with DEIA-directives, according to emails. The AI agent description said it would flag supplemental materials for containing partisan U.S. political material, content favoring or attacking specific U.S. political candidates, parties or domestic partisan agendas. Content regarding non-U.S. politics was authorized.
“DLI remains fully committed to complying with all executive orders and federal directives, and we continuously update our curriculum to align with current policy guidance,” DLI spokesperson Natela Cutter writes by email.
A presentation provided to instructors notes that domestic U.S. partisan material is prohibited, and that foreign non-U.S. political material is allowed when needed for translating nuance or understanding foreign politics.
“Do you want me to go to the government of Iran and tell them to write something really nice about the U.S. because Trump is not happy about what they write?” the teacher says. “We are supposed to teach authentic material. How are we going to do that?”