WASHINGTON (AP) — Books on the Holocaust, histories of feminism, civil rights and racism, and Maya Angelou's famous autobiography, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” were among the nearly 400 volumes removed from the U.S. Naval Academy's library^[1] this week after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office ordered the school to get rid of ones that promote diversity, equity and inclusion^[2].

The Navy late Friday provided the list of 381 books^[3] that have been taken out of its library. The move marks another step in the Trump administration’s far-reaching effort to purge so-called DEI content^[4] from federal agencies, including policies, programs, online and social media postings and curriculum at schools.

In addition to Angelou's award-winning tome, the list includes “Memorializing the Holocaust,” which deals with Holocaust memorials; “Half American,” about African Americans in World War II; “A Respectable Woman," about the public roles of African American women in 19th century New York; and “Pursuing Trayvon Martin,” about the 2012 shooting of the Black 17-year-old in Florida that raised questions about racial profiling.

Other books clearly deal with subjects that have been stridently targeted by the Trump administration, including gender identity, sexuality and transgender issues^[5]. A wide array of books on race and gender were targeted, dealing with such topics as African American women poets, entertainers who wore blackface and the treatment of women in Islamic countries.

Also on the list were historical books on racism, the Ku Klux Klan and the treatment of women, gender and race in art and literature.

In a statement, the Navy said officials went through the Nimitz Library catalog, using keyword searches, to identify books that required further review. About 900 books were identified in the search.

“Departmental officials then closely examined the preliminary list to determine which books required removal,” said Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, Navy spokesman. “Nearly 400 books were removed from Nimitz Library to comply with directives outlined in Executive Orders issued by the President.”

The books were removed shortly before Hegseth arrived Tuesday for a visit to the academy, which had already been planned and was not connected to the library purge, officials said.

The Pentagon has said the academies are "fully committed to executing and implementing President Trump’s Executive Orders.”

The Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, had not been included in President Donald Trump’s executive order in January^[6] that banned DEI instruction, programs or curriculum in kindergarten through 12th grade schools that receive federal funding. That is because the academies are colleges.

Pentagon leaders, however, turned their attention to the Naval Academy last week when a media report noted that the school had not removed books promoting DEI.

A U.S. official said the academy was told late last week to conduct the review and removal. It isn’t clear if the order was directed by Hegseth or someone else on his staff.

A West Point official confirmed earlier this week that the school had completed a review of its curriculum and was prepared to review library content if directed by the Army. The Air Force and Naval academies had also done curriculum reviews as had been required.

An Air Force Academy official said the school continually reviews its curriculum, coursework and other materials to ensure it all complies with executive orders and Defense Department policies.

Last week, Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, the Air Force Academy superintendent, told Congress that the school was in the middle of its course review, but there was no mention of books.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss academy policies.

Hegseth has aggressively pushed the department to erase DEI programs and online content, but the campaign has been met with questions from angry lawmakers, local leaders and citizens over the removal of military heroes^[7] and historic mentions from Defense Department websites and social media pages.

The Defense Department inspector general's office said Thursday it will review Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's use of commercial messaging apps like Signal to discuss sensitive details on planned U.S. airstrikes in Yemen.

The IG's evaluation comes a little over a week after The Atlantic reported that members of President Donald Trump's Cabinet -- including Hegseth, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of State Marco Rubio -- were part of a group chat on Signal where they discussed upcoming strikes against Yemen's Houthi rebels.

The magazine became aware of the discussion after Waltz added its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to the chat^[1]. The revelations that top national security officials in the Trump administration were using the commercial app and not secure communications triggered widespread public criticism and concerns that intercepted messages could have endangered U.S. troops carrying out the strikes.

Read Next: Army Mulling a Dramatic Reduction of Tens of Thousands of Troops^[2]

The inspector general's office said it will look into "recent public reporting on the secretary of defense's use of an unclassified, commercially available messaging application to discuss information pertaining to military actions in Yemen in March 2025," the memo announcing the investigation said^[3].

The evaluation began after the IG received a bipartisan letter from the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking member.

"The objective of this evaluation is to determine the extent to which the secretary of defense and other DoD personnel complied with DoD policies and procedures for the use of a commercial messaging application for official business," the memo said. The IG will also "review compliance with classification and records retention requirements."

NPR reported that^[4] the Pentagon had warned its employees in the days after this incident that Signal was not safe to use even for discussing unclassified information.

In defending themselves from criticism following the news, officials like Hegseth and Waltz have argued that the information they described in the group chat was unclassified.

However, days later, The Atlantic revealed that Hegseth was posting specific times^[5] that Navy^[6] jets would be taking off and approaching their targets, as well as when Tomahawk missiles would be launched.

Experts told Military.com that operational details like that are almost always classified^[7] and that sharing this type of information outside of classified systems is incredibly irresponsible.

"It's an extraordinary departure from how we deal with classified information," Eric Carpenter^[8], a law professor at the Florida International University College of Law and a former Army^[9] judge advocate, told Military.com in a phone interview last week.

Carpenter and rank-and-file troops remarked that, if a service member were to do something similar to what Hegseth was caught doing, they would likely face a court-martial^[10].

Military.com has asked the office of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whether the acting chairman, Adm. Christopher Grady, or his staff use Signal to discuss national security matters but, after more than a week, they have not provided an answer.

The IG's memo noted that investigators "may revise the objective as the evaluation proceeds."

Mollie Halpern, a spokeswoman for the inspector general's office, told Military.com on Thursday that the resulting report will be "nonpartisan, and it will be thorough."

"And whatever the results of this evaluation are, we will release the unclassified report," she said.

The report will be a very public test of the ability of the inspector general to remain independent of political pressure, given that Trump fired the Senate-confirmed head of the watchdog^[11], along with about 17 other inspectors general shortly after he was inaugurated in January.

The firings violated a 2022 law that requires that Congress be notified in advance of any removal of an inspector general, but lawmakers have not taken action to enforce the law.

The Defense Department's IG office is currently being headed up by Steven Stebbins, who was the principal deputy inspector general until stepping up into the acting IG position.

Democrats on Thursday took the move as a small victory, and Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who called for the investigation, said he not only welcomed the investigation but that he has "grave concerns about Secretary Hegseth's ability to maintain the trust and confidence of U.S. service members and the commander in chief."

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., also said that he was glad that the inspector general is looking into the matter but noted in a post to social media Thursday^[12] that "it's clear this administration's use of Signal to discuss sensitive information goes far beyond [the Defense Department]."

Politico reported on Wednesday that Waltz and his team set up at least 20 different Signal group chats^[13] for various crises around the world that the National Security Council was dealing with.

Related: 'Different Spanks for Different Ranks': Hegseth's Signal Scandal Would Put Regular Troops in the Brig^[14]