The U.S. Naval Academy^[1] has confirmed that officials there removed items commemorating female Jewish graduates from a historic display ahead of a visit to the school by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, or MRFF, a nonprofit group that advocates for religious freedom, first reported on the move^[2] after its members noticed the removal of the items on display at the Commodore Uriah P. Levy Center and Jewish Chapel.

Cmdr. Ashley Hockycko confirmed late Tuesday that the historical items honoring the Jewish graduates had been removed but said that it was done so "mistakenly." "U.S. Naval Academy leadership is immediately taking steps to review and correct the unauthorized removal," she added.

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The removal appears to be the latest example of military and defense officials removing displays, websites and other materials honoring the achievements of women and minorities within the military, often with the presumption of acting on Hegseth's orders^[4] or reacting to his preferences and beliefs.

The defense secretary, along with the wider Trump administration, has spent its months in office purging the Pentagon, military and federal government of anything it deems diversity related, which has been widely interpreted by the military services and many others to mean anything that recognizes women and people with minority backgrounds.

Hegseth issued a vague order for the Defense Department to remove all "news articles, photos, and videos promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), including content related to critical race theory, gender ideology, and identity-based programs."

Since that order, the military has removed books from schools that featured women who fought in the U.S. Civil War^[5]; deleted websites that highlighted Kristen Griest^[6], the first woman to graduate from the Army^[7]'s grueling Ranger School; and pulled lessons in Air Force^[8] boot camp that featured the Tuskegee Airmen, the historic Black aviators, and the Women's Airforce Service Pilots.

Some of that content has been restored^[9] after the removals became public. However, Hegseth's office has not offered a full accounting of what has been removed to date.

MRFF founder and President Mikey Weinstein told Military.com in an interview Wednesday that his organization heard from 31 Naval Academy faculty, Midshipmen and staff, who were "outraged" by the removal of the items.

According to the MRFF, the displays containing items from male Jewish graduates and service members were left untouched.

However, the items were removed for only a short time, and officials told Military.com that they had been restored by Tuesday evening, having been gone less than a day.

The military academy also purged nearly 400 books from its library around the time of Hegseth's visit as well, an official confirmed to Military.com. The books were banned under the Trump administration push to purge materials related to diversity, and were culled from library shelves before the defense secretary's visit to the academy, according to The Associated Press^[10].

The move comes about a week after the Capital Gazette, an Annapolis newspaper, reported that leaders at the Naval Academy didn't think they needed to remove any books^[11] since President Donald Trump's January executive order banning materials on diversity applied to kindergarten through 12th-grade schools that receive federal funding -- not colleges.

The Navy^[12] would not offer a list of the books removed when asked.

The orders and policies claiming to target "diversity, equity and inclusion" -- a term that has taken on a difficult-to-define and amorphous meaning under the Trump administration -- are leaving officials in the Pentagon and the military branches frustrated. They feel that many of the policies being released by Hegseth demand urgency but lack specifics^[13] and are open to interpretation.

One official who remained anonymous to speak freely without fear of retaliation frustratedly noted to Military.com that this dynamic sets up a "damned if you do, damned if you don't situation."

If the military services and their various offices overreact and remove content^[14] that becomes a scandal, they are slammed by Hegseth and his staff for "malicious compliance."

That dynamic played out several weeks ago when the Pentagon was forced to walk back the removal of a website honoring trailblazing baseball player and Army veteran Jackie Robinson.

Robinson's webpage was among a tranche of content about recordbreaking female aviators^[15]; World War II Navajo Code Talkers^[16]; medal recipients in segregated combat units^[17]; and "numerous other wartime sacrifices^[18] by soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen" that was discovered to be offline by Congress, Military.com reported two weeks ago^[19].

In a March 21 video, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell^[20] admitted that "some important content was inadvertently pulled offline" and attributed that to "the realities of AI tools and other software." He said content was being both "mistakenly removed" and "maliciously removed."

Meanwhile, the official went on to note, if the services take directives at their literal meaning, which was seemingly what the Naval Academy did when it decided it didn't need to purge its library since it was not a K-12 school, that leads to the perception of noncompliance with orders and directives.

The result, according to the official, is a very uneven and ad hoc application of policy that leaves employees and officials paralyzed, frustrated and uncertain, with little more to go on than what they see in public statements like Parnell's videos or Hegseth's appearances on television.

"History is not DEI," Parnell declared in his video.

"What does that mean? What am I supposed to do with that?" the official said.

Related: Lawmakers Demand Trump Administration Restore Removed Webpages Celebrating Troops^[21]

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Naval Academy^[1] has removed nearly 400 books from its library after being told by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's office to review and get rid of ones that promote diversity, equity and inclusion^[2], U.S. officials said Tuesday.

Academy officials were told to review the library late last week, and an initial search had identified about 900 books for a closer look. They decided on nearly 400 to remove and began doing so Monday, finishing before Hegseth arrived for a visit Tuesday that had already been planned and was not connected to the library purge, officials said. A list of the books has not yet been made available.

Pulling the books off the shelves is another step in the Trump administration's far-reaching effort to eliminate so-called DEI content^[3] from federal agencies, including policies, programs, online and social media postings and curriculum at schools.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said late Tuesday, "All service academies are fully committed to executing and implementing President Trump's Executive Orders."

The Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, the Air Force Academy^[4] near Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the U.S. Military Academy^[5] in West Point^[6], New York, had not been included in President Donald Trump's executive order in January 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, suddenly turned their attention to the Naval Academy last week when a media report noted that the school had not removed books that promoted 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 that the school had completed a review of its curriculum and was prepared to review library content if directed by the Army^[7]. 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^[8] and historic mentions from Defense Department websites and social media pages.

In response, the department has scrambled to restore some of those posts^[9] as their removals have come to light.

The confusion about how to interpret the DEI policy was underscored Monday as Naval Academy personnel mistakenly removed some photos of distinguished female Jewish graduates from a display case as they prepared for Hegseth's visit. The photos were put back.

In a statement, the Navy^[10] said it is aware that photos were mistakenly removed from the Naval Academy Jewish Center. It said U.S. Naval Academy leadership was immediately taking steps to review and correct the unauthorized removal.

Hegseth spoke with students and had lunch at the academy Tuesday, but the media were not invited or allowed to cover the visit.