The Pentagon has pulled a host of top military officials from attending a major security conference in Colorado that was set to start Tuesday, arguing that the event is anti-American and goes against the values of the Trump administration.

"The Department of Defense has no interest in legitimizing an organization that has invited former officials who have been the architects of chaos abroad and failure at home," Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement.

The conference in question is the Aspen Security Forum -- an event put on annually by the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit organization -- and it is one of the most high-profile events for top officials in the national security space. Its attendees have historically included top military leaders, lawmakers and officials from both political parties.

Read Next: Retired Army Officer Pleads Guilty to Leaking National Defense Info on Foreign Dating Website^[1]

Over the^[2] years, numerous^[3] top military leaders^[4] -- including some that have gone on to have a role in Trump's political movement^[5] -- have appeared at the conference.

This year's final event at the conference is slated to feature a conversation between Condoleezza Rice, a top Bush-era official and co-chair of the group hosting the event; Robert Gates, a former secretary of defense for both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama; and Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser for President Joe Biden.

The program also advertised a host of top military officials who had been slated to speak, including Adm. Samuel Paparo, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command; Gen. Bryan Fenton, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command; and Lt. Gen. John Brennan, the deputy commander of U.S. Africa Command.

Wilson, however, went on to say that "senior representatives of the Department of Defense will no longer be participating in an event that promotes the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the president of the United States."

Wilson's statement was first reported on Monday morning by the outlet "Just the News."^[6]

The Anti-Defamation League notes that the word "globalist" is a term that is frequently used "as an antisemitic dog whistle" and can be wielded "as a codeword for Jews or as a pejorative term for people whose interests in international commerce or finance ostensibly make them disloyal to the country in which they live."

Wilson has a yearslong history^[7] of making social media posts on her personal social media account that trafficked in a variety of extremist rhetoric, ranging from antisemitic conspiracy theories to white nationalist talking points. While some comments were made as far back as 2021, others are far more recent.

In August, Wilson posted a decades-old antisemitic trope^[8] questioning the facts behind the lynching of Leo Frank, a Jewish man who was wrongly convicted of raping and murdering a child more than a hundred years ago in Atlanta.

That post was still available at the time of this story's publication.

Later Monday, Pentagon officials released a second statement, this time attributed to top Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, that took a much softer line on the conference, instead saying that its "values do not align with the values" of Pentagon leadership.

Kingsley told Military.com that, despite the new remarks from her boss, she still stood by her statement.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed to also approve of the choice to use the term "globalist" because he posted a photo of a headline^[9] featuring the word with the comment "correct."

The institute that holds the annual conference says on its website that its "mission is to convene decision-makers in resolutely nonpartisan public and private forums to address key foreign policy challenges facing the United States."

Meanwhile, Hegseth took the unusual step of appearing at a Turning Point USA rally on Friday.

Turning Point USA is an influential right-wing nonprofit organization run by Charlie Kirk, himself a key figure in the world of Trump and Republican politics.

Speaking to a crowd at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, Hegseth claimed that "we don't do politics" at the Defense Department, while also saying that NATO was "freeloading off of America."^[10]

When asked whether the Pentagon would also pull its participation from the Reagan National Security Forum, another major national security conference, an official for Hegseth's office said that they had "nothing to announce regarding Reagan at this time."

Related: Bragg Soldiers Who Cheered Trump's Political Attacks While in Uniform Were Checked for Allegiance, Appearance^[11]

Children's biographies of trailblazing transgender public figures. An award-winning novel reflecting on what it is like to be Black in America. A series of graphic novels about the love story between a teenage gay couple.

Those are some of the 596 books that have been pulled from shelves in the Defense Department schools that serve military children as part of the Trump administration's broader effort to censor LGBTQ+ and racial issues from official government materials.

The full list^[1] was released by the order of a federal judge as part of the American Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit against the Department of Defense Education Activity's implementation of President Donald Trump's anti-diversity and anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders.

Read Next: Drill Sergeant Under Investigation After Having Soldiers Do Push-Ups Under MAGA Flag^[2]

"The amount of titles banned by the Trump administration is astonishing, and the list provided by DoDEA perfectly illustrates how the administration is putting politics above pedagogy," Emerson Sykes, senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, said in an emailed statement to Military.com. "Kids on military bases have the same First Amendment rights that we all enjoy, and that their parents swore an oath to defend. Yet the administration has forced schools to remove titles like 'A Is for Activist' and 'Julian Is a Mermaid' that reflect the vibrant and diverse world we live in. All 596 of these books must be returned to shelves immediately."

"A Is for Activist" is an ABC board book about progressive terms and values, while "Julian Is a Mermaid" is a picture book about a boy who wants to become a mermaid.

Among his first acts in office, Trump ordered every federal agency to get rid of all policies and materials related to "gender ideology," a right-wing term for being transgender, and the ill-defined concept of "diversity, equity and inclusion."

At the Pentagon, the orders spurred a widespread, sometimes erratic effort to scrub minorities, women and LGBTQ+ people from public websites and databases, some of which were restored after public outrage. Books were also pulled from libraries across the Defense Department, including at the service academies that educate future military officers and the DoDEA schools that serve military children in pre-kindergarten through high school.

In April, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of a dozen^[3] DoDEA students and their families alleging that the book bans and other actions to implement Trump's executive orders at the schools violate the First Amendment.

During a June hearing in the lawsuit, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles, a Biden appointee in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, ordered the Trump administration to provide the full list of books removed from the DoDEA.

The Trump administration requested Giles reconsider her order, arguing that the list can't be released because it is "pre-decisional" since officials are still deciding the final fate of the books.

But on Friday, Giles reaffirmed her order and released the full list.

The majority of books on the list appear to be related to LGBTQ+ themes and issues.

They include several biographies written for children about transgender icons, including actor Chaz Bono, director Lana Wachowski, actress Laverne Cox and former public health official Rachel Levine, the first openly transgender person confirmed by the Senate who has been a particular target of derision^[4] from conservative politicians and commentators.

"With Honor and Integrity: Transgender Troops in Their Own Words," a collection of essays from transgender service members and veterans edited by Air Force^[5] Col. Bree Fram and Army^[6] veteran Mael Embser-Herbert, was also removed.

Also on the list are several volumes of "Heartstopper," an acclaimed series of graphic novels that was adapted into an acclaimed Netflix series about two British teenage boys who fall in love. The series, which features characters with a broad range of sexualities and gender identities, is a common^[7] target for^[8] book bans^[9].

A few books about the history of the Stonewall riots, which are considered the start of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement and the history of which the Trump administration has been rewriting^[10] to remove transgender people; multiple study guides for Advanced Placement Psychology, which includes lessons on gender identity; and a couple of books to help kids going through puberty that online summaries show include references to gender identity have also been pulled.

Another sizable chunk of the banned books discuss race and racism in America.

One such book is Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Between the World and Me," a National Book Award winner that is written as a series of letters to his son reflecting on racism and being Black in America.

"The Talk: Conversations about Race, Love & Truth" by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson, a collection of short stories exploring conversations families have about race in America, was removed, as were the similarly titled "The Talk" by Darrin Bell, a graphic novel about police brutality, and "The Talk" by Alicia D. Williams, a picture book about a family's advice to a young Black boy about how to navigate racism.

Also pulled were several books with titles that mention Black Lives Matter, white privilege and anti-racism, including Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds' young adult novel "Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You."

Military Families for Free Expression, a group formed earlier this year^[11] to push back against Defense Department book bans, decried DoDEA's book removals.

"This list reflects a sweeping effort to silence voices, particularly those centering on Black, brown and LGBTQ+ experiences," Libby Jamison, the group's spokesperson, said in an emailed statement. "These bans aren't about protecting children; they're about restricting what young people are allowed to know, feel and question."

DoDEA spokesperson Jessica Tackaberry declined to comment on the list on Monday, citing the fact it is part of ongoing litigation, but said in an email generally that the school system "remains committed to providing a high-quality, standards-based education for all military-connected students and will continue to follow established procedures as the legal process moves forward."

Pentagon officials have previously maintained that removed books have not been banned and are in the process of being reviewed for a final decision on their fate. Under a memo the Pentagon issued^[12] in May, the review was supposed to be completed in June.

A Pentagon spokesperson did not respond to a question about the status of the review by Military.com's deadline Monday.

Trump administration administration officials have also argued that banning books is not a First Amendment violation.

"Government speech is immune from scrutiny under the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause because when the government engages in speech, it is constitutionally permissible for it to select the message it wishes to convey," Justice Department lawyers wrote in a motion last month seeking to have the lawsuit against the bans dismissed.

The full list of banned books is included in the court documents below:

Related: Military Families Sue over Defense Department School Book Bans, Other Anti-Diversity Measures^[13]

Fort Rucker is making its name change official Thursday - its second in two years’ time.

An installation redesignation ceremony is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum at the newly-renamed Fort Rucker in Dale County.

Only this time, the installation takes its name not from a Confederate figure but a World War I aviator.

Fort Rucker was originally named for Confederate Col. Edmund W. Rucker, a brigade commander during the Civil War who fought at Chickamauga, Franklin and Nashville. After the war, he was an industrial figure in Birmingham who made his home in Five Points. He died in 1924

Then in 2023, the name was changed to Fort Novosel after Enterprise resident Michael Novosel Sr.^[1] Under then-President Joe Biden, the Defense Department changed the names of several military bases that honored Confederate figures in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd protests.

Novosel was a military aviator for more than 40 years and received the highest military honor for his service in Vietnam. He died in 2006.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum reversing the naming of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg.^[2]

The base’s new namesake is Capt. Edward W. Rucker, a Missouri native who was called into service in 1916 and saw action in France during World War I.

He was credited with helping to down several German planes near Luneville, France on June 13, 1918, according to the Masonic Great War Project.^[3]

He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross along with 21 other officers and enlisted men, as well as the Croix de Guerre with palm.

“Flying deep behind enemy lines, then-1st Lt. Rucker and his fellow aviators engaged a numerically superior enemy force in a daring aerial battle over France, disrupting enemy movements and completing their mission against overwhelming odds,” the Army said in a statement last month.

After World War I, he relocated to New York before moving to St. Louis. He died in 1945.

A descendant of Edmund Rucker^[4] has spoken out against the renaming.

“Rucker family members support naming Army bases for individuals who fought for the United States….we don’t want our name back on an Alabama base,” K. Denise Rucker Krepp, a former House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee senior counsel, posted to X on Tuesday.

“Novosel is a Medal of Honor recipient,” Rucker Krepp said in another post to X.^[5]

“His name should remain on an Alabama base.”

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