A batch of Air Force documents related to its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives—and its “goal” to reduce the number of white male applicants in the officer program—has finally been made public after repeated Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests were initially blocked.

According to the Daily Caller, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman CQ Brown issued a 2022 memo stating that the Air Force was shifting its racial and gender demographic goals for officer program applicants to enhance “diversity and inclusion.” The documents acquired by the Caller reveal presentations showing plans to decrease the number of white males in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program.

These records only surfaced after the Air Force initially informed the Center To Advance Security In America (CASA), which had requested the records under FOIA, that no documents regarding demographic goals were available. CASA sued the Air Force in April 2024, leading to the release of the documents, which were then provided to the Caller.

One of the obtained slides, titled “AFROTC White,” depicts a chart where the percentage of white male applicants is projected to drop from 60% in 2019 to 50% by 2023, and down to 43% by 2029. This reduction is marked as a “goal.”

“These documents show us that the Air Force has taken steps toward implementing their new directive of specific racial quotas for officer recruitment and enrollment throughout the branch,” James Fitzpatrick, director of CASA, told the Daily Caller.

The demographic goals in the slides suggest the Air Force is working towards reducing the white male applicant pool and targeting minority groups for recruitment to meet these goals. For instance, in a slide focused on the Black population, the Air Force plans to “target [the] male population through ongoing programs and marketing,” while it notes it has already achieved its “female goal” for Black female applicants in the ROTC program.

Additionally, the documents reveal a $500,000 budget allocated for “diversity advertising campaigns” and another $250,000 for “influencer engagements.”

When the Daily Caller requested a comment from the Air Force, a spokesperson explained, “The FOIA request was being processed at multiple levels within the Air Force,” adding that while one unit responded with a “no responsive records” message, the remaining units continued to process the documents that were eventually provided.