WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Andrew Clyde (GA-09) led 9 of his House Republican Navy veteran colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro blasting the Navy’s decision to recruit an active-duty drag queen to join its “Digital Ambassador” program to promote Navy recruitment on the Chinese Communist Party influenced app, TikTok.

Additionally, the lawmakers demand answers as to whether taxpayer dollars funded the implementation of the Navy’s “Digital Ambassador” program, as well as how the Navy plans to address its recruitment and retention crisis.

The lawmakers condemn the Navy’s promotion of the active-duty drag queen while the Department faces serious recruitment and retention problems: “The Navy’s inclusion of a drag queen in its ‘Digital Ambassadors’ program is another radical example of the U.S. Navy advancing woke policies to the detriment of our country’s national security. The military’s current recruiting and retention crisis is dire, as evidenced by Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti’s April 19, 2023 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, which claimed that the Navy is projected to be short of its Fiscal Year 2023 goal for enlisted sailors by 8,000 recruits. One thing is clear, the continued embrace of woke ideologies in our Armed Services is unsustainable, and we insist you cease any involvement with drag queens in your future recruiting efforts.”

“As a 28-year Navy combat veteran, I’m displeased and greatly disappointed with the Navy’s decision to not only allow this individual to represent our heroic Sailors, but to promote his drag queen activities as part of the Navy’s recruiting efforts,” said Clyde. “Our servicemembers should be solely focused on maintaining the most deadly military force in the world, not dressing up in drag. A woke military is a weak military, which is why it’s imperative that we rid our Armed Services of radical policies that both hinder recruiting and retention efforts and threaten our national security. Furthermore, Americans deserve to know if their tax dollars were used to fund this woke nonsense. I urge Secretary Del Toro to swiftly address this critical question, as well as deliver a comprehensive plan on how the Navy plans to improve its dire recruiting and retention crisis.”

Read Breitbart’s exclusive on Rep. Clyde’s letter HERE.

Full text of the letter is available HERE.

Co-signers include Representatives Eli Crane (AZ-02), Dan Crenshaw (TX-02), Scott Franklin (FL-18), Mike Garcia (CA-27), Andy Harris (MD-01), Ronny Jackson (TX-13), Morgan Luttrell (TX-08), Guy Reschenthaler (PA-14), and Ryan Zinke (MT-01).

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