JAMES FITZPATRICK: True Cost Of Biden’s DEI Worship Is Just Seeing Light Of Day

The underperforming F-35 program is a study in confused priorities.

Pick one: You can either have technologically advanced, lethal weaponry delivered when and where it’s needed, or you can focus resources on “under-representation,” “implicit bias,” “systemic racism” and other canards of the diversity, equity and inclusion industry. Whether you’re a high-ranking Pentagon official tasked with defending the homeland and defeating America’s enemies or the CEO of a major supplier of the weapons systems the Pentagon needs, if you chose the latter, please go find work elsewhere.

In September 2025, the GAO issued a critical report on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program for operations during the Biden years in which they highlighted constant late deliveries of aircraft and engines by Lockheed Martin, the lead contractor on the program, and equally poor performance from engine supplier Pratt & Whitney. Overall, GAO said the DOD’s modernization effort for the F-35 was more than $6 billion over budget and five years late as compared to original estimates.

Meanwhile, President Biden and his Pentagon – not least of all Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, when he was conscious – brought an unprecedented obsession with DEI into the Department of Defense. These DEI-consumed politicians mandated things like racial quotas, taxpayer funded gender transitions, and the use of preferred pronouns. The result was readiness, lethality, and morale plummeting throughout the Biden administration.