It is early 2026, and if you walk through the halls of a federal agency today, the vibe is... complicated.
For a few years there, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) felt like the permanent North Star of the civil service. We saw the rise of Chief Diversity Officers and mandatory "unconscious bias" sessions that, honestly, some people loved and others just endured to get back to their emails. But the pendulum hasn't just swung back; it has basically been ripped off the clock.
If you’re trying to track dei in federal government, you’re looking at a landscape of rapid-fire executive orders and a massive "purge" of programs that were, until very recently, considered standard operating procedure.
The Great Deletion of 2025-2026
On January 21, 2025, Executive Order 14173 hit the federal register like a sledgehammer. Titled "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity," it didn't just suggest a change in tone. It ordered the immediate termination of all DEI offices, positions, and programs across the entire executive branch.
Basically, if it had "Equity" or "Inclusion" in the title, it was on the chopping block.
Agencies were told to scrub their websites. Outward-facing media? Gone. Internal training manuals? Recalled. In some offices, the physical signs on doors were literally being unscrewed within 48 hours. This wasn't a slow transition. It was an overnight pivot back to what the current administration calls "color-blind meritocracy."
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Why the DOJ is Suddenly Your HR Nightmare
Here’s the part that's catching a lot of people off guard: it isn't just about government employees. If you’re a contractor or a business receiving federal grants, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has a new favorite tool: the False Claims Act (FCA).
Historically, the FCA was for catching people who overbilled the government for hammers or healthcare. Now? The DOJ is using it to investigate "Civil Rights Fraud."
Basically, the theory goes like this: when you signed your federal contract, you certified that you follow all federal anti-discrimination laws. The administration now argues that if your company uses DEI programs that "assign benefits or burdens" based on race—like a minority-only internship or a diversity hiring quota—you are technically in violation of those laws.
If you're found to be running an "illegal" DEI program while taking federal money, you could be hit with treble damages. That’s three times the amount of the contract. It’s a massive financial stick being used to force the private sector to mirror the government's retreat from DEI.
The "Merit" Argument vs. The "Barrier" Reality
The shift is framed around a single word: Merit.
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Advocates of the new policies, like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, argue that identity-based programs actually undermine the military and the civil service. The goal is to focus strictly on qualifications. They want a system where a person's background is irrelevant to their career trajectory.
But ask a long-time civil servant, and they’ll tell you it’s rarely that simple.
Critics of this "merit-only" approach point out that removing "A" (Accessibility) from DEIA hits the disability community hard. Without specific mandates to ensure physical and digital accessibility, those "barriers to entry" start creeping back in.
There's also the data problem. The administration has stopped collecting a lot of the race-specific data that used to track health disparities or environmental justice issues. If you stop measuring a problem, does the problem go away? Or do you just lose the ability to see it?
Real Examples: What’s Gone and What’s Different
- The Pentagon: The Department of Defense conducted a massive internal review to identify every instance where race or sex was used as a factor in promotion or assignment. Most of those "diversity initiatives" have been replaced by "Skills-Based Hiring" frameworks.
- HHS & Medical Schools: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) opened investigations into several medical schools that receive federal funding, targeting scholarship programs specifically reserved for underrepresented groups.
- The Language Shift: You won't find the word "equity" in a budget justification anymore. It’s been replaced by "individual initiative" and "excellence."
The "Stuck in the Middle" Effect
The most human side of this is the thousands of federal employees who were hired into DEI-adjacent roles. Many have been placed on administrative leave or reassigned to "student success" or "personnel management" roles where the job description is Vague with a capital V.
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There is a real fear of being reported. A memo circulated in early 2025 actually encouraged staff to report colleagues who were "disguising" DEI efforts under new names. It's created a culture of looking over your shoulder that, frankly, hasn't been seen in D.C. for a long time.
What Should You Actually Do?
If you are a federal contractor or work in a space affected by these shifts, "wait and see" is a dangerous strategy.
First, audit your language. Review every contract, grant application, and internal policy. If you have programs that use "lived experience" or "cultural competence" as hiring criteria, know that the DOJ has explicitly flagged those as red flags for potential fraud investigations.
Second, focus on "Race-Neutral" Compliance. You can still pursue a diverse workforce, but your mechanisms have to be strictly based on socioeconomic status or geographic location—factors that haven't been targeted by the new executive orders.
Third, protect your data. If your organization has been tracking diversity metrics, keep those records secure but be aware that they can now be subpoenaed as evidence of "preferential treatment" rather than "progress."
The reality of dei in federal government in 2026 is that the old playbook is dead. We are in a period of intense litigation and restructuring. Whether this leads to a "fairer" meritocracy or a rollback of civil rights progress is the $900 billion question—and the courts are going to be the ones to answer it.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Review Federal Contract Certifications: Ensure your HR policies don't contradict the new certifications required under EO 14173.
- Transition to Skills-Based Assessments: Shift from identity-focused recruitment to objective, skills-based testing to align with the new "Merit" mandates.
- Consult Legal Counsel on FCA Risk: If you receive federal funds, have a lawyer review your DEI programs for "False Claims Act" exposure before an investigation begins.