As I suggested in a post this morning, it’s an error to think we can impose requirements on the status quo and not risk any loss of what we have.  “Diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) principles are the archetype of this thinking.  Admittedly, I don’t know whether a U.S. Navy officer who didn’t notice that the scope on his AR was backwards, among other errors, in a photo-op — not to mention the assistants who prepared it and the media professionals who developed and promoted the post — was a victim of DEI, but it’s a good warning sign, nonetheless.

The more we prioritize things that are irrelevant (at best, nice to have) to jobs, the more likely it is that the people who take them will lack some other experience.  We don’t live in a world in which there are just so many identically good candidates for every role that new requirements will have no effect.  Pretending otherwise is going to get a lot of people killed.