US Army Health Chief Telita Crosland Removed Amid Policy Shifts

Lieutenant General Telita Crosland, a top executive of the U.S. military’s health agency and one of the Army’s most senior Black female officers, was compelled to retire on Friday, two sources informed Reuters. Her retirement follows just one week after President Donald Trump fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other top officers in an unprecedented shake-up of the military.

While Crosland’s resignation was made public, Reuters initially reported that she was forced into retirement instead of voluntarily leaving office.

Retirement Announcement Stirs Questions

Acting assistant secretary of defense for health affairs Stephen Ferrara has confirmed Crosland’s retirement in a Friday statement.

I would like to thank Telita Crosland for her commitment to the country, to the military medical system, and Army medicine for the last 32 years,” Ferrara said.

But a current and a former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that Crosland was directed to retire without being told why. The Pentagon had no comment on the issue and referred questions to the Defense Health Agency, which has yet to respond.

Pentagon’s Policy Shift Under Trump Administration

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth moved quickly to shut down diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts at the Pentagon, claiming these programs breed division. This past month, Hegseth put his head into the news headlines when he called the words “diversity is our strength” “the single dumbest phrase in military history.”

Further, Hegseth has dropped observances of identity-based events, including Black History Month and Women’s History Month, throughout the military.

DEI initiatives seek to offer women, ethnic minorities, and other underrepresented groups opportunities. Though broadly endorsed by Democrats, they are opposed by conservatives who claim they erode merit-based systems. Civil rights activists, however, maintain they are necessary to remedy systemic disparities and entrenched structural racism.

View of Telita Crosland on Race and Gender in the Military

In a piece written last year on the Defense Health Agency website, Crosland spoke about her view of identity in the military.

“I don’t think about anything I do day-in and day-out in terms of my race or my gender. That’s always been a difficult question for me to answer,” she said.

“It’s not that I don’t get the responsibility. Of course, some difficulties result from being a woman in the military, some difficulties result from being African American, and serving in the military.”

With the Pentagon changing at a lightning pace under Trump’s tenure, Crosland’s mandatory retirement comes on the heels of increasing scrutiny over the administration’s strategy regarding diversity in the military.