Executive Order 14151 represents a comprehensive effort to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) programs throughout the federal government. The order characterizes these initiatives, which were implemented during the Biden administration beginning with Executive Order 13985, as "illegal and immoral discrimination programs" that have infiltrated "virtually all aspects of the Federal Government." According to the order, these programs have resulted in "immense public waste and shameful discrimination." Instead, it establishes a policy aimed at serving "every person with equal dignity and respect" while ensuring taxpayer resources are spent "only on making America great."
The directive mandates the termination of all DEI and DEIA offices, positions, action plans, initiatives, programs, performance requirements, and related activities across federal agencies within sixty days. Specifically, it instructs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), with assistance from the Attorney General and Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), to coordinate this termination process. Agency heads must compile comprehensive lists of all DEI-related positions, committees, programs, budgets, and expenditures that existed as of November 4, 2024, including assessments of whether any such functions have been "misleadingly relabeled." The order also requires identification of federal contractors who provided DEI training and grantees who received funding for DEI or "environmental justice" programs since January 20, 2021.
Implementation responsibility falls primarily to deputy agency heads, who must assess the operational impact and costs of previous DEI programs and recommend actions to align agency activities with the order's stated policy. The Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy is directed to convene monthly meetings with the OMB Director, OPM Director, and deputy agency heads to monitor compliance and progress. These meetings will review the "prevalence and economic and social costs" of DEI programs, discuss implementation barriers, and identify potential areas for additional presidential or legislative action. The order specifies that federal employment practices, including performance reviews, should reward "individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work" without consideration of DEI factors.