The Pentagon’s acting inspector general warned Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin of “potential noncompliance” when denying the religious exemption requests from service members who did not want to take the coronavirus vaccine, according to a memo obtained by Breitbart News.
The June 2, 2022, memo from Acting Inspector General Sean W. O’Donnell to Austin said the potential noncompliance by the Department of Defense was identified through complaints submitted to the DOD IG’s office.
“The Department of Defense (DOD) Hotline received dozens of complaints regarding denied religious accommodation requests from Service members. We found a trend of generalized assessments rather than the individualized assessment that is required by Federal law and DoD and Military Service policies,” O’Donnell wrote.
He added:
The denial memorandums we reviewed generally did not reflect an individualized analysis, demonstrating that the Senior Military Official considered the full range of facts and circumstances relevant to the particular religious accommodation request.
He said the volume and rate at which decisions were made to deny requests is “concerning,” finding an average of 50 denials a day processed over a 90-day period.
“Assuming a 10-hour work day with no breaks or attention to other matters, the average review period was about 12 minutes for each package. Such a review period seems insufficient to process each. request in an individualized manner and still perform the duties required of their position,” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell cited in a footnote applicable laws and regulations, which include the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), which prohibits the government from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, unless the government “demonstrates that application of the burden to the person — (1) is in furtherance of a compelling government interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling government interest.”
He also cited DoD Instruction 1300.17, “Religious Liberty in the Military Services,” paragraph 3.2.d. , which requires that officials charged with making recommendations or taking final action on a service member’s request for accommodation of religious practices will review each request individually, considering the full range of facts and circumstances relevant to the specific request.
O’Donnell also noted that the DOD IG has recently announced an Audit of Military Departments’ Processing of Coronavirus Disease-2019 Vaccination Exemptions and Disciplinary Action for Active Duty Service Members.”
“The objective of this audit is to determine whether the Military Departments are processing exemption requests for the COVID-19 vaccination and taking disciplinary actions for active duty Service members in accordance with Federal and DoD guidance,” he added.
The memo, which was first reported by a military whistleblower who goes by the name “Terminal CWO,” is accompanied by another memo showing that it was not until three months later, on September 2, 2022, that Austin forwarded the DOD IG memo to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness for “appropriate action.”
Austin said in his memo to the undersecretary:
Mandatory vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is necessary to protect the Force and ensure its readiness to defend the American people. Uniform standards must be applied to all requests for medical or administrative exemption in a manner consistent with the law and DoD policy, including DoD Instruction 6205.02, ‘DoD Immunization Program,’ and DoD Instruction 1300.17, ‘Religious Liberty in the Military Services.’
The DoD Office of Inspector general transmitted the attached Info Memo regarding information it received and reviewed concerning denials of religious accommodation requests from COVID-19 vaccination requirements. I am referring the Info Memo to you for appropriate action, in coordination with the Secretaries of the Military Departments and the DoD Office of General Counsel, as necessary and appropriate.
Although Austin did not say whether he was aware of the DOD IG’s stated concerns, the occurrence of blanket denials of service members’ religious accommodation requests was no secret.
Breitbart News reported as early as November 2021 that the Marine Corps was using form and language when denying Marines’ requests for religious exemptions from the vaccine mandate, despite a legal requirement to consider each request individually.
The Biden administration first ordered the vaccine mandate in August 2021, giving active duty service members roughly six months and Army reservists almost a year to be “fully-vaccinated” or face punishment including involuntary discharge. At least 7,444 service members have already been kicked out, but tens of thousands more await adjudication of their religious and medical exemption requests.
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, member of the House Armed Services Committee, and naval reservist, took note of O’Donnell’s memo.
“The Biden DoD illegally violated servicemembers’ religious liberty. No wonder recruiting is at an all time low!” he tweeted.
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