The Navy was made aware as far back as March of racy photos posted on the Instagram account of one its Navy Digital Ambassadors who is an active-duty sailor and drag queen, but had indicated the photos were OK, Breitbart News has exclusively learned.
In March, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel chairman, asked the Navy about the Instagram account of 2nd Class Petty Officer Joshua Kelley, which shows Kelley — who goes by his stage name “Harpy Daniels” — dressed in drag, lingerie, underwear bottoms, or nothing. One photo is captioned with the hashtag “f-ckboi.”
The Navy indicated to Banks that Kelley’s posts were OK, since they did not violate Department of Defense policy, which states that service members can maintain a personal social media presence as long as it is clearly marked as personal and not endorsed by the DOD.
The Navy added:
The Navy’s Office of Information will continue to ensure that the social media accounts of the five Sailors currently recognized as Navy Digital Ambassadors do not imply DoD or Navy sanction or endorsement of their personal social media content.
However, at the same time, the Navy acknowledged that its “Navy Digital Ambassadors” (NDAs) were asked to use their personal accounts for the purpose of attracting new recruits to the Navy, while adding a disclaimer their views did not represent those of the Navy.
“The Navy’s Office of Information identified five Sailors to volunteer to use their unofficial personal social media platforms to share their Navy experiences with their respective social media communities/followers,” the Navy said.
“The Navy does not sanction or endorse the personal content of NDAs, but recognizes that the five NDAs are using social media to bring their personal lives and stories as Sailors to audiences unfamiliar with the Navy,” it added.
“As part of the pilot NDA program, the five Sailors recognized as NDAs must indicate that all their content is created and shared in a personal capacity by including a disclaimer that their personal social media platforms do not officially represent the DoD or DON.”
The Navy also said that its ambassadors can forward, like, or link to official information, provided it does not imply DOD endorsement.
The Navy said the pilot program was established in October 2022. “In response to the recruiting challenges facing all the military services, the Navy is exploring new ways to connect with young people and encourage them to consider military service,” it told Banks. The service also indicated it plans to formally establish the “Navy Digital Ambassador Program.”
Banks, a Navy veteran, said in an exclusive statement to Breitbart News:
The Biden DoD’s embrace of far-left politics is dividing Americans while our adversaries like Russia and China are overjoyed. The historic recruitment shortfall is one of the most serious national-security problems we face today, and the DoD isn’t going to fix it by doubling down on the radical-left policies that got us here to begin with.
Public awareness of the Navy’s drag queen “digital ambassador” comes as Anheuser-Busch is facing major backlash for creating a Bud Light can with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s face on it last month. Its sales have since plummeted.
Follow Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong on Twitter, Truth Social, or on Facebook.