The National Security Agency (NSA) is set to carry out a “Big Delete” of websites and internal network content containing any of 27 banned words. The list includes terms like “privilege,” “bias,” and “inclusion.”
The move is meant to comply with former President Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). However, it is causing unintended consequences.
An NSA source says the process is “very chaotic” but moving forward. On February 10, all NSA websites and internal pages with the banned words will be deleted. The list has terms used by the NSA in contexts unrelated to DEI.
For example, “privilege” refers to techniques adversaries use to gain higher permissions on a system or network. The purge affects the NSA’s internal network, including project management software. The NSA tries to identify mission-related sites before the “Big Delete” but lacks enough staff.
The NSA’s network has existed since the 1990s, making a manual review difficult. Interns from the Data Science Development Program are working to minimize false positives. Still, the NSA expects “unintended downtime” of mission-related websites.
NSA’s chaotic compliance overhaul
Trump’s orders claim to target “anti-American propaganda,” but the banned-word list shows a broader scope. Even terms like “confirmation bias,” referring to the tendency to accept information supporting existing beliefs, are included.
Since Trump took office, thousands of federal web pages have been changed or removed. A Washington Post analysis found 662 examples across 8,000 pages, with DEI terms removed at least 231 times. Some websites have removed mentions of transgender and intersex individuals.
The State Department altered a page for LGBTQI travelers to only address “LGB” concerns. The Social Security Administration made similar changes. Federal agencies have also been removing mentions of climate change.
The Department of Agriculture unpublished its climate change pages, and The Department of Transportation replaced “climate change” with “climate resilience.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) took down over 3,000 web pages, temporarily making data like the Youth Risk Behavior Survey unavailable. Last week, Doctors for America sued the Trump administration for removing health resources and data from government websites.
They argue it hinders public health policy and response.
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