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3/17/2025
“Great Falls This Week” is reported and written by Matt Hudson. Send your news and tips to [email protected].
Media posts and articles stricken from the base’s record
In February, the Department of Defense under Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the removal of social media posts, images and articles that promote “diversity, equity and inclusion,” commonly known as DEI. The order follows a larger Trump administration directive across the federal government.
The DEI removals targeted a variety of content that told stories about Air Force service members stationed at Malmstrom. The removed posts include airmen-led events at Malmstrom that recognize specific cultures, such as Hispanic Heritage Month, American Indian Heritage Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. They often included quotes from service members who helped plan the events.
“There are a lot of airmen on this base who feel extremely empowered to improve things for themselves and their fellow airmen in regards to diversity and inclusion,” said Maj. Rashida Brown in a 2021 article about Black History Month events that is now deleted.
Brown was a 341st Medical Group practice manager and program director for the 341st Missile Wing’s diversity and inclusion program, according to the article.
(The links to Malmstrom articles included here have all been removed from Air Force websites but were preserved via the Internet Archive.)
The now-deleted material includes the story of Senior Airman Connor Crawn, a Malmstrom service member who was the first Indigenous airman to be granted a religious hair exemption from the Air Force. With the exemption, he was able to grow and braid his hair in accordance with his Kanien’kehà:ka faith. The story received local and national press coverage, as well as a lengthy article on the Malmstrom website that has now been removed.
Photos of Malmstrom visits by Air Force leaders have also been removed. In March 2024, Maj. Gen. Stacy Huser, 20th Air Force commander, visited the Great Falls base and spoke with members of the 341st Civil Engineer Squadron fire department. Those photos were removed from Air Force websites because the visit was labeled as part of Women’s History Month.
Recent news of Air Force DEI content has also focused on the removals of the World War II bomber plane Enola Gay, supposedly due to the inclusion of its name. That sort of keyword targeting may have led to the removal of a 2019 essay by a Malmstrom deputy missile combat crew commander who traveled to Washington, D.C., to celebrate veterans of the 490th Bomber Squadron.
The 1,800-word essay from 1st Lt. Ariana Henry doesn’t mention themes of diversity, equity and inclusion. Rather, it makes two mentions of the Enola Gay, which dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. Henry wrote about touring the Pentagon, the Udvar-Hazy Center and Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, where she talked shop with a P-51 fighter pilot veteran.
As part of a larger Air Force initiative, Malmstrom until recently had a diversity and inclusion council on base that planned related events. A Malmstrom spokesperson confirmed to Montana Free Press that the council at the base had been disbanded. A statement provided by Air Force Global Strike Command said that Hegseth has prohibited the use of “official resources, to include man-hours, to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness months.”
Hegseth has created a working group called the “Restoring America’s Fighting Force Task Force” to carry out the administration’s anti-DEI initiatives.
In multiple deleted articles from Malmstrom, diversity and equity were described as a “force multiplier” and ways to make the Air Force “more lethal than we were.”
While DEI initiatives commonly touched on cultural backgrounds, other Air Force content approached the topic more broadly. In one now-deleted 2014 essay, Malmstrom airman Lt. Col. Sean McNamara reflected on the diversity of ideas and perspectives that brought strength to the Air Force.
“Oftentimes when we hear the word ‘diversity’ we think of race, religion and gender,” he wrote, “but forget about how each of us were raised and learned in different environments. It is that diversity of our individual ideas, thought processes and problem-solving which I consider to be one of the Air Force’s greatest collective assets.”
Photo Op
The evening sky was impressive over Great Falls on March 12. This reporter wasn’t the only one parked along River Road to watch the show.
Calling all photographers: Submit a photo for Great Falls This Week to [email protected].
5 Things to Know in Great Falls
On March 11, Cascade County commissioners approved an 80% tax abatement for the Calumet petroleum refinery that will be applied to equipment worth $6.1 million. The tax break is granted under state law, and commissioners had to decide whether to set the reduction at 80%, 90% or 100%. The city of Great Falls also backed the 80% option. The tax break saves Calumet about $598,000 over a decade.
Leave the dictionary at home for Great Falls Public Library’s annual wordmeister contest set for March 20. Hosted by Art Taft and moderated by former library Director Jim Heckel, teams will test their vocabularies and vie for the wordmeister honors. The contest is at 6 p.m. in the library’s Cordingley Room.
It’s Western Art Week in the Electric City. Check out Visit Great Falls’ full schedule of events across town. The C.M. Russell Museum website has information for The Russell auction, including an event schedule, art catalog and more.
Great Falls Planning and Community Development staff will give a presentation on the ongoing growth policy project on March 19 at The Dark Horse (in the basement of Celtic Cowboy). Hosted by Great Falls Rising, the presentation will touch on the development of the growth policy, land use and community services. A Q-and-A session will follow the main presentation. The event is at 6 p.m.
In a special meeting set for March 17, Cascade County commissioners will consider rezoning a parcel of land for the new Belt-Armington dump site. The planned location is next to the former dump site just off Highway 89. County officials have said they plan to get the disposal site up and running soon, as the former dump has been closed since December. Read more about that decision here.
Public Notice
The Great Falls City Commission will convene Tuesday for three separate meetings. In a special commission meeting at 4:30 p.m., commissioners will conduct an annual performance and salary review for City Manager Greg Doyon.
At 5:30 p.m., the commission’s work session will provide information on the State and Local Partnership Act grant program, city code changes and a grant opportunity for the Union Bethel African American Methodist Episcopal Church. More information about the church grant can be found in this November newsletter.
The 7 p.m., the regular city commission meeting agenda includes public hearings about permitting an expansion at the Mountain View Evangelical church and the use of tax increment financing money for upgrades at the Times Square building downtown.
All meetings take place on the second floor of the Civic Center.
