The recent removal of nearly 400 books from the U.S. Naval Academy library is ideological censorship, wrong, foolish and demeaning.

It’s wrong because it’s based on extending President Trump’s January 29 Executive Order -- Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling -- to include U.S. military academies.

The academies are not high schools; certainly not elementary schools. They’re known for rigorous academic standards and curriculums. Home to the some of the nation’s best and brightest young adult minds. People sworn to service and country. And their government tells them what they can’t read? That’s wrong.

It’s foolish because the 381 books purged from shelves of the 590,000-volume Nimitz Library on the academy’s Annapolis campus are, like everything these days, available on the Internet. Which I’m betting all 4,500 or so Midshipmen (the word applies to males and females) are familiar with. Banning stuff anybody can see if they want to is foolish.

It’s demeaning because it devalues and culturally cancels scholars and authors who seek to expand knowledge with context and insight. In this case, that includes two Franklin & Marshall College faculty members, Gregory Kaliss and M. Alison Kibler.

The academy banned Kaliss’ book, “Men’s College Athletics and the Politics of Racial Equality” (Temple University Press: 2014); Kibler’s, “Censoring Racial Ridicule: Irish, Jewish and African-American Struggles over Race and Representation, 1890-1920” (University of North Carolina Press: 2015).

The two wrote an op-ed piece for LNP/Lancaster Online that said, in part, “We firmly believe that no books should be removed from library shelves for political reasons, and certainly not at the college level…Shouldn’t future military officers be exposed to a wide range of viewpoints and historical events before they lead our service members and represent our country?”

Yes, they should. And the academy’s ban is political censorship.

For clarity, the other service academies reportedly have undertaken library and curriculum reviews. But none, at this writing, had removed books from libraries.

At the Naval Academy, books were pulled at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to the Associated Press. And, according to an academy spokesman, “To ensure compliance with all directives outlined in Executive Orders issued by the President.”

Books were removed a day before a scheduled Hegseth visit. They weren’t burned, which I guess is something, but stored in a room unavailable to library patrons (no doubt now known as “The Book Brig”).

Most offending works focus on race, gender, feminism, the Holocaust, transgender issues. Anything hinting at DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion). The best-known title among the purged is the late poet and civil rights icon Maya Angelou’s 1969 autobiography, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

The ban drew lots of criticism. It was nicely summed up by a Naval Academy graduate and former commander of all U.S. forces in Europe, Retired Admiral James Stavridis. He told The New York Times , “Book banning can be a canary in a coal mine and could predict a stifling of free speech and thought. Books that challenge us make us stronger. We need officers who are educated, not indoctrinated.”

Clearly, service academies follow orders from their Commander in Chief. But no Commander-in-Chief should encourage censorship that can restrict understanding, tolerance and knowledge — especially not at institutions with students likely to be national leaders in the military and other sectors.

The academies should jointly seek reprieve from censorship. The Naval Academy should lead the effort. Its motto is Ex Scientia Tridens (From Knowledge, Sea Power). Better to be known for expanding knowledge than for banning books.

John Baer