Many years ago, when I was still a fed, the department announced they were going to soon start “implicit bias” training. (To no one’s surprise here I’m sure, this was during the Obama Admin.) As soon as I heard about it, I went to the head of our division and the #2 and self reported that I was going to be guilty of insubordination. When asked for details, I replied that not only would I not attend this training, I would not direct any subordinates to go nor punish any who refused to attend. Being the solid guys they were, they laughed and told me not to worry about it. I found out later the Division head and numerous others at his level had already pushed back and told the powers that be in no uncertain terms it wasn’t happening. Apparently this happened in several other agencies across the department and they backed down.
The former Division head, who is also retired, and I are again working together and every now and then he’ll remind me, jokingly, about my tendency to be insubordinate.