Trump Plans a Flurry of Executive Actions at the Pentagon Banning DEI, Transgender Servicemembers

President Trump will soon sign more executive orders to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion programs — among other things — at the Department of Defense, delivering on a promise to eliminate “wokeness” from the federal government entirely. The goal is to focus the Pentagon to its core mission of “lethality,” as the new secretary of defense likes to say. “There are more executive orders coming that we fully support,” Secretary Hegseth told reporters as he arrived at the Pentagon on Monday morning. “On removing DEI inside the Pentagon, reinstating troops who were pushed out because of Covid mandates, Iron Dome for America.”“This is happening quickly,” the secretary added. Mr. Trump has signed hundreds of executive orders just in his first week as president and Congress begins working on his major legislative proposals. Mr. Trump’s first executive order on DEI programs was aimed at all of government, but he will now be laying out exact measures with Mr. Hegseth to abolish DEI offices and teachings within the military. On his first day in office, Mr. Trump signed his anti-DEI order, defining the practices as “public waste and shameful discrimination.” Departments were directed to “terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI … offices and positions; all ‘equity action plans,’ ‘equity’ actions, initiatives, or programs, ‘equity-related’ grants or contracts; and all DEI or DEIA performance requirements for employees, contractors, or grantees.”One Pentagon official apparently took the anti-DEI executive orders too far over the weekend in deciding to remove a course from the Air Force that focused on the Tuskegee Airmen — the all-Black fighter pilot unit that fought in World War II. The unit was based in Alabama, which led one of the state’s senators to decry the suspension of the Tuskegee Airmen class. “I have no doubt Secretary Hegseth will correct and get to the bottom of the malicious compliance we’ve seen in recent days,” Senator Britt wrote on X. “As the Pentagon under @PeteHegseth’s leadership restores its focus to lethality, there is no greater historical example of a highly skilled, valiant fighting force than the Tuskegee Airmen.” The Pentagon promptly restarted the Air Force class on the airmen after her concerns were raised. Mr. Trump will also reinstate his ban on transgender servicemembers, which he first signed in 2017 but was later reversed by the Biden administration. According to the Palm Center, there were just fewer than 15,000 transgender people serving in the military circa 2018. According to a copy of the executive order that was first obtained by the New York Post, under the new directives, the Pentagon will make “no accommodation for anything less than resilience, strength, and the ability to withstand extraordinary physical demands.”“Individuals who are unable to meet these requirements are unable to serve in the military. This has been the case for decades,” the order states“It can take a minimum of 12 months for an individual to complete treatments after transition surgery, which often involves the use of heavy narcotics. During this period, they are not physically capable of meeting military readiness requirements and require ongoing medical care. This is not conducive for deployment or other readiness requirements,” it reads. Mr. Trump’s first transgender military ban did have exceptions for those already serving, however. Those who had been “stable for 36 consecutive months in their biological sex prior to accession” would be allowed to stay. The president also hopes to help those servicemembers who were relieved of duty during the Biden administration for not complying with the government’s Covid vaccine mandate. More than 8,000 members of the military were forced out of the job as a result of that policy, and by 2024, only 43 had rejoined under a new government order allowing them to return. Mr. Hegseth says those who left will not only be reinstated at their proper rank, but they will receive full pay as well. “Tens of thousands of service members were kicked out because of an experimental vaccine,” Mr. Hegseth said at his confirmation hearing, miscounting the total number of those who left. “They will be apologized to. They will be reinstated, reinstituted with pay and rank.”

Trump Plans a Flurry of Executive Actions at the Pentagon Banning DEI, Transgender Servicemembers

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