By LOLITA C. BALDOR and TARA COPP, Associated Press
Washington (AP) A future ban on transgender military service is probably in the works after President Donald Trump signed an executive order instructing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to update the Pentagon’s policy on transgender troops.
On Hegseth’s first day, he also announced new rollbacks in diversity programs, ordered the reinstatement of personnel who had been ejected or voluntarily left for refusing COVID-19 immunizations, and provided for the deployment of a space-based missile defense shield for the United States.
The precise wording of the expected directives was not released until late Monday, although Trump and Hegseth had discussed some of them during the day.
Transgender order
There had been widespread expectations of a transgender ban, and Trump’s directive essentially lays the groundwork for one in the future while instructing Hegseth to devise the policy’s implementation.
Trump stated in his order that military readiness is harmed by soldiers who identify as a gender other than their biological one and that their service conflicts with their commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in their personal lives. As a result, a revised policy is needed to address the issue.
During his first administration, Trump attempted to outlaw transgender troops, but the plan was entangled in legal proceedings for years before being revoked by then-President Joe Biden soon after he took office.
Lambda Legal and Human Rights Campaign, two organizations who initially represented transgender military, pledged to fight once more.
According to Sasha Buchert, an attorney with Lambda Legal, “we have been here before and were able to successfully block the earlier administration’s effort seven years ago.” Such a move is not only exceptionally harmful and wrong, but it also jeopardizes our nation’s safety and security. We will litigate, just like we said we would back then.
Space-based missile defense
Trump created the U.S. Space Force, which recently celebrated its fifth birthday, and U.S. Space Command during his first term as president. The president has now ordered the Pentagon to start developing the ability to take down missiles from space, demonstrating his continued commitment to space.
The United States has warned for years that Russia, China, and others are using space as weapons. Information regarding both nations’ attempts to develop offensive weapons, such as the ability to take satellites out of orbit, temporarily blind them, or maybe destroy them, has occasionally been declassified.
To better track and identify possible missile launches, the Space Force is constructing a low-orbit ring of redundant satellites.
However, since the Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars as it was popularly known, was proposed by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, the United States has not sought to develop a method of shooting missiles down from space. Due to financial constraints and technological restrictions, the system was never developed.
Trump asked for the creation and deployment of space-based interceptors as part of his Iron Dome for America order, which called for a layered missile defense system that could counter a variety of threats to the United States.
COVID-19 vaccination
In 2021, at least 8,200 soldiers were ejected from the service for defying a valid order by refusing to receive the vaccination. Only 113 have reenlisted after notices were handed out in 2023 telling them they could return.
Those who now wish to return must fulfill military admission requirements in order to be reinstated. Hegseth and Trump have often said that the military cannot lower standards.
Speaking to a Republican audience at his resort, the Trump National Doral Miami, Trump declared, “We will offer full reinstatement to any service member who was expelled from the armed forces due to the COVID vaccine mandate.” And we’ll give them full compensation and return them to their previous position.
The rule offers the same opportunity to those who sign a sworn declaration stating that they voluntarily left the service to avoid the vaccine, in addition to troops who are expelled for refusing the shot.
It is not anticipated that the directive will significantly affect the number of returning service members. However, since it calls for back compensation, it might dig into the budget if more are done now.
Everyone must meet weight, fitness, and medical conditions in order to return, and those who currently have a criminal record or another disqualifying circumstance may be turned away. Recommissioning officers is a straightforward appointment procedure.
The services report that 1,903 Army soldiers were released and 73 returned, 1,878 sailors were released and two returned, 671 airmen were released and 13 returned, and 3,748 Marines were released and 25 chose to re-enlist.
In August 2021, the Pentagon mandated that all military personnel, including those in the National Guard and Reserve, receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Getting the vaccine, according to then-defense secretary Lloyd Austin, is essential to keeping a fit, ready military that is ready to defend the country.
In January 2023, the Pentagon formally rescinded the directive.
According to defense officials at the time, many soldiers seemed to utilize the vaccination requirement as a quick and simple means to avoid serving their time.
DEI initiatives
As anticipated, Trump also issued an executive order to eliminate all diversity, equity, and inclusion-related programs, initiatives, and references throughout the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security-run Coast Guard.
The decree aims to eradicate any traces of such programs that support a system of preferences based on race that undermines meritocracy, upholds unconstitutional discrimination, and fosters divisive ideas or gender ideology.
It forbids the departments from endorsing or adopting un-American notions that debate gender ideology, promote divisive ideas like sex or racial stereotyping, or imply that America’s foundational documents are racist or sexist.
According to the directive, the secretaries of homeland security and defense must provide guidelines for putting the directive into effect within 30 days. The defense secretary must evaluate it within ninety days to identify any instances of measures conducted in pursuit of DEI.
Within six months, the secretaries are required to report their progress to the White House.
Trump’s initial order to terminate DEI programs across the U.S. government has far-reaching effects, and the Pentagon was already taking action to comply. Agencies were adopting a broad approach to eliminating any content that appeared to violate Trump’s ban in the absence of stronger guidance.
During that time, DEI training classes for the Air Force’s basic military training featured movies of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen and World War II Women’s Air Force Service Pilots, or WASPs. There was a commotion last week when videos of the Tuskegee Airmen and WASPs were pulled down along with the courses.
WASPs were essential to the military’s ability to transport warplanes. Serving in a segregated WWII regiment, the Tuskegee Airmen were the country’s first Black military pilots. Their all-Black 332nd Fighter Group had one of the lowest loss records among all the bomber escorts during the war.
The Air Force made it clear on Sunday that the Tuskegee Airmen and WASP material will still be taught, but that the DEI courses had been taken out to be revised.