Trump signs order that likely sets in motion a future ban on transgender troops
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to revise the Pentagon’s policy on transgender troops, likely setting in motion a future ban on their military service.
He also ordered troops to be reinstated who had been booted for refusing COVID-19 vaccines, outlined new rollbacks in diversity programs and provided for the deployment of a space-based missile defense shield for the U.S. just after Hegseth began his first day on the job.
Both Trump and Hegseth had described parts of the anticipated orders throughout the day, but the exact language did not drop until late Monday evening.
A transgender ban had been widely expected, and the order Trump signed largely sets in motion a future ban — but directs Hegseth to come up with how that would be implemented in policy.
In his order, Trump claimed that service by troops who identify as a gender other than their biological one “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness, requiring a revised policy to address the matter.
Trump had tried to impose a ban on transgender troops during his first term, but it was tangled up in the courts for years before being overturned by then-President Joe Biden shortly after he took office.
Lawyers for transgender troops who challenged the ban in the courts during Trump’s first term have already pledged to fight the new ban.
During his first term in office Trump established U.S. Space Command and the U.S. Space Force, which just marked its fifth birthday. Space continues to be a priority for the president, who has now directed the Pentagon to begin to develop the capability to shoot down missiles from space.
For years the U.S. has cautioned that China, Russia and others were weaponizing space. It has at times declassified information about both countries' efforts to create offensive weapons to disable critical U.S. satellites, including the capability to move satellites from orbit, temporarily blind them or potentially even destroy them. The Space Force is in the process of building a low-orbit ring of redundant satellites that can more quickly track and detect potential missile launches.
But establishing a way to shoot missiles down from space is something the U.S. has not considered since President Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative — “Star Wars” as it was commonly known — in the 1980s. The system was never developed due to cost and technological limitations.
In his order late Monday called “an Iron Dome for America,” Trump called for a multi-layer missile defense system capable of countering an array of threats to the U.S., to include development and deployment of space-based interceptors.
At least 8,200 troops were forced out of the military in 2021 for refusing to obey a lawful order when they declined to get the vaccine. Notices advising them they could return were sent out in 2023, but just 113 have reenlisted.
The reinstatement process for those ousted for refusing the vaccine requires that they meet military entry standards, unless Trump opts to change that. He and Hegseth, however, have persistently stated that the military must not reduce standards.
″We will offer full reinstatement to any service member who was expelled from the armed forces due to the COVID vaccine mandate,” Trump told a Republican crowd at the Trump National Doral Miami, a resort he owns. “And we will restore them to their former rank with full pay. ″
The order isn’t expected to have a major impact on the number of service members returning. But it could take a bite out of the budget if more do now, since it requires back pay.
They would have to meet weight, fitness, medical and other requirements, and they could be refused if they now have a criminal record or other disqualifying factor. Officers would have to get recommissioned, which is a simple appointment process.
According to the services, 3,748 Marines were discharged, and 25 have opted to re-enlist; 1,903 Army soldiers were discharged, and 73 returned; 1,878 sailors were discharged and two returned; 671 airmen were discharged and 13 returned.
The Pentagon made the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory in August 2021 for all service members, including the National Guard and Reserve. At that time, the pandemic was still killing and sickening tens of thousands around the country, and troops were being used to help get people vaccinated.
Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said getting the vaccine was critical to maintaining a heathy, ready force that could be prepared to defend the nation. The Pentagon formally dropped the mandate in January 2023, as a result of legislation signed into law.
Defense officials said then that many troops appeared to use the vaccine mandate as a way to quickly and easily to get out of their service obligations. And officials on Monday said many of those service members had gotten new jobs and moved on with their lives, and didn’t want to reenlist.
Trump also, as expected, issued a sweeping order to abolish all programs, initiatives and mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion across the Defense Department and the Coast Guard, which is governed by the Department of Homeland Security.
The order looks to scrub “any vestiges” of such initiatives that seek to “promote a race-based preferences system that subverts meritocracy, perpetuates unconstitutional discrimination, and promotes divisive concepts or gender ideology.”
It prohibits the departments from promoting or following “un-American” theories that suggest that America’s founding documents are racist or sexist; that discuss gender ideology; and that promote “divisive concepts” such as “race or sex stereotyping.”
The order says the defense and homeland security secretaries must issue guidance to implement the order in 30 days. It calls for a review to find any instances of actions taken in pursuit of DEI, which will be due to the defense secretary in 90 days.
The secretaries must submit a report to the White House in six months outlining their progress.
The Pentagon had already been taking steps to comply with his initial DEI ban, and it has had far-reaching consequences. Without clearer direction, agencies have been taking a broad approach to removing any content that seemed to run afoul of Trump's ban.
That temporarily included videos of the storied Tuskegee Airmen and World War II Women's Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, which were part of DEI training courses for the Air Force's basic military training. Videos on both the Tuskegee Airmen and WASPs were removed as the courses were taken down last week, causing an uproar.
WASPs were vital in ferrying warplanes for the military. The Tuskegee Airmen were the nation’s first Black military pilots, serving in a segregated WWII unit, and their all-Black 332nd Fighter Group had one of the lowest loss records of all the bomber escorts in the war.
On Sunday, the Air Force clarified that the DEI courses had been removed to be edited but that the Tuskegee Airmen and WASP content would continue to be taught.
“The revised training which focuses on the documented historic legacy and decorated valor with which these units and Airmen fought for our Nation in World War II and beyond will continue on 27 January,” the Air Force said in a statement.
Hegseth didn't mention the issue as he walked into the Pentagon Monday morning accompanied by Gen. CQ Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But in other comments, Hegseth said that “military training will be focused on the readiness of what our troops in the field need to deter our enemies.”
Hegseth is also continuing to focus on the border, and told reporters gathered on the steps of the Pentagon that “whatever is needed at the border will be provided,” using active-duty, National Guard and state-activated Guard troops.
Hegseth was approved by the Senate Friday night in a tie vote that had to be broken by Vice President JD Vance.
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