President Donald Trump footstomped his agenda to remove all diversity efforts within the ranks on Monday evening by issuing an executive order directly related to the military, a move that comes as the services are working to comply with similar actions issued on his first day in office.
The executive order titled "Restoring America's Fighting Force" aims to "abolish every [diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI] office within the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security," meaning it would apply to all the uniformed services -- including the Coast Guard[1].
Trump's order comes on the heels of his first executive orders signed last week, which already sent the military services scrambling to remove anything they deemed would be related to diversity efforts. Initial actions included removing Air Force[2] groups that advocated for better quality-of-life changes, canceling a wide range of seemingly unrelated Navy[3] policies, and stopping all outward-facing media related to diversity in the Army[4].
"The EO [executive order] and DEI efforts signed last night extend the original EO from issues that more broadly affected all government employees to the specific implementation for uniformed service members," Katherine Kuzminski, the deputy director of studies and the director of the Military, Veterans and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security think tank, told Military.com on Tuesday.
The removal of those diversity efforts in the military was one of several defense-related executive orders signed Monday evening.
While some specific policies related to Trump's executive actions have been cut, none of the services has provided a comprehensive explanation or list of what is deemed in violation of the executive orders. The Pentagon on Tuesday was still unpacking what the latest directive means for the Department of Defense.
"The Department of Defense will fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the
executive orders issued by the president, ensuring that they are carried out with utmost professionalism, efficiency and in alignment with national security objectives. We will provide status updates as we are able," according to a department statement.
Implementation of Trump's initial executive order last week seemingly caused widespread confusion among the services, and even led to the Air Force temporarily removing educational material related to the historic Tuskegee Airmen and female pilots during World War II from the service's boot camp curriculum. The courses were reinstated days after being removed[6] for review if the lessons were in violation of the president's orders.
Notably, Trump's order asks the military to "carefully review the leadership, curriculum and instructors of the United States service academies and other defense academic institutions associated with their respective departments to ensure alignment with this order."
Some programs within the services seem like they may be a clear target for Trump's executive order, such as the Air Force's 2022 initiative to recruit more diverse candidates into the officer corps.
Military.com reported last month[7] that the service failed to reach many of its aspirational and lofty diversity goals in the 2023 and 2024 school years for the Air Force Academy[8] and Reserve Officers' Training Corps, or ROTC[9]. Air Force officials have not disclosed the status of that program to Military.com.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have 30 days to provide guidance to their respective departments, the order says.
Additionally, in 10 days, Hegseth and Noem must submit a report "documenting the progress of their respective departments in implementing this order."
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's nominee to be the military's top weapons buyer is an official who directed the Pentagon to withhold aid from Ukraine in 2019[1] as Trump sought a commitment from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate the Biden family — a key component of the impeachment of Trump[2] in his first term.
That relationship is raising questions among some senators about whether the nominee will follow the law if confirmed for a powerful new position that oversees a budget of $311 billion.
Michael Duffey, Trump's nominee to be undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, served as the associate director at the Office of Management and Budget during Trump's first term.
In that job, he directed the Pentagon in July 2019 to place the hold[3] on $391 million in security assistance for Ukraine. It continued until mid-September as Trump tried to secure an announcement from Zelenskyy about investigating Trump's 2020 election rival Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden on corruption charges tied to the younger Biden's role with the Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
Withholding money for a policy reason is a violation of the 1974 Impoundment Control Act[4], which prohibits the executive branch from freezing funds appropriated by Congress, the branch controlling the power of the purse. The hold on Ukraine aid became a key factor in lawmakers' party-line vote to impeach Trump in December 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate later acquitted[5] him.
In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren told Duffey that his role in withholding aid “raises concerns” about whether he will follow the law if approved for the powerful Pentagon position that oversees a large weapons-buying budget. It has been a gatekeeper for generating more than $66 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.
Kori Schake, a senior fellow and director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, said Duffey's budget-office experience was valuable and should make him an effective weapons buyer for the Pentagon.
But “he and others who favor presidential impoundment of congressionally appropriated funds should be made to commit in confirmation hearings to expending what Congress appropriates,” Schake said.
Warren sent Duffey more than 40 questions in advance of his Senate confirmation hearing that not only seek more information about his part in the 2019 aid pause but ask whether he would be responsive to congressional oversight because he did not comply with a subpoena to testify during Congress' impeachment investigation.
That refusal “bodes poorly for your plans to be honest and open with Congress and the American people when overseeing acquisitions and contracts for programs that uphold our national security,” Warren said in her letter to Duffey.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment Monday about Duffey's nomination or whether his nomination signaled a change in direction for weapons support to Ukraine.
Trump was impeached a second time in 2021 following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
President Donald Trump has moved to again ban transgender people from serving in the military.
In an executive order signed Monday night, Trump directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to craft a policy on transgender troops that reflects the administration's policy that being transgender is "not consistent" with military service.
The order leaves most of the details to the Pentagon to figure out, including what will happen to currently serving transgender troops. But the language in the order goes far beyond arguments that transgender troops present medical challenges to the military and attacks the very idea of being transgender, suggesting Trump is aiming for a more extensive ban than during his first time in office.
"Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual's sex conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honorable, truthful and disciplined lifestyle, even in one's personal life," the order says in its "purpose" section. "A man's assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member."
The order, which follows actions Trump took last week[2] to lay the groundwork for it, gives the Pentagon 30 days to report back on its plans to implement the directive and 60 days to actually update its policy on transgender troops so it reflects the purpose of the executive order and the administration's policy that "high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity and integrity" are inconsistent with being transgender.
One part of the order appears to go into effect immediately: a mandate that, "absent extraordinary operational necessity," the military must separate sleeping quarters and bathrooms by sex assigned at birth, rather than gender identity. That would mean transgender men have to use women's facilities, and transgender women would have to use men's facilities, regardless of what stage of their transition they are in. It also directs Hegseth to "promptly" issue policies to end the use of pronouns that align with gender identity.
The language of the executive order also maligns mental health issues broadly, after years of the military trying with varying degrees of success to reduce the stigma around seeking that type of health care. The purpose of the order states that "many mental and physical health conditions are incompatible with active duty, from conditions that require substantial medication or medical treatment to bipolar and related disorders, eating disorders, suicidality and prior psychiatric hospitalization."
In a statement attributed only to a defense official, the Pentagon said Tuesday it "will fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the executive orders issued by the president, ensuring that they are carried out with utmost professionalism, efficiency, and in alignment with national security objectives."
Hegseth, on his personal social media account, also posted Monday night[3] that "we will execute" the transgender order and other military-related orders Trump signed that night.
Speaking to Military.com on Monday in anticipation of the executive order, Laila Ireland, a transgender Army[4] veteran who is now a civilian federal employee, and her husband, Logan, a currently serving transgender member of the Air Force, said they are ready to continue serving their country as long as they are allowed to.
"When I'm overseas, and let's say we're in a conflict situation where rounds are coming down range, the men and women to my left and right don't care that I'm trans," Logan Ireland said. "They care about me being able to lay effective fire down range and then come to their aid."
Kicking out transgender troops, many of whom serve in senior enlisted ranks, would also "erase decades of institutional knowledge and leadership essential to maintaining operational excellence," added Laila Ireland.
"We're gonna continue to put on our boots and put on our uniform the way that we have before," she said. "We will continue to keep pushing forward because this fight does not just affect trans service members. This fight affects everyone. And when we begin to see that bigger picture, when a lot of folks begin to see the bigger picture and the impact it's going to have, I think at that point we might be too late."
Transgender troops were first allowed to serve openly at the end of the Obama administration in 2016.
But, during Trump's first term in 2017, he announced on social media that he would "not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military."
The formal Pentagon policy that resulted from Trump's social media pronouncement was somewhat more narrow because it allowed transgender troops who came out under the Obama administration policy to keep serving in their gender identity.
Former President Joe Biden lifted Trump's ban during his first week in office in 2021, and transgender troops have been serving openly with no reported issues since then.
On Tuesday, Trump's GOP allies in Congress cheered the return of a transgender military ban.
"President Trump has made it clear: Our military will be focused on protecting our nation," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said in a statement on the transgender ban and other executive orders. "No longer will our military waste time implementing the far-left woke policies of the Biden administration. Our warfighters will be focused on lethality, capability and readiness."
Unlike the order issued Monday that contends that simply being transgender goes against military values, the policy in the first administration focused on medical treatment.
Fears and speculation that Trump would enact a full ban this time and kick out currently serving transgender troops have been swirling since he was elected in November after promising on the campaign trail that he would order "every federal agency to cease the promotion of sex or gender transition at any age."
During his confirmation process, Hegseth repeatedly sidestepped questions about LGBTQ+ troops. Earlier this month, when asked in written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee whether he has any evidence that transgender troops harm readiness, he said only that he was "committed to ensuring that the department's accessions and medical standards provide the structure necessary to create a ready and lethal force."
If the Pentagon were to kick out currently serving transgender troops, it's unclear how many service members would be affected.
Pentagon officials have repeatedly said they do not track the number of transgender troops. But a defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that officials are aware of how many troops have an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria, though those numbers were not readily available.
Gender dysphoria is the medical term for the distress that's caused when someone's gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth, and not all transgender people are diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
A Rand Corp. study from 2016 estimated that somewhere between 1,300 and 6,600 transgender troops were serving at that time. Meanwhile, in a number often cited by advocacy groups, a 2014 report from the University of California Los Angeles' Williams Institute estimated that up to 15,500 transgender adults were serving in the military.
Several lawsuits were filed against the ban on transgender troops during Trump's first term. While advocates had some earlier success in getting courts to block the ban while the lawsuits worked their way through the legal system, the Supreme Court ultimately allowed the ban to take effect in 2019.
Groups who backed the lawsuits challenging the ban in the first Trump administration, including Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal,[5] the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, are already vowing to sue again.
"This is an unprincipled policy based on bias, not facts," Jennifer Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, said in a written statement. "Skill, discipline and courage are what matter to military service. A reckless ban that subjects qualified service members to discharge because of who they are is not only unconstitutional, it is destabilizing to the military itself."
Independent watchdogs at the Defense Department and Department of Veterans Affairs[1] appeared Monday to be among the estimated 18 inspectors general fired by President Donald Trump on Friday.
A full list has yet to be released, but officials for the Defense Department confirmed that DoD Inspector General Robert Storch had been fired. And while the VA declined to comment on the dismissals, a note on its inspector general's website confirmed that VA Inspector General Michael Missal also is among those who was terminated.
Trump's firings -- which violated a 2022 law that requires that Congress be notified in advance -- have sown confusion and apprehension in the federal offices responsible for rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. Both Storch and Missal have overseen investigations in those agencies of issues such as the botched handling of organs, Navy SEAL[2] training safety, misconduct at veterans facilities, and VA bonuses.
DoD spokeswoman Mollie Halpern told Military.com on Monday that Principal Deputy Inspector General Steven Stebbins is now serving as the acting inspector general at the department.
A spokesman for the VA's Office of Inspector General said that the deputy inspector general, David Case, would be stepping into the role until a replacement is named.
"Currently, we are not commenting on the status of the position of inspector general. However, the VA OIG wants to reassure veterans, taxpayers and Congress that our nationwide staff of auditors, inspectors and investigators remain committed to the mission of serving veterans and the public by conducting meaningful independent oversight of VA," the office said in a statement.
As of Monday, the Pentagon had updated its website[4], but Storch's biography page[5] was still online as of publication. Missal's also remained; however, the VA placed a statement on Missal's page saying he was "no longer at the department" and that the page was still up for historical purposes.
Federal law requires the administration to notify Congress 30 days before removing an inspector general. In 2020, Trump provided that notice before firing the State Department's inspector general, but this time he appears to have ignored a law of which he clearly is aware.
The overnight dismissals prompted the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency to write to the White House advising it to consult legal counsel, given the legal notification requirement.
The letter stopped short of saying the group would take action against the administration but advised the White House to reconsider its moves.
"At this point, we do not believe the actions taken are legally sufficient to dismiss presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed inspectors general," wrote Hannibal Ware, the council's chairperson and inspector general for the Small Business Administration.
Storch was confirmed by the Senate in November 2022 and began work in early December.
Under his tenure, the watchdog conducted and released a number of investigations that criticized the actions and inaction of Pentagon leadership and contributed to a better understanding of several major stories that impacted troops and their families.
The watchdog also conducted investigations of issues that arose from national headlines.
In 2023 alone, the agency found that 78 service members[9] were suspected of advocating for the overthrow of the U.S. government and another 44 were suspected of engaging or supporting terrorism.
It also found that Defense Department "personnel did not have the required accountability of the thousands of defense items[10] that they received and transferred" to Ukraine as part of the massive shipments of aid that went out after the country was invaded by Russia.
A year later, it was tasked with investigating the controversial Gaza pier mission[11] after a string of public breakdowns and operational pauses, as well as three injuries, left a lot of unanswered questions about the value the mission brought to the war-torn area.
Military.com found that the Army[12]'s watercraft elements at the heart of the operation may not have been ready for prime time[13] after the boats that were used, which had lingered in obscurity for half a century, were suddenly tasked with one of the Pentagon's highest-profile missions in years.
Meanwhile, Missal has served as the VA's inspector general since 2016, across three administrations. He was appointed by President Barack Obama[16] after leading several high-profile investigations at the Justice Department, including the bankruptcy of a subprime lender that contributed to the recession and an accounting scandal at WorldCom, a long-distance phone carrier, in 2002.
In fiscal 2024, his office published 316 reports and assisted in investigations that led to the arrests of 249 individuals. It received more than 34,000 tips and complaints and conducted 393 investigations.
The report involved allegations that Wilkie took steps to discredit Andrea Goldstein, a Navy Reserve intelligence officer and then-adviser to the House Veterans Affairs Committee, after she said she was groped at the VA Washington DC Medical Center.
In that investigation, Missal cleared Wilkie of an allegation that he actively investigated the former service member or ordered others to dig into her background.
Missal also clashed with the VA's acting secretary[20] in 2018 when he said his office had been blocked from accessing data on whistleblower complaints, in a possible violation of the law.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, released a statement Monday saying that Missal's firing hurts veterans by putting them at risk for "corruption and abuse of power."
"The inspector general is the most important internal watchdog that protects veterans from waste and wrongdoing," Blumenthal wrote in a news release.
"Firing him and eliminating his independent oversight is a betrayal of trust as well as violation of law. Veterans deserve that VA be held accountable to meet the highest standards of efficiency and integrity in health care, benefits and all the services it provides -- a mission the inspector general has been essential to fill," Blumenthal said in the statement.
During a confirmation hearing last week for former Rep. Doug Collins, Trump's pick to serve as VA secretary, Committee Chairman Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said the committee works closely with the VA inspector general.
"I find him valuable both to me and to the committee," Moran said, before asking Collins how he would utilize the IG office.
"Inspector[s] general play a vital role. We're not always going to agree with the outcome, but we can come to a conclusion because ... I'm one of those that believes in gathering a lot of input and then making a decision, so if you're having input from an inspector general who's looking out for the best interest of what the VA is for, then I'll be working with them," Collins said.
In January, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, launched the Inspectors General Caucus, calling their work an invaluable part of her mission to uncover waste, fraud and abuse.
"Inspectors general serve a vital role in uncovering waste in Washington and must be empowered to continue looking out for taxpayers," Ernst said.
Ernst's office did not respond to a request for comment by publication.
