WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boasted on social media Tuesday that he had dismantled a program supporting women on security teams, an initiative that he called “woke” but actually was signed into law by his boss, President Donald Trump.
In a post on the social platform X, Hegseth called the “Women, Peace & Security” program at the Defense Department “a UNITED NATIONS program pushed by feminists and left-wing activists. Politicians fawn over it; troops HATE it.”
It was, in fact, bipartisan legislation that Trump signed into law in 2017 that recognized the role women have in achieving security goals, especially overseas when their male counterparts may not be able to question or have direct access to women for cultural or religious reasons.
It’s the latest controversial move from Hegseth as the Pentagon works to nix programs or content seen as promoting diversity, equity or inclusion. After Trump ordered federal agencies to purge DEI content, the Pentagon issued a broad edict to the military services that ignited public outcry when online images of national heroes like Jackie Robinson were briefly removed.
A spokesman for Hegseth did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the secretary’s post.
Some of Trump’s Cabinet officials supported the Women, Peace and Security program when it was moving through the legislative process. And Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress this month that the program had helped troops in battle.
“When we would go out into the field after concluding an assault, we would have female members who would speak with those women and children who were on the objective, and they would help us to understand the human terrain in a new and novel way,” Caine said during his April confirmation hearing.
Trump met and became endeared to Caine when Caine was serving in Iraq, part of the reason Trump nominated him to the chairmanship.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, while representing South Dakota in Congress, wrote the House version of the 2017 Women, Peace and Security Act with Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who as a senator co-sponsored the Senate version of that bill, said this month that it was “the first law passed by any country in the world focused on protecting women and promoting their participation in society.”
The legislation stemmed from a resolution unanimously endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, the most powerful U.N. body, in October 2000, aimed at including women in peacebuilding efforts because women and girls have historically borne the brunt of global conflict.
“It’s no secret that women remain largely on the periphery of formal peace processes and decision making, which is not good for the cause of peace,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in response to Hegseth’s comments Tuesday.
Dujarric added that “one of the real-life impacts of the Women, Peace and Security program has been the increasing number of women peacekeepers who serve in U.N. missions, which has had a very clear, measurable and positive impact on the protection of civilians in conflict zones.”
Hegseth’s post drew fire from Democratic lawmakers who are continuing to question his qualifications for the job following his use of the commercial app Signal to share sensitive military operations with other officials, his wife and brother.
“Hegseth has absolutely no idea what he’s doing,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said on X.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., read Hegseth’s post aloud during a congressional hearing Tuesday.
“That tweet contains some glaring inaccuracies that are far beneath the standard we should expect from the Department of Defense,” Kaine said.
Hegseth’s post called the program “yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops,” pledging to do the bare minimum required by Congress while working to eliminate it altogether.
But the program has been celebrated by Trump, his administration and his family. It became a heralded part of the first Trump administration’s accomplishments for women, and in 2019, Ivanka Trump celebrated that the WPS program was starting a new partnership to help train female police cadets in Colombia.
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AP journalist Sagar Meghani contributed to this report.
