By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday canceled a program that promoted the contributions of women in national security sectors, even though it was signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017 and has been championed by current Trump administration officials.
During his first term, Trump signed into law the Women, Peace and Security Act, which sought to increase the role of women in preventing and resolving conflict, countering violent extremism and building post-conflict stability.
On Tuesday, Hegseth said he was proud to have ended the program at the Pentagon.
“WPS is yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops — distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING,” Hegseth said on X.
“(Department of Defense) will hereby executive the minimum of WPS required by statute, and fight to end the program for our next budget,” he added. “GOOD RIDDANCE WPS!”
He later tweeted, without evidence, that the Biden administration had “distorted & weaponized the straight-forward & security-focused WPS initiative launched in 2017.”
Hegseth has taken aim at diversity, equity and inclusion at the Pentagon since he took office.
With Hegseth as defense secretary, the Pentagon has ended commemorations of identity month celebrations, like Black History Month, and some books have been removed from the Naval Academy– including Maya Angelou’s memoir.
The WPS program was promoted by the first Trump administration.
“This is the first legislation of its kind globally,
which makes the United States the first country in
the world with a comprehensive law on WPS,” a 2019 White House document said.
It also has bipartisan support. Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of state, was a co-sponsor of the bill, as was Kristi Noem, the current secretary of homeland security. Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security advisor, was a founding member of the WPS congressional caucus when he was a lawmaker.
“President Trump also signed the Women, Peace, and Security Act, a bill that I was very proud to have been a co-sponsor of when I was in the Senate,” Rubio said earlier this month at the State Department.
“It was the first comprehensive law passed in any country in the world – the first law passed by any country anywhere in the world – focused on protecting women and promoting their participation in society,” Rubio added.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
