WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that he will move to end a Department of Defense program for women created during and promoted by the first Trump administration.
The bill that established the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) program — a government-wide effort in the diplomatic and national security spaces to expand opportunities for women — was written by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem when she served in the House and co-sponsored by Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he served in the Senate.
“WPS is yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops — distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING,” wrote Hegseth, who has come under fire for saying that women shouldn’t hold combat roles. He added that the program, which had wide bipartisan support in Congress, was “pushed by feminists and left-wing activists.”
Despite stating that he was ending the program, Hegseth said the department would have to execute the “minimum of WPS required by statute” and then “fight to end the program for our next budget.”
“GOOD RIDDANCE WPS!” he said.
Trump in 2017 signed the Women, Peace and Security Act into law, directing the State, Defense and Homeland Security departments to implement it.
Noem had written a version of the bill that year when was in the House representing South Dakota. She wrote in the previous Congress in 2016 that the legislation “ensures women have a seat at the table during peace negotiations through meaningful congressional oversight.” Once it was passed by the House in 2017, then-Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., held a rare signing ceremony and included Noem.
The first Trump administration released a formal strategy with more specific instructions in 2019 to further fulfill the WPS’s goals, aiming “to promote the meaningful inclusion of women in processes to prevent, mitigate, resolve, and recover from deadly conflict or disaster,” according to the Trump White House at the time. Trump even touted the initiative on his 2024 presidential campaign website, where he listed his accomplishments benefiting women.
More recently, Rubio highlighted the legislation that created the effort during an event at the State Department earlier this month that first lady Melania Trump attended.
“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, and 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 said.
Neither Noem nor Rubio has said they plan to end the WPS efforts at DHS or the State Department.
DHS, the State Department, the Defense Department and the White House didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
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