Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivers remarks to midshipmen during his visit to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., on April 1, 2025. (Alexander Kubitza/Defense Department)
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth moved to cancel a program that promoted the participation of women in national security, claiming the initiative is “woke,” “divisive” and distracts troops.
The Women, Peace and Security Act was signed into law in 2017 by President Donald Trump to recognize the role that women have in achieving security objectives, especially in situations overseas in which men for cultural reasons might not be able to question women or men for religious regions would not have direct access to women. The intent of the act was to increase women’s participation in preventing and resolving conflict, countering violent extremism and building post-conflict stability.
“[The Women, Peace and Security Act] is yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops — distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING. WPS is a UNITED NATIONS program pushed by feminists and left-wing activists. Politicians fawn over it; troops HATE it,” Hegseth said Tuesday in an X post.
Hegseth followed up two hours later, clarifying the act was not implemented by the Biden administration, but was “ruined” by former President Joe Biden.
The Pentagon’s “Women, Peace, and Security Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan” was signed June 2020. The plan was updated in 2024, promoting three defense priorities: train and equip troops to implement the WPS Act at the tactical, operational, and strategic level; integrate the WPS toolkit objectives into the Defense Department’s operations, activities and investments in peacetime and crisis contexts, and cooperate with allies and partners on WPS.
“The woke & weak Biden Administration distorted & weaponized the straight-forward & security-focused WPS initiative launched in 2017,” Hegseth said in his second X post.
The Defense Department, he said, will fight to end WPS programs across the Pentagon in the next budget.
The Women, Peace and Security Act has largely had bipartisan support from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, including members of the Trump administration. The act was co-sponsored by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem when she was a congresswoman from South Dakota and Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he was a senator from Florida. Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, was a founding member of the WPS congressional caucus when he was a congressman from Florida.
Rubio recently praised the legislation as a bill that he was “very proud” to have co-sponsored.
“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 April 1 during the 19th Annual International Women of Courage Awards in Washington, D.C.
This month, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress 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 in April during his Senate confirmation hearing.
Hegseth took aim at the legislation on the heels of purging diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from the Defense Department, which he has said are incompatible with the armed forces.
“We will focus on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards and readiness,” Hegseth wrote in a January memo.
The WPS Act is not connected to diversity and equity-based programs, according to a February analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. Kathleen McInnis, a senior fellow with the think tank, pointed to lessons that can be learned from conflicts around the globe to strengthen U.S. national security through the WPS Act.
In Afghanistan, McInnis said, American female teams helped tactical and operational level commanders better understand the human terrain of battle spaces, therefore improving kinetic and non-kinetic targeting. Simultaneously, partner forces also became aware that the intentional presence of women in kinetic fights could have a strategic impact.
Kurdish female units fought against the Islamic State in part due to their combat effectiveness but also because of the reputational damage to ISIS fighters being forced to fight — and lose — to women, McInnis said.
In Ukraine, upwards of 60,000 women are serving in the military, including on the front lines, and female networks are critical components of anti-Russian resistance networks.
In bringing women to the table, McInnis said, there is the opportunity for the joint force to utilize WPS to advance U.S. objectives.
“Equally, eliminating these programs could allow adversaries like China to reinforce their global support networks and turn this human terrain advantage against the United States,” McInnis said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
