Trump signs executive orders to strengthen military, including ban on transgender troops.
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President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday, January 23, 2025.
President Donald Trump announced Monday that he has signed four executive orders that will strengthen the military, including banning transgender service members from serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, eliminating military diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and eliminating the military's military mandate. . and retroactively reinstating with pay military personnel who were discharged for refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Trump said he signed the orders while aboard Air Force One on a flight to Washington from Florida. CNN previously reported that Trump was expected to do so, according to two White House officials.
The orders, which were first reported by the New York Post, come after Trump's nominee for Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, was sworn in as defense secretary on Saturday. Hegseth has long said he plans to implement major cultural changes in the military, including ending DEI practices and firing "intelligent" service members.
Moments after arriving at the Pentagon on Monday, Hegseth told reporters that there were "more executive orders coming."
"More executive orders coming today, ... on removing DEI in the Pentagon, redeploying troops who were pulled out due to Covid mandates, Iron Dome for 'America' — this is happening quickly, and as Secretary of." "It is an honor to intelligently acknowledge the actions I have taken as a young officer and now as Secretary of Defense to ensure that these orders are followed immediately and with immediate effect," Hegseth said.
Trump had banned transgender Americans from serving in the military in 2017 during his first administration, but President Joe Biden issued an executive order in 2021 that repealed the ban.
Hours after being sworn in for his second term last week, Trump signed an executive order that reverses the Biden administration's 2021 decision to allow transgender service members to serve in the military. However, the executive order Trump said he signed on Monday goes even further, one of the officials said, outlining new military standards regarding gender pronouns and stating that mental and physical fitness requirements exclude transgender service members from the military. ... "It takes at least 12 months for a person to complete treatment after transition surgery, which often involves the use of hard narcotics. During this period, they are physically unable to meet military readiness requirements and require constant medical care. "This is not conducive to deployment or other readiness requirements," one of the officials said, citing a fact sheet.
"Implementation [of the ban] depends on the Ministry of Defense for the details," the official said. As of 2018, there were about 14,000 transgender service members in the U.S. military, according to the Palm Center, an independent think tank that has conducted extensive research on sexual minorities in the military.
A Pentagon memo detailing the ban during Trump's first term recommended making exceptions for transgender service members already in uniform who joined the military under previous policies before the ban took effect; those who did not have to change gender; and those who had been "stable for 36 consecutive months in their biological sex prior to their enlistment."
It was unclear whether the administration's new ban would include any exemptions. Asked about possible exceptions on Monday, Hegseth said only that an executive order would be issued "on this right now, today."
A second order states that any "discriminatory" policies related to DEI in the military would be banned. The order comes after the Trump administration ordered employees in all federal offices of diversity, equity, inclusion and access to be placed on paid administrative leave "effective immediately."
All DEI practices in the U.S. military will also be subject to internal review by Hegseth.
The third order directs Hegseth to reinstate all active and reserve military personnel who were previously discharged for not receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. They will be restored to their previous ranks and will receive pay and benefits, one of the officials said. However, the Pentagon had already waived the military's requirement for the COVID-19 vaccine, allowing them to return to the military after Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023 that requires the change. As of Monday, 113 of the more than 8,000 U.S. service members who were discharged from the military for refusing to be vaccinated had requested to do so now that the vaccination requirement was officially lifted.
And a fourth order begins the process of creating a "next-generation" missile shield for the United States, according to a fact sheet about the order obtained by CNN.
The order calls for an "Iron Dome" for America, taking its name from Israel's short-range missile defense system, which has been used for years to intercept launches from Gaza. The United States has provided billions of dollars in funding for Iron Dome, and the US military has its own system.
"The executive order directs the deployment of a next-generation missile defense shield for the United States against advanced ballistic, hypersonic, cruise, and other next-generation air-to-surface attacks," the fact sheet says, calling such attacks potentially "catastrophic." threat," although none of these types of weapons have been launched against U.S. territory in modern warfare.
The U.S. military also has the ability to deploy a multi-layered air defense system, from long-range Patriot missiles, which have proven effective in intercepting ballistic and cruise missiles over Ukraine, to shorter-range ones like shoulder-launched Stinger missiles.
The new executive order calls for a series of advanced space-based systems to detect and shoot down launches against the United States.
It does not specify how much the shield would cost or outline a timeline for its development.
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