Trump signs executive orders to strengthen military

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the military in 2017 during his first administration, but  President Joe Biden issued an  executive order in 2021  that repealed the  ban.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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