On Monday, President Donald Trump issued four executive orders that reversed many military measures launched by the Biden administration and fulfilled campaign promises.
Will Scharf, White House staff secretary, told reporters that Trump signed the directives while on board Air Force One.
“The first is an executive order, as he mentioned earlier in his speech, to reinstate service members who were terminated or forced to split due to vaccine demands. The second thing was an executive order that established a procedure for developing what we’re calling an American Iron Dome, a comprehensive missile defense shield to protect the American heartland,” Scharf explained.
“The third executive order that President Trump signed relates to eliminating gender radicalism in the military, and the fourth is about eliminating DEI set asides and DEI offices within the military,” according to Scharf.
In addition to those items, Trump issued a proclamation marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Reinstating military members who refused vaccinations
Trump issued an order asking the secretary of defense to “reinstate service members who were dismissed for refusing the COVID vaccine, with full back pay and benefits,” according to the White House.
The order’s fact sheet indicates that over 8,000 servicemen were released between 2021 and 2023 due to the Biden administration’s vaccination policy for military members. The directive states that discharged military personnel will “receive their former rank.”
In August 2021, then-Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin mandated COVID-19 immunizations for all military personnel. The fact sheet stated that the decision was taken despite scientific evidence, resulting in the discharge of healthy service members with natural immunity who had dedicated their lives to defending our country.
The White House also claims that the vaccine mandate had a “chilling effect on recruitment,” stating that the Department of Defense fell 41,000 recruits short of its fiscal year 2023 recruiting targets.
When the vaccine mandate was lifted in 2023, service members were offered the option of rejoining the military, but just 43 did so, according to a White House fact sheet. Full back pay is a complex matter that would most likely require congressional approval.
The order fulfills one of Trump’s promises from his Inauguration Day speech, when he stated that he would take this action soon after he was sworn in.
Transgender service members
Trump issued an executive order asking the Department of Defense to amend its advise “regarding trans-identifying medical standards for military service and to rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.”
The order requires DOD to update all medical standards “to ensure they prioritize readiness and lethality.”
The order will also ban the use of pronouns in the Department of Defense and forbid males from “sharing sleeping, changing, or bathing in facilities designated for females.”
Last week, Trump rescinded a Biden administration rule that permitted transgender people to serve in the military. The Pentagon relaxed limits on transgender people serving in the armed forces in 2016, during the presidency of Barack Obama. However, in 2017, Trump stated on Twitter that transgender service members will no longer be able to serve openly in the military, citing concerns about expenses and readiness. The 2019 regulation mandated that transgender military members serve according to their biological sex, unless they had successfully transitioned or were grandfathered in under the Obama-era policy.
The Biden administration revoked the Trump order in 2021, allowing transgender service members to serve freely and get necessary medical care.
“This change to the standards meant that men and women could join the military for the express purpose of transitioning, be nondeployable for a year, and take life-altering hormone therapy, which would mean they would be nondeployable unless the military could guarantee the supply of medication,” now-Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said of the changes under Biden in one of his books.
Iron Dome
Trump has now formally started the process of developing “the Iron Dome for America,” a reference to Israel’s missile defense system.
The directive “directs implementation of a next generation missile defense shield for the United States against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next generation aerial attacks,” according to an ABC News fact sheet.
There are few information on how this type of system might be created. The fact sheet has no information about a timescale for developing such a system, nor does it disclose the cost of construction.
The directive fulfills a promise Trump made several times during the campaign.
“Americans deserve an Iron Dome, and that is what we will have,” Trump stated at a rally in New Hampshire in October 2023.
As ABC has noted, experts say recreating an Iron Dome system for the United States makes little sense, considering the country’s friends to the north and south, as well as oceans on both sides.
Banning DEI
Another directive signed by Trump targets Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives at the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. The ruling will prohibit the use of “discriminatory race- or sex-based preferences,” according to a fact sheet regarding the measure.
The directive compels Hegseth to evaluate cases of “race- or sex-based discrimination” based on former DEI policy. It also mandates that DOD and DHS review curricula to eradicate extremist DEI and gender ideology.
The information sheet also states that Trump is committed to a merit-based system with “sex-neutral policies and colorblind recruitment, promotion, and retention.” It blamed the “‘woke’ assault” for the military’s declining recruitment statistics.
This is just the latest measure taken by the Trump administration to shut down DEI programs across the federal government and among federal contractors, as well as to put pressure on private organizations to terminate similar programs.
