President Donald Trump‘s U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reported today on X: “This morning, I proudly ENDED the “Women, Peace & Security” (WPS) program inside the @DeptofDefense.”
Hegseth described WPS as “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.” Hegseth claimed, “troops HATE it.”
This morning, I proudly ENDED the “Women, Peace & Security” (WPS) program inside the @DeptofDefense.
WPS 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…
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) April 29, 2025
Note: In 2017, President Trump enacted the Women, Peace, and Security Act (P.L. 115-68) which “promotes the meaningful participation of women in all aspects of the conflict continuum, including warfare and stabilization.”
Note: The bill “attracted wide bipartisan support, with then-Senator Marco Rubio, the current Secretary of State, serving as a cosponsor. Mike Waltz, the current U.S. national security advisor, was a founding member of the WPS congressional caucus.” And Rubio has been unwavering in crediting Trump with signing the bill.
Rubio said at the 19th Annual International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards Ceremony on April 1: “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.”
While Hegseth wrote that he proudly ended the program, he also added that the “DoD will hereby execute the minimum of WPS required by statute, and fight to end the program for our next budget.”
Note: In February, the Georgetown-aligned think tank the Center for Strategic & International Studies wrote with optimism: “Some observers suggest that the present moment is a ripe opportunity to ensure that WPS aligns with Secretary Hegseth’s priorities” and hope that the DoD could “double down on training,” as the WPS Act “requires the department to train its personnel, which it is already doing. The department should also sustain its training courses for WPS advisors and WPS focal points across DOD components.”