WASHINGTON (TNND) — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Tuesday announced he had ended the Pentagon’s “Women, Peace and Security” (WPS) program, which had been signed into law by President Donald Trump.
Trump initially signed WPS in 2017 during his first term to increase the involvement of women in conflict resolution. Hegseth derided the initiative in a post via X, however, blaming the measure on former President Joe Biden and describing it as a distraction from the Department of Defense’s mission.
“This morning, I proudly ENDED the “Women, Peace & Security” (WPS) program inside the @DeptofDefense,” he wrote. “WPS is yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops — distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING.”
WPS, he continued, is a “UNITED NATIONS program pushed by feminists and left-wing activists.”
Reacting to the move was Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who replied with a screenshot from Ivanka Trump’s X profile touting President Trump’s decision to sign the legislation.
Also reacting was “The View” host Alyssa Farah Griffin.
“President Trump enacted the Women, Peace & Security program in his 1st term to support his national defense strategy,” she wrote. “It’s not a woke policy, it’s prudent policy to support America’s hard & soft power to combat emerging threats. What changed?”
Hegseth’s post was hit with a Community Note correction which acknowledged “The Women, Peace, and Security Act was passed in 2017 during the first Trump Administration and had significant Trump support.”
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