On Monday—Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's first day of work at the Pentagon—President Trump said he would sign multiple executive orders on the military. The president, speaking to House Republicans at a Florida conference, said he will offer "full reinstatement to any service member who was expelled from the armed forces due to the COVID vaccine mandate," the AP reports. Trump said he would also bring in an American version of Israel's Iron Dome air defense system and "get transgender ideology the hell out of our military," reports the New York Times.
Trump didn't offer details on the transgender order, though the New York Post reported earlier Monday that Trump plans to kick transgender service members out of the military. "There are more executive orders coming," Hegseth, who was confirmed Friday after Vice President JD Vance cast a tie-breaking vote, said at the Pentagon on Monday. In a post on X Sunday, Hegseth vowed that eliminating DEI programs from the military would be a top priority. He shared a photo of a note on secretary of defense stationery that said: "No exceptions, name-changes, or delays. Those who do not comply will no longer work here."
In remarks at the Pentagon, Hegseth used the old names of Army bases that were renamed under the Biden administration because of their connection to the Confederacy, the Washington Post reports. He said "every moment" he was there, he would be thinking of the "guys and gals in Guam and Germany, in Fort Benning, in Fort Bragg." Days before he was nominated, Hegseth said Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should be fired for being "woke." Asked Monday if he still planned to fire Brown, who was standing next to him, Hegseth said, "I'm standing with him right now," ABC News reports. "I look forward to working with him." (More Pete Hegseth stories.)
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