President Donald Trump is expected to sign three executive orders on Monday that will reshape the military, including a ban on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. armed forces, the removal of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs from the military, and the reinstatement of service members dismissed for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, according to two White House officials who spoke to CNN.
The orders, initially reported by the New York Post, come as Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, was sworn in as Secretary of Defense on Saturday. Hegseth has long stated that he plans to implement major cultural changes within the military, including ending DEI practices and removing service members he considers to be “woke.”
Trump had banned transgender Americans from serving in the military in 2017 during his first administration, but former President Joe Biden issued an order in 2021 to reverse the ban. Hours after being sworn in for his second term last week, Trump signed an order reversing Biden’s 2021 decision to allow transgender members to serve.
However, the order Trump is expected to sign on Monday goes further, one of the officials said, and will set new military standards regarding gender pronouns, stating that mental and physical readiness requires the exclusion of transgender members from the military.
