Hegseth ‘Proudly’ Fixes ‘Woke Biden Initiative’: ‘Troops HATE It’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Tuesday that he was fixing an initiative he said had gone “woke” under President Joe Biden’s administration — a move which prompted an object lesson in trying to meet liberals halfway.

Hegseth announced an end to the Women, Peace and Security program — described by The Hill as “a Pentagon program meant to advance women’s participation in peace-building and conflict prevention” — via X.

“WPS is yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops — distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING,” he wrote.

“WPS is a UNITED NATIONS program pushed by feminists and left-wing activists. Politicians fawn over it; troops HATE it.

“DoD will hereby executive the minimum of WPS required by statute, and fight to end the program for our next budget. GOOD RIDDANCE WPS!”

Now, as the X Community Notes pointed out, this technically was a program from Donald Trump’s first administration — passed by a bipartisan vote and signed by Trump.

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

Not only did this create plenty of dunking on the administration online — for instance, one of the authors is current Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, then a House member from South Dakota, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, then a Florida senator, co-sponsored it — but it also means that, by law, the Pentagon must comply by the minimum standards of it until the next appropriations process, where funding for the plan will likely be zeroed out.

The bill, the first of its kind in the world, codified some of the principles of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, adopted in 2000, which acknowledged the “concern that civilians, particularly women and children, account for the vast majority of those adversely affected by armed conflict, including as refugees and internally displaced persons, and increasingly are targeted by combatants and armed elements.”

“The United States has long proven its commitment to address injustice against women and girls in conflict areas, alongside our broader commitment to help those in need and those trying to build a better future for their families,” the Trump White House said when the bill was signed in 2017.

“Through engagements with partners and at multilateral organizations such as the United Nations, the United States has won recognition from friends and competitors alike as a champion of women’s empowerment across the phases of conflict and crisis resolution.”

However, one problem became immediately apparent when reading through the release; you notice that one of the key departments for implementation of the legislation was the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID. In other words, where good ideas go to die of wokeness.

In addition, the United Nations has moved the goalposts on where the WPS program would be going; a revised 2023 policy from the U.N. Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs regarding WPS implementation included language like this word salad served up on a slippery slope: “Gender perspectives should be applied throughout any political and conflict analysis undertaken to address gendered triggers of violence and responses to conflict, as well as to ensure attention to the gendered impact of armed conflict and the (different) gendered roles of women, men, girls, boys, and LGBTI people. This should include the recognition of the specific challenges and exclusion of young women, both in online and offline spaces.”

Furthermore, given the blind eye that the United Nations has turned to rape and sexual torture in Israel by Hamas, it’s not exactly as if they have much room to talk in this department.

And, as for the Biden administration’s implementation of it, a Dec. 30, 2024 memorandum made it clear they viewed it merely as another diversity-pushing instrument, with talk about “expand[ing] opportunities for and remove barriers to recruitment, employment, retention, development, and promotion that contribute to the under-representation of women in foreign security forces” and how to “integrate gender analysis into the policy, planning, training, operations, and exercises of foreign security forces.”

How does this increase military readiness? Shut up, bigot.

The real women, peace and security agenda — unlike the 2017 act or the 2000 United Nations resolution — is focusing on the strength and deterrence force of the United States military, which does more to protect vulnerable women populations in the world than the U.N. ever will.

Good riddance, indeed. Bravo, Secretary Hegseth, and we look forward for much more of this to come.

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