A bipartisan, evidence-backed initiative to strengthen global peace and military strategy is being dismantled for political posturing.
This story was originally published by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced last week on social media that he proudly ended the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) program inside the Department of Defense (DOD). He tweeted:
“WPS is yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops—distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING.”
This attack on WPS efforts at the DOD undermines the safety and security of America and its troops, at home and abroad.
What Secretary Hegseth obviously doesn’t know—or hasn’t bothered to learn—is that the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Act was signed into law by the president for whom he works. It is not only directly related to the DOD’s war-fighting efforts, but it is also critical to operational effectiveness. President Donald Trump knew this when he signed the WPS Act in 2017. Marco Rubio and Kristi Noem knew this when they co-sponsored that bill in Congress. Leaders within the DOD know it now and have recommended keeping robust WPS implementation as part of the department’s work.
So, what is WPS, and why is this a serious error of judgment? Women, Peace and Security, codified into American law in the bipartisan 2017 WPS Act, promotes a more stable, peaceful and just world by focusing on the important role women play in preventing conflict, building peace and addressing global threats.
This may seem like just a feel-good law, but it’s not. It’s strategic. It’s a low-cost, high-impact way to increase peace and stability in the world, protect women and girls from violence, enhance military operations and strengthen America’s relationship with allies.
Those who would dismiss the contributions of half the country’s population would sacrifice half its talent, half its resources, half its experience.
Michael Mullen, former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Today over 100 countries have WPS National Action Plans. The world knows what we know: that the WPS framework helps to effectively prevent conflict, to protect women from the use of sexual violence as a purposeful tool of war by combatants, and to engage women in peace negotiations and post-conflict recovery in order to have a better chance at creating lasting peace. This has been backed up by research and data for decades.
There’s a reason why WPS has been part of the DOD’s work for well over a decade and across administrations: It works.
WPS efforts help strengthen women’s participation within the U.S. military, which in turn enhances the effectiveness of our armed forces. Time and again, women show us that they possess the same courage as men. In Iraq and Afghanistan, female troops played a key role from combat to community engagement to intelligence gathering. The U.S. military’s Female Engagement Teams in Afghanistan and the Lioness Program in Iraq often built relationships and access in places and ways male soldiers could not. As the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen wrote: “Those who would dismiss the contributions of half the country’s population would sacrifice half its talent, half its resources, half its experience.”
WPS efforts also strengthen America’s military operations and planning. WPS staff play a key role in advancing the United States’ security objectives overseas. They train personnel on the roles that women play in conflict and peacebuilding. They conduct demographic analyses to inform operations, so our troops are more likely to succeed on the ground. They take measures to reduce sexual violence against women and girls. And they deliver on efforts to counter violent extremist narratives and prevent trafficking. All of these efforts have cost less than $3 million in the last 4 years. Low-cost, high-yield policies that make us safer are exactly what the American people—and our troops—want.
The work the DOD has done to advance WPS and contribute to a more secure United States should be celebrated, not eliminated. Secretary Hegseth appears blinded by his own ideology, not U.S. security interests.
Secretary Hegseth should heed the recommendations of his Joint Staff, who support continued WPS efforts.
President Trump and Secretary Rubio should protect their critical legacy in passing the WPS Act and strengthen its enforcement. Because of this administration’s cuts, no implementing agency for the law has personnel or ability left to actually implement it—this has to change.
Congress on both sides of the aisle should demand that the DOD and the administration focusing on defense, diplomacy, and homeland security comply with its legislatively mandated requirements, and it should push back on any attempts to walk back WPS funding or efforts.
The American people, including our troops, should also push our government to continue to stand up for WPS as an approach that really does make America safer and stronger.
To do otherwise would be a grave mistake.
