As part of the Trump administration's efforts to bring back a warrior ethos to our military, the Department of War has formally disbanded the Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services.
🚨BREAKING: Secretary Hegseth has decided to terminate the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.
— Kingsley Wilson (@PressSecDOW) September 23, 2025
The Committee is focused on advancing a divisive feminist agenda that hurts combat readiness, while Secretary Hegseth has focused on advancing uniform, sex-neutral…
Here's more from the Daily Signal:
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signed the memo saying he has determined that the reinstatement of the Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services should not proceed.
The committee cost the department $1,128,000 in fiscal years 2023-2024. This includes $485,000
in expenses and $643,000 in Defense Department labor.The committee was originally created following the passage of the 1948 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act to advise on strategies to improve the recruitment of women into the U.S. military during the Korean War. But critics say DACOWITS today is largely advancing a feminist agenda with a detrimental effect on combat readiness.
The committee expressed concern for the ability of military women to obtain abortions after the Supreme Court overturn of Roe v. Wade, according to a DACOWITS information request in August 2022.
DACOWITS was disbanded in 2021, but reinstated under Joe Biden's Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, in 2022. That same year, it issued the memo on abortion, saying the Supreme Court ruling left the committee "concerned about potential impacts to servicewomen" and their "access to essential women’s health care services, as permitted by federal law."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth released a memo on September 17 discussing the decision to discontinue the committee. That memo read, in part:
After further review, I have determined that the reinstatement of the Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services (DACOWITS) should not proceed. The Department’s Advisory Committee Management Officer will terminate the DACOWITS in accordance with the requirements of [the Federal Advisory Committee Act]. In addition, the DACOWITS Sponsor will take appropriate action to realign resources associated with the DACOWITS, such as the reassignment of personnel, conclusion of contracts, and the archiving of DACOWITS’ records
In several past statements, Secretary Hegseth has said he wants a military where physical standards apply equally to both men and women, and that all who serve America must be qualified. Back in July, Hegseth told Fox News host Lara Trump, "Carrying a rucksack or carrying an artillery round; carrying your buddy across the battlefield- it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman. You just need to be able to meet the standard."
Hegseth also called the advisory board's agenda 'divisive.' As the Daily Signal pointed out, the DACOWITS 2023-2024 report asked Hegseth to "accelerate and expand the availability of telehealth options for Service members to access reproductive health care, family planning, and infertility treatment information and counseling."
Editor's Note: Thanks to President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's leadership, the warrior ethos is coming back to America's military.
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