By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has disbanded a committee that provided recommendations for women serving in the military, including on their well-being and treatment, alleging on Tuesday it had pursued a “divisive feminist agenda.”
The Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services was created in 1951 and provided advice on “recruitment, retention, employment, integration, well-being, and treatment of women” in the military, according to the committee’s website.
On Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesperson said Hegseth had decided to terminate the committee because it is “focused on advancing a divisive feminist agenda that hurts combat readiness, while Secretary Hegseth has focused on advancing uniform, sex-neutral standards across the Department.”
The Committee is among the oldest advisory panels within the U.S. military and has submitted over 1,100 recommendations to Pentagon chiefs, with about 94% either fully or partially adopted, according to the committee’s website.
“Recommendations have historically been instrumental in effecting changes to laws and policies pertaining to military women,” it says.
Hegseth has taken aim at diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the Pentagon since he took office. He previously canceled a program that sought to increase the role of women in national security sectors that was first signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017.
With Hegseth as defense secretary, the Pentagon has ended commemorations of identity month celebrations, like Black History Month, while some books have been removed from the Naval Academy, including Maya Angelou’s memoir.
Hegseth’s moves come as U.S. media organizations also raise free speech concerns after the Pentagon announced on Friday restrictions on media coverage of the U.S. military, requiring news organizations to agree they will not disclose information that the government has not approved for release.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil StewartEditing by Bill Berkrot)
