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Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & NatSec newsletter

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Defense &
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The Big Story

Hegseth moves to implement Trump’s ban on transgender troops

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the military to pause integrating new transgender recruits and suspend planned medical procedures meant to treat current service members diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens during his his confirmation hearing

The move is in compliance with an executive order signed by President Trump that effectively bans trans military service.

“The Department must ensure it is building ‘One Force’ without subgroups defined by anything other than ability or mission adherence. Efforts to split our troops along the lines of identity weaken our Force and make us vulnerable. Such efforts must not be tolerated or accommodated,” Hegseth wrote in a memorandum for senior Pentagon leadership, commanders of the combatant commands and Defense agency and DoD field activity directors dated Friday and unreported until now.

The one-page memo is the latest step in implementing Trump’s order barring transgender people from serving openly in the military, part of a broader effort to combat what the administration has described as “gender insanity” in the federal government.

The Jan. 27 order, titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” states, “Expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for Military Service.”

“Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused, and all unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for Service members are paused,” Hegseth wrote.

The Department of Justice filed the memo as part of a lawsuit challenging Trump’s order. The plaintiffs in that case, six transgender active-duty service members and two individuals seeking to enlist in the military, had requested the department notify them whenever the administration issued guidance on implementing the executive order.

DOJ identified three additional memos from the Navy, Air Force and Army directing recruiters to reject transgender applicants, and another memo from Hegseth dated Jan. 31 that instructs DoD to take steps to implement the order.

“Biological sex is an immutable characteristic,” Hegseth wrote in the Jan. 31 memo. “It is not fluid, and it cannot transform. Gender ideology denies this fundamental reality, and places women at risk by allowing biological males to gain access to intimate, single-sex spaces.”

Two federal lawsuits argue Trump’s executive order preventing transgender troops from serving is unconstitutional.

Read the full report at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & National Security newsletter, I’m Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.

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Essential Reads

How policy will affect defense and national security now and in
the future:

Russian diplomat says Putin’s conditions on Ukraine must be met

A Russian diplomat said Monday that a Ukraine war peace agreement won’t be reached unless Russian President Vladimir Putin’s conditions have been met, according to multiple outlets. “Without solving the problems which were the root causes of what is happening, it will not be possible to reach an agreement,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, as quoted by The …

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Trump targets Board of Visitors for Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard academies

President Trump on Monday moved to dismiss the Board of Visitors for four military service academies, claiming the groups that help oversee student life and academic programs at the prestigious schools had been “infiltrated” by “woke” ideology. “Our Service Academies have been infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues over the last four years,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I have ordered the immediate dismissal of the Board of …

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Support slips for openly transgender service members: Gallup

A new Gallup poll found support among Americans for transgender individuals serving in the military has decreased to 58 percent, down from 71 percent in 2019 and 66 percent in 2021. The survey was conducted around the time President Trump implemented two executive orders last month to reinstate a ban on openly transgender military personnel. The decline in support for transgender individuals serving in the military is primarily …

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On Our Radar

Upcoming things we’re watching on our beat:

NATO Defense Ministers meet for two days at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium beginning Thursday.
The 61st Munich Security Conference will be held Friday through Sunday in Munich, Germany.

In Other News

Branch out with a different read from The Hill:

Senate tees up final vote on Tulsi Gabbard nomination to be nation’s intelligence chief

The Senate voted largely along party lines Monday evening to advance Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to serve as President Trump’s director of national intelligence (DNI), putting her on a glide path to confirmation later this week. The 52-46 vote brings the Senate’s two-month debate over Gabbard’s …

Full Story

On Tap Tomorrow

Events in and around the defense world:

A House Homeland Security subcommittee will hold a hearing on “Examining the PRC’s Strategic Port Investments in the Western Hemisphere and the Implications for Homeland Security, Part I,” at 10 a.m.

What We’re Reading

News we’ve flagged from other outlets:

Army, Navy remove web pages highlighting women’s military service (Military Times)
US officials are bound for Europe for top-level talks on Ukraine (The Associated Press)

Trending Today

Two key stories on The Hill right now:

6 hidden messages in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance

Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance is growing in viewership hours after the big game, gaining more 11 million views since it aired Sunday … Read more

What to know about the possibility of Trump serving a third term

Murmurs from President Trump and his allies have stirred up questions of the incumbent possibly seeking a third term in office, even as he’s currently … Read more