Trump signs 4 more executive orders directed at the military

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump signed four executive orders on Monday that reverse several Biden administration initiatives related to the military and deliver on promises he made on the campaign trail.

Trump signed the orders while onboard Air Force One, White House staff secretary Will Scharf told reporters.

“First is an executive order, as he alluded to in his speech earlier, reinstating members of the military who were terminated or forced to separate because of the vaccine mandates. The second item was an executive order establishing a process to develop what we’re calling an American Iron Dome; a comprehensive missile defense shield to land the American homeland,” Scharf said.

“The third executive order that President Trump signed relates to eliminating gender radicalism in the military, and the fourth is about eliminating DEI set asides and DEI offices within the military,” Scharf added.

In addition those items, Trump signed a proclamation commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Reinstating military members who refused vaccinations

Trump signed an order directing the secretary of defense to “reinstate service members who were dismissed for refusing the COVID vaccine, with full back pay and benefits,” according to the White House.

The fact sheet on the order estimates that more than 8,000 troops were discharged between 2021 and 2023 following the Biden administration’s policy requiring vaccinations for service members. The order adds that the discharged military personnel will “receive their former rank.”

In August 2021, then-Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all military personnel. The fact sheet said that the decision was made in “spite of the scientific evidence,” and added that it led to the discharge “healthy service members — many of whom had natural immunity and dedicated their entire lives to serving our country.”

The White House also says the vaccine mandate had a “chilling effect on recruitment,” noting that the Department of Defense fell 41,000 recruits short of its fiscal year 2023 recruiting goals.

Service members were given the opportunity to rejoin the military in 2023 when the vaccine mandate was rescinded, but the White House fact sheet said that only 43 service members elected to do that. The issue of full back pay is complex and would likely require congressional approval.

The order follows one of Trump’s promises from his speech on Inauguration Day, when he said he would make this move shortly after he was sworn in.

Transgender service members

Trump signed an order directing the Department of Defense to update its guidance “regarding trans-identifying medical standards for military service and to rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.”

The order will require DOD to update all medical standards “to ensure they prioritize readiness and lethality.”

The order will also end the use of pronouns in the Department of Defense and will also prohibit males from “sharing sleeping, changing, or bathing in facilities designated for females.”

Last week, Trump revoked a Biden administration order allowing transgender people to serve in the military. In 2016, the Pentagon under then-President Barack Obama lifted restrictions on transgender people serving in the armed forces. But in 2017, Trump announced on what was then Twitter that transgender service members would no longer be able to serve openly in the armed forces, citing concerns over costs and readiness. The policy was implemented in 2019 and required transgender service members to serve in line with their biological sex unless they had already successfully transitioned or were grandfathered in under the Obama-era policy.

In 2021, the Trump policy was reversed under the Biden administration, allowing transgender service members to again serve openly and access related medical care.

“This change to the standards meant that men and women could join the military for the express purpose of transitioning, be nondeployable for a year, and take life-altering hormone therapy that would mean they would be nondeployable unless the military could guarantee the supply of medication,” now-Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said of the changes under Biden in one of his books.

Iron Dome

Trump has now officially begun the process of creating “the Iron Dome for America,” a nod to the Israeli missile defense system.

The order “directs implementation of a next generation missile defense shield for the United States against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next generation aerial attacks,” according to a fact sheet obtained by ABC News.

There are very few details about how this type of a system would be developed. There are no details in the fact sheet on a timeline for creating such a system, nor any mention of cost to construct it.

The order follows through on a pledge Trump made a number of times on the campaign trail.

“Americans deserve an Iron Dome and that’s what we’re gonna have we’re gonna have an Iron Dome,” Trump said during an New Hampshire rally in October 2023.

As ABC has previously reported, experts say replicating an Iron Dome system for the U.S. wouldn’t make much sense, given the U.S. has allies to the north and south, and oceans on either side.

Banning DEI

Another order that Trump signed takes aim at Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs at the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. The order will ban the use of “discriminatory race- or sex-based preferences,” according to a fact sheet about the move.

The order directs Hegseth to internally review cases of “race- or sex-based discrimination” based on past DEI policies and requires DOD and DHS to review curriculum to “eliminate radical DEI and gender ideologies.”

The fact sheet adds that Trump is committed to a merit-based system with “sex-neutral policies and colorblind recruitment, promotion, and retention.” It blamed the so-called “‘woke’ assault” for the military’s flagging recruitment numbers.

This is just the latest of actions the Trump administration has taken to shut down DEI programs throughout the federal government and among federal contractors and to put pressure on private entities to end similar programs.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.