Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that as the U.S. aims to "revive the warrior ethos," European members of NATO also should follow suit and bolster defense efforts. 

"NATO should pursue these goals as well," Hegseth told NATO members in Brussels on Thursday. "NATO is a great alliance, the most successful defense alliance in history, but to endure for the future, our partners must do far more for Europe’s defense."  

"We must make NATO great again," he said.  

As of 2023, the U.S. spent 3.3% of its GDP on defense spending — totaling $880 billion, according to the nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. More than 50% of NATO funding comes from the U.S., while other allies, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, have contributed between 4% and 8% to NATO funding in recent years. 

Hegseth urged European allies to bolster defense spending from 2% to 5% of gross domestic product, as President Donald Trump has long advocated. 

NATO comprises more than 30 countries and was originally formed in 1949 to halt the spread of the Soviet Union. 

Hegseth pointed to former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who advocated for a strong relationship with European allies. But he noted that eventually Eisenhower felt that the U.S. was bearing the burden of deploying U.S. troops to Europe in 1959, according to the State Department’s Office of the Historian. Eisenhower reportedly told two of his generals that the Europeans were "making a sucker out of Uncle Sam." 

Hegseth said that he and Trump share sentiments similar to Eisenhower's. 

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"This administration believes in alliances, deeply believes in alliances, but make no mistake, President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker," Hegseth said.

"We can talk all we want about values," Hegseth said. "Values are important, but you can’t shoot values, you can’t shoot flags, and you can’t shoot strong speeches. There is no replacement for hard power. As much as we may not want to like the world we live in, in some cases, there’s nothing like hard power."

Hegseth’s comments come as the Trump administration navigates negotiations with Russia and Ukraine to end the conflict between the two countries. On Wednesday, Trump called both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Kyiv.

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Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are slated to meet with Zelenskyy Friday at the Munich Security Conference.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has come under scrutiny for the negotiations, fielding criticism that Ukraine is being pressured to give in to concessions after Hegseth said on Wednesday that it isn’t realistic for Ukraine to regain its pre-war borders with Russia. 

"Putin is gonna pocket this and ask for more," Brett Bruen, director of global engagement under former President Barack Obama, told Fox News Digital. 

Michael McFaul, ambassador to Russia under the Obama administration, also shared concerns in a social media post on X on Wednesday, claiming that Trump was delivering Russia a "gift." 

But Hegseth said he rejected similar accusations. 

"Any suggestion that President Trump is doing anything other than negotiating from a position of strength is, on its face, ahistorical and false," Hegseth said Thursday. 

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump vowed on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would work to end the conflict if elected again. 

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Europeans this week that "realities" prevent the U.S. from being its security guarantor, and to expect a drawdown of U.S. forces in the region. 

"We are focusing on security of our own borders. We also face a peer competitor in the Communist Chinese with the capability and intent to threaten our homeland and core national interests in the Indo-Pacific," Hegseth told a meeting of a Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Belgium on Wednesday. 

"The U.S. is prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific. Recognizing the reality of scarcity and making the resourcing trade-offs to ensure deterrence does not fail. Deterrence cannot fail."

This was Hegseth’s first trip to the headquarters of the NATO alliance. 

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The U.S. defense secretary called on Europe to "take ownership of conventional security on the continent."

"European allies must lead from the front," he went on. "Together, we can establish a division of labor that maximize our comparative advantages in Europe and Pacific, respectively."

Hegseth said on Tuesday the U.S. has no active plans to draw down forces in Europe but remains committed to analyzing U.S. troop postures across the globe. Speaking at U.S. Africa Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, he said the U.S. is committed to having a presence in Europe while emphasizing the continent should not rely on that presence for security. 

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"The European continent deserves to be free from any aggression, but it ought be those in the neighborhood investing the most in that defense," he said. "That’s common sense. You defend your neighborhood, and the Americans will come alongside you in helping in that defense."

Roughly 100,000 U.S. troops are deployed across Europe, about a third of which are in Germany, according to Defense Department figures. Some 375,000 U.S. forces are assigned to the Indo-Pacific Command. 

During his first term, President Donald Trump began pulling thousands of troops out of Europe. 

Under the Trump administration, the U.S. has begun to bolster its troop presence on the southern border. Some 1,500 more U.S. troops deployed to the southern border last week, bringing the total up to 3,600. 

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Hegseth also said that any European peacekeeping forces sent to help Ukraine win the war against Russia must not be from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and would not be protected under Article 5, a provision that states an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all. 

The defense secretary said the U.S. does not believe allowing Ukraine into NATO is a "realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement."

Hegseth also called on NATO countries to step up after Trump recently called on them to boost defense spending to 5%. 

"The United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency."

Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy suggested that security guarantees for Ukraine without the U.S. are "not real security guarantees." 

"There are voices which say that Europe could offer security guarantees without the Americans, and I always say no," he told The Guardian. "Security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees."

EXCLUSIVE: Retired New York Giants safety Jack Brewer and his global ministry are on the ground in Guatemala City this week, helping officials receive migrant families deported from the U.S., providing food, support and prayer as they essentially start life anew.

Brewer and his Jack Brewer Foundation have years of experience working in impoverished areas of the world like Haiti, Malawi and Central America, which Brewer said has allowed him to work closer than most and interact with the returning families.

While it is President Donald Trump and border czar Tom Homan enforcing U.S. law and deporting illegal immigrants, Brewer said it is clear former President Joe Biden’s "broken" policies are truly to blame for the heartache and hardship. 

"Three years ago, I started to follow the fatherlessness crisis that is happening right here in Guatemala, where a lot of men were leaving their households and coming to Joe Biden’s open borders – and just seeing it literally devastate families."

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Brewer said Guatemala was losing much of its workforce and that a lot of those poor families trying to get to the U.S. actually did not know a "legal" immigration route existed, and they instead took the cartels and others at their word and paid thousands of dollars to be trafficked north.

"They’ve been told by coyotes and different people that you can just come [to the U.S.], and if you come here, if you bring your child, they'll just let you in," Brewer said.

"And so, you know, there's a huge education gap there on the ground."

Brewer also met with Raul Berrios from CONAMIGUA – the National Council for Attention to Migrants of Guatemala – as well as Sergio Samuel Vela-Lopez, head of the Guatemala Penitentiary Department.

Berrios, Lopez and others are trying to create an effective system for welcoming the migrants and processing those who are innocent families versus those who may have criminal records or other issues requiring government attention, according to Brewer.

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Many families returning to the capital city live hundreds of miles into the countryside and have no established way of getting there. Some buses, however, have been hired to take migrants closer to home, and Brewer visited one of them and spoke to its driver.

"It’s really a unique perspective, I think, and just some of the things that we've witnessed since we've been here," he said, adding stories ranged from familial hardships to reports that more than a dozen people have been burnt alive by Mexican cartels for failing to pay for passage.

"It’s just pretty tough to see and witness and watch."

When a U.S. military plane arrived carrying migrants, Brewer was on the tarmac.

HEGSETH, HOMAN TOUR BORDER

"We were able to provide them with food and, most importantly, with Bibles, and we preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

Brewer said the Guatemalan Migration Authority is focusing its efforts on children ages 8 and under. Many of these children have been "lied to," Brewer said.

"They’re told it’s their life’s mission to migrate to the U.S. illegally," he said, recounting stories told by some returning migrants of children on the backs of cartel coyotes and others drowning in rivers.

Then-Vice President Kamala Harris made her own trip to Guatemala City in March 2024, seeking to understand the "root causes" of illegal migration.

"When you look at the root causes, we're also looking at issues of corruption. Again, we're looking at the issue of climate resiliency and then the concern about a lack of economic opportunity," Harris said in 2021.

Brewer rejected that Harris’ work made any difference, saying she and her then-boss’s policies "empowered human traffickers" and that half of Guatemala still lives in extreme poverty with little education.

He said the former leadership at the State Department "misguided resources" through USAID, a practice that Trump is now aggressively cutting back on.

"We need to first put our resources into addressing the issues that are fueling a multibillion-dollar human trafficking industry. Walls, deportations and enforcement are a must, but educating indigenous populations on the truths of coyotes will deliver a devastating blow to the modern human slave trade," Brewer said.

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"Guatemala is not enforcing their migration issue in the country. Haitians and Venezuelans are warned of the dangers of migrating, but there is no enforcement at the time."

"There needs to be arrest and enforcement, but they require resources. Guatemala prisons are already overcrowded, and they don’t have immigration beds available for enforcement," added Brewer, who said he also visited those prisons and saw conditions for himself.

President Donald Trump's team of zealous cost-cutters under Elon Musk will soon set their sights on the U.S.’s largest discretionary budget. 

With an annual budget of $850 billion, the Pentagon has long been plagued by accusations of waste and inefficiency in its defense programs and recently failed its seventh straight audit.

"We’re going to find billions, hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud and abuse," Trump predicted in an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier on Sunday. 

Congress appropriates the Department of Defense (DOD) budget each year in great detail, and urging lawmakers to trim costs may be where Republicans publicly break with Musk and his burn-it-all-down style. 

Here is a look at where the Department of Government Efficiency team could set their sights.

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The inclination of Musk and his team seems to be to cull federal employees, but cost-cutting advocates argue that outsourcing work to contractors could have the opposite effect.

Typically, around half the Pentagon’s budget goes to contractors, corporations that have a profit motive unlike the government itself. The government relies on contractors for software support, training, weapons and to act as paramilitary forces in foreign missions. 

"A major driver of Pentagon waste is actually service contracting for what are really core government functions and administrative capacities, like simple things [such] as IT support," said Julia Gledhill, a researcher at the Stimson Center's National Security Reform program. 

"It might run contrary to their larger project based on efforts to cut the civilian workforce, but there are a lot of areas to cut Pentagon waste by actually building up government capacity to do basic administrative functions rather than outsourcing them at a very high cost." 

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In 2015, the Defense Business Board, at the request of DOD leaders, found that the Pentagon could save $125 billion over five years by renegotiating service contracts, streamlining the bureaucracy through attrition and early retirements, and consolidating IT processes. 

The report found the Pentagon was paying an eye-watering 1,014,000 contractors to fill back-office jobs far away from the front lines. The DOD currently only lists around 1.3 million active duty troops. 

However, the plan was never widely implemented, and Pentagon leaders took steps to "bury" it for fear of budget cuts, according to a Washington Post report. 

In October 2024, a two-year audit by the Defense Department Inspector General found Boeing overcharged the Air Force by 8,000% for soap dispensers that the service branch paid $149,072 over market price for. Of a selected 46 spare parts that were scrutinized by the audit, the report found the Air Force overpaid about $1 million for 12 of them for its C-17 transport planes. 

That followed a 2018 congressional inquiry that revealed the Air Force was spending $1,300 for each reheatable coffee cup on its KC-10 aircraft – and then replacing them instead of repairing them when their handles broke. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, found the Air Force spent $32,000 replacing 25 cups. 

Musk has suggested that he will look to eliminate the F-35 stealth fighter jet program, long dogged by cost overruns, glitches and delays. In posts on X, he called it the "the worst military value for money in history," and the jet itself "an expensive & complex jack of all trades, master of none" and added that "manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones anyway."

However, doing away with the F-35 has run into opposition in Congress every time it has been suggested. 

A recent report put out by Taxpayers for Common Sense, Quincy Institute and Stimson called for retiring the F-35 jets and eliminating a ballistic missile program. 

Halting the F-35 fighter jet program, dogged by cost overruns, glitches and delays, as some have advocated for, would trim $12 billion per year, according to the joint report. 

But Congress would need to get on board with defunding the F-35 in its yearly defense bill, and Lockheed Martin produces the plane's parts in many states across the country, where lawmakers have constituents with jobs at risk.

"Defunding weapons that are overpriced, underperforming, and out of step with current missions, like the F-35 combat aircraft and the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, would allow us to invest more in real priorities while also tackling the nation’s tremendous debt," said Gabe Murphy of Taxpayers for Common Sense.

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"The ICBM no longer necessarily the most accurate, you know, weapon we have in our nuclear arsenal," added Gledhill. 

"We have our sea and air legs of the nuclear triad that are just as accurate and, you know, not as vulnerable as our ICBMs are because, you know, ICBMs are in the ground, we know where they are. It's public knowledge."

The report found that eliminating the Sentinel ICBM program would save $3.7 billion per year.

The Stimson report found that "targeted closures and realignments" of U.S. military bases could save another $3-5 billion per year.

"Even if say I accept all the missions we have now in the world, you could probably cut some overseas bases without even really rethinking strategy," said Ben Friedman, policy director at Defense Priorities. 

"If you accept that we're trying to manage the Middle East through US military troop presence or at least the ability to deploy troops and say, okay, we could do with fewer bases." 

The Trump team is reportedly considering shutting down its presence in Syria, where 2,000 troops are currently stationed. 

In the 1980s, under President Ronald Reagan, the government took up an effort known as Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), a post-Cold War process to coordinate the end of force postures that are no longer needed. Five rounds of BRAC shut down 350 installations at a savings of $12 billion, but the last BRAC process ended in 2011. 

Some of the Pentagon’s $143.2 billion budget for research may also come under scrutiny. 

Lawmakers last year demanded to know how an AI researcher in China acquired $30 million in U.S. grants. In 2021, Song-Chun Zhu was the lead investigator on two projects totaling $1.2 million from DOD grants seeking to develop "high-level robot autonomy" that is "important for DoD tasks," and "cognitive robot platforms" for "intelligence and surveillance systems." 

Additionally, the Defense Department inspector general found last summer that $46.7 million in defense funds from 2014 to 2023 had gone to EcoHealth Alliance, the nonprofit that funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a lab many suspect was the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under a use-it-or-lose-it policy, in the last month of the fiscal year, federal agencies work to spend all that is left in their federal budgets, worried that Congress will appropriate them a smaller amount next year if not. The Pentagon is no exception.

In September 2024, the DOD spent more than it had in any other month since 2008, with a hefty taxpayer price tag for fine dining.

It spent $6.1 million on lobster tails, $16.6 million on rib-eye steaks, 6.4 million on salmon and $407,000 on Alaskan king crab, as highlighted in an X thread by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.

That same month, DOD spent $211.7 million on new furniture, including $36,000 on foot rests.

Cost-cutting initiatives will face opposition from a Congress that has never been keen to take a scalpel to the nation's defenses. 

"If history is any kind of precedent, I do think that this is where you'll start to see at least a real sort of tension arise," said Diana Shaw, former State Department Inspector General. "There are a lot of vested interests, and not just economic."

"There are folks with philosophical interests in the entire defense infrastructure and the military. And so, this is an area that has been well protected historically. And so I do think this now will be an interesting test case to see whether there will be, even within the Republican Party now, some pushback to the sort of aggressive cutting and picking apart that we've seen happen at other agencies that have historically been sort of less favored by members of the Republican Party."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is "welcome at the Pentagon," telling reporters in Stuttgart, Germany, during his first overseas trip at the helm that the Department of Defense (DoD) will also be reviewing U.S. military posture globally to account for different "strategic assumptions" between President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden.

Upon arriving at the headquarters of U.S. European Command and Africa Command, Hegseth did push-ups, dead-lifts and other PT exercises with the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) – a gesture the secretary, a combat veteran himself, said was meant to interact with the troops directly and hear about their missions, rather than solely communicating through four-star generals. 

Taking questions from reporters afterward, Hegseth, who has vowed to restore the "warrior ethos" at the Pentagon, addressed how Trump has called on NATO members to spend 5% of their GDPs on defense. Asked if the U.S. should also spend that amount, Hegseth said he and Trump share the view that U.S. defense spending should not go below 3% GDP, adding that the current administration ought to spend more than the Biden administration. 

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Hegseth accused the Biden administration of having "historically underinvested in the capabilities of our military," adding that Trump is committed to "rebuilding America's military by investing." 

Asked if he expects Elon Musk to start unilaterally slashing defense programs, Hegseth described the DOGE leader as a "great patriot interested in advancing the America First agenda" who knows "Trump got 77 million votes in a mandate from the American people, and part of that is bringing actual businesslike efficiency to government." Hegseth spoke of a "partnership" with DOGE to reduce Pentagon waste, agreeing with Musk's assessment that it could be to the tune of "billions" of dollars. 

But the secretary stressed that spending at the Pentagon did not equate to the "globalist agendas" pursued by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). 

"As I said on social media, we welcome Doge to the Pentagon," Hegseth said. "And I hope to welcome Elon to the Pentagon very soon. And his team working in collaboration with us." 

Hegseth said, "There are waste redundancies and headcounts in headquarters that need to be addressed. There's just no doubt. Look at a lot of the climate programs that have been pursued at the Defense Department. The Defense Department is not in the business of climate change, solving the global thermostat. We're in the business of deterring and winning wars. So things like that." 

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"There's plenty of places where we want the keen eye of DOGE, but we'll do it in coordination," he added, pointing to potential changes in weapons procurement programs as well. "We're not going to do things that are to the detriment of American operational or tactical capabilities… President Trump is committed to delivering the best possible military." 

"The Defense Department is not USAID," Hegseth said. "USAID has got a lot of problems that I talked about with the troops – pursuing globalist agendas that don't have a connection to America First. That's not the Defense Department. But we're also not perfect either. So where we can find billions of dollars, and he's right to say billions inside the Defense Department, every dollar we save, there is a dollar that goes to warfighters. And that's good for the American people." 

Hegseth was also asked if there were plans to shift U.S. forces from Europe to the Indo-Pacific to focus on the Chinese threat. 

"There are no plans right now in the making to cut anything," Hegseth said. "There is an understanding that we're going to review force posture across the world." 

"President Trump's planning assumptions are different in many ways, or at least strategic assumptions, than Joe Biden's," he said. "We certainly don't want a plan on the back of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. And what happened on October 7th and the war that was unleashed in Ukraine. You have to manage and mitigate those things by coming alongside your friends in Israel and sharing their defense, and peacefully resolving the conflict in Ukraine. But those shouldn't define how we orient." 

On his decision to reverse Biden's 2023 renaming of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg, Hegseth said, "It means Bragg is back. It means the legacy of an institution that generations of Americans have mobilized through and served at is back." 

"I never called it Fort Liberty because it wasn't Fort Liberty. It's Fort Bragg. And so I was honored to be able to put my signature on that," Hegseth said. The North Carolina base’s original namesake was Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general, but Hegseth said it would now be named after Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II hero who earned the Silver Star and the Purple Heart for his courage during the Battle of the Bulge.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday addressed events in Afghanistan, saying they created the perception of "American weakness."

While speaking to the Department of Defense and Pentagon workforce during a town hall on Friday, Hegseth said America "deserves to take accountability for" events in Afghanistan, the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, and the war that was unleashed in Ukraine. 

"Chaos happens when the perception of American strength is not complete," Hegseth said. "We aim to re-establish that deterrence."

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He discussed the three pillars he will focus on during his term - reviving the warrior ethos, restoring trust in the military and rebuilding it by matching threats to capabilities, and reestablishing deterrence by defending the homeland.

Hegseth also spoke about the broken windows theory in policing, explaining that disregarding the small things in the military can create large problems.

"I think the same thing exists inside our services – making sure at every level, there [are] standards and accountability, and that we live it at the highest levels," he said.

That is why, Hegseth said, the U.S. will look back at what happened in Afghanistan.

He added the department will hold people accountable.

"Not to be retrospective, not for retribution, but to understand what went wrong and why there was no accountability for it," Hegseth said.

Going forward, the military will find strength in unity, not diversity, according to Hegseth.

"I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is ‘our diversity is our strength,’" he said. "Our strength is our shared purpose – regardless of our background, regardless of how we grew up, regardless of our gender, regardless of our race. 

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In the department, Hegseth said everyone will be treated equally.

"We will treat everyone with fairness," he said. "We will treat everyone with respect."

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Service members and department civilian employees will be judged by their merit, commitment to the team, and the mission, according to Hegseth.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Sen. Tom Cotton attributed increased Army recruiting numbers to "America First" leadership and "the Trump effect." 

However, data indicates that recruiting numbers began to improve months before the U.S. Presidential election, according to a former official.

"You had some number of young men and women who didn't want to join the army over the last four years under Joe Biden and Christine Wormuth, the former secretary of the Army, when they thought it was more focused on Wokeness and DEI and climate change," Cotton told Fox's "America's Newsroom." "That's not why young men and women join our military. They do it because they love the country." 

The uptick in recruiting started months before the election on Nov. 5.

"No, it did not all start in December," former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, who served until Jan. 20, said in an interview with Fox News.

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"Army's recruiting started getting better much earlier. We really started seeing the numbers, the monthly numbers, go up in February of 2024. We were seeing sort of in the high 5000 contracts per month, and that accelerated, you know, into the spring all the way into August, when the Army really hit a peak."

Starting in October 2023, the Army put 1,200 more recruiters in the field. By September 2024, before the election, the Army announced it had exceeded its recruiting goals. 

The groundwork was laid that October when Wormuth and Gen. Randy George, the Army chief, began a sweeping initiative to help those who did not meet academic standards or fitness requirements. The six-week pre-boot camp, called the Future Soldier Prep Course, helps lower-performing recruits meet enlistment standards. They also moved away from just recruiting in high schools to posting on job message boards. Recruiters got trained by Amazon, Wells Fargo and other industry leaders in talent acquisition. Additionally, the Army brought back the "Be All That You Can Be" branding campaign from the 1980s.

"We've been selecting soldiers who have personalities that are more suited to recruiting. We improved our marketing very dramatically in terms of being very data driven and very targeted. And then, of course, the future Soldier Prep course, which the Army established some time ago, has been a big success and has accounted last year for about 25% of the new recruits that came in," Wormuth said. "If you look at our Army ads, we show young people, you know, jumping out of helicopters. We show kids doing, you know, night patrols in the jungle."

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Army data shows the Army has struggled with recruiting numbers since COVID, including a shortfall of 15,000 recruits in 2022.

It reported record-breaking recruitment in December 2024, with nearly 350 recruits enlisting daily and the total number of active duty soldiers reaching 5877 recruits that month. Secretary Hegseth praised the recruiting numbers in a post on X.

"@USArmy: @USAREC had their most productive December in 15 years by enlisting 346 Soldiers daily into the World's greatest #USArmy!

"Our Recruiters have one of the toughest jobs - inspiring the next generation of #Soldiers to serve.

"Congratulations and keep up the great work!"

However, August of last year, three months prior to the election, saw a higher number of recruits than in December – 7,415 recruits compared to the 5,877 in December. January 2025 still has not surpassed August 2024 for the highest monthly count of the past year. 

In other words, the positive recruiting trend began before the election.

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The increased recruiting numbers resulted from more women joining. Women made up 19% of the recruits last year, the highest rate to date. 

"For example, right now, 16% of the overall Army is women. And so, having a year where almost 20% of the new recruits are women is a notable increase," Wormuth said. "In 2024, we also had the highest ever recruiting year for Hispanics." 

There is a lag of about 10 to 12 weeks from the time a recruit enters a recruiting office and actually signs up due to medical exams and other paperwork.

"The biggest reasons young people are hesitant to join the Army is because of fear of death or injury, fear of leaving their families, a sense that maybe somehow, you know, joining the Army will put their lives on hold for a period of time," Wormuth said. "Concerns about so-called wokeness are very low on the list of obstacles for most young people. And the last time the Army ran that survey, we didn't really see a change. That remains to be a small concern." 

During its recruiting crisis, the Army had seen a drop in the number of families who typically send their children to serve, families whose members have served for generations. Many of those families tended to be White and from one of the 10 states that make up nearly half of the recruits: Texas (13.3%), California (10.5%), Florida (9.7%), Georgia (5.1%), North Carolina (4.6%), New York (4.3%), Virginia (2.9%), Ohio (2.8%), Illinois (2.6%) and Pennsylvania (2.4%). 

There is no data suggesting a surge in White males joining the Army last year. In FY2024, 40% of the Army recruits were Caucasian, 25% were Black and 26% were Hispanic.

"From the data we saw, there was no discernible change in young White men joining the Army compared to the spring of 2024. The Army had about 7,400 recruits in August, and in December it was about 5,800," Wormuth said.

The Army is also set to expand its basic training capacity in the spring.

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"U.S. Army Recruiting Command is on track to exceed the fiscal year 2025 recruitment goal of 61,000 new Soldiers and an additional 10,000 in the Delayed Entry Program," Madison Bonzo, Army Recruiting Command spokeswoman, said in a statement. "As of today, USAREC has contracted 59% of the current FY25 goal. Our success couldn't be possible without the hard work of our Recruiters, continued transformation of the recruiting enterprise and modernization initiatives to attract qualified talent into America's most lethal fighting force." 

Wormuth said, "I would say we saw in the Army recruiting numbers, we started seeing us really get traction in February of 2024."  

"And we continued to build those numbers up to about, you know, high 5,000, 6,000 a month in August. And the Army has continued that momentum going into the end of the year. And I think the winds are at the Army's back for coming into 2025," she continued. 

Former Army officials warn that it is dangerous to link Army recruiting successes to the election cycle, since the military is supposed to be apolitical. Soldiers sign up not to serve a president or a party but to serve the Constitution.

West Point has disbanded a number of identity-based clubs at the military academy to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders and new Pentagon guidance, Fox News has confirmed. 

Some of the clubs no longer sanctioned by the university include the Asian-Pacific Forum, the Korean-American relations seminar, the Latin Cultural Club, the National Society of Black Engineers Club and the Society of Women Engineers Club. 

The U.S. Military Academy communications office said the clubs had been dissolved because they were affiliated with the DEI office. 

"In accordance with recent guidance, the U.S. Military Academy is reviewing programs and activities affiliated with our former office of diversity, equity and inclusion," the office told Fox News Digital in a statement. "The clubs disbanded yesterday were sponsored by that office."

'INCOMPETENCE': REP BANKS RIPS WEST POINT AS SCHOOL APOLOGIZES FOR 'ERROR' SAYING HEGSETH WASN'T ACCEPTED

Trump has instituted sweeping policies to eradicate DEI across the federal government since taking office. 

A dozen clubs were disbanded, according to the memo, while other clubs have had their activities paused until the directorate of cadet activities can review and revalidate their status. 

WEST POINT MILITARY ACADEMY DROPS 'DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY' FROM MISSION STATEMENT

"More than one hundred clubs remain at the U.S. Military Academy, and our leadership will continue to provide opportunities for cadets to pursue their academic, military, and physical fitness interests while following Army policy, directives, and guidance."

The memo, circulated around the university and verified by Fox News Digital, says such clubs are no longer permitted to "use government time, resources or facilities." 

Last year, the Supreme Court eliminated race- and gender-based admissions policies at universities but left a carve-out for military institutions like West Point. It later rejected a challenge to the exceptions for military academies, allowing their affirmative action programs to move forward. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote late last month in a memo that DEI practices are "incompatible" with the values of DOD and instructed the Pentagon to stop celebrating "identity" months like Black History Month and Pride Month. 

Democrats sounded off about the White House sending U.S. troops to the southern border, but Army secretary nominee Daniel Driscoll insisted that he did not believe it would affect readiness. 

"Is there a cost in terms of readiness?" Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the top Democrat in the Senate Armed Services Committee, asked Driscoll during his confirmation hearing on Thursday. 

"The Army has a long, 249 history of balancing multiple objectives," Driscoll said. "If this is important to the commander-in-chief, the Army will execute it." 

"I think border security is national security," he went on. "We’ve had soldiers at the border for a number of years, and the Army stands ready for any mission."

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., also voiced concerns about sending the military to the U.S. border.

"We're seeing now active duty military, Army, be sent to the border, being sent on missions right now to support DHS," she said. "But according to our Constitution, the US military active duty cannot perform law enforcement roles." 

ARMY SEC NOMINEE QUESTIONS WHETHER MILITARY PILOTS SHOULD TRAIN NEAR DC AIRPORT

Slotkin, a former CIA agent, said she was concerned that without proper training an incident could occur that would turn public opinion against the nation’s armed forces. 

"I'm deeply concerned that active duty troops are going to be forced into law enforcement roles, and we're already hearing stories that really, really touch right on the line," she said.  

"They're not properly trained. There's going to be an incident," she said. "Someone's going to get hurt, there's going to be some sort of blow up, and suddenly we're going to have a community that’s deeply, deeply angry at uniformed military who were just told to go and drive those DHS vehicles through that building, perform support for somebody." 

Slotkin asked Driscoll if he would follow an order from President Donald Trump or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if it "contravened with the Constitution." 

"I reject the premise that the president or the secretary would ask for an order like that, but I will always follow the law," Driscoll said. 

HEGSETH SHARES DETAILS ON BLACK HAWK CHOPPER TRAINING FLIGHT

Slotkin shot back: "Your predecessor, Army Secretary [Mark] Esper, had this exact thing that he wrote about in his book, 82nd Airborne Army was asked to come in and clean up a peaceful protest in Washington, DC. So I reject your rejection that this is theoretical."

"We’re counting on you to protect the integrity of a non-political military that is not trained in law enforcement roles." 

Immediately upon taking office, Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border and 1,500 active duty troops — 1,000 Army personnel and 500 Marines — deployed to the southern border. 

There already were 2,500 U.S. service members stationed at the southern border. The troops were ordered there in May 2023 during the Biden administration under Title 10 authorities approved by former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and are planned to be there until the end of fiscal year 2025, according to a U.S. Northern Command spokesperson. 

"Whatever is needed at the border will be provided," Hegseth said Monday, hinting at the possibility of additional deployments in the coming weeks.

Trump also signed an executive order designating drug cartels in Latin America as foreign terrorist organizations, granting the military greater authority to interdict them. 

Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III, who famously landed a passenger plane on the Hudson River in 2009, commented on the deadly aircraft collision that occurred over the Potomac River on Wednesday night.

"We’ve had to learn important lessons literally with blood too often, and we had finally gotten beyond that, to where we could learn from incidents, and not accidents," Captain Sullenberger told The New York Times.

Sullenberger explained to the outlet that "everything is harder" when flying at night. He noted that while the pilots’ ability to see may have been impacted by the darkness, "we don’t know" whether that was the case.

"I’m just devastated by this," Sullenberger said. "We have the obligation to learn from every failure and improve."  

AMERICAN AIRLINES CEO EXPRESSES 'DEEP SORROW' AFTER MIDAIR COLLISION

At approximately 9:00 PM local time on Wednesday night, an Army Black Hawk collided with an American Airlines plane near Reagan National Airport outside of Washington, D.C. All 67 people onboard both aircraft are presumed dead.

John Donnelly, Chief of the District of Columbia Fire Department, said on Thursday morning that authorities did not believe there were any survivors, and the mission was shifting "from a rescue operation to a recovery operation."

HEGSETH SHARES DETAILS ON BLACK HAWK CHOPPER TRAINING FLIGHT

President Donald Trump called the deadly crash a "dark and excruciating night in our nation's capital and in our nation's history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions."

"Together, we take solace in the knowledge that their journey ended not in the cold waters of the Potomac, but in the warm embrace of a loving God," Trump said.

In a video statement, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that the department knows "on our side who was involved. It was a fairly experienced crew, and that was doing a required annual night evaluation. They did have night vision goggles."

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was sworn-in hours before the collision, said "everything was standard" before the crash. He also vowed to get answers for the victims’ families and the American people.

In January 2009, Sullenberger landed an Airbus A320 safely in the Hudson River after striking a flock of birds that disabled both engines shortly after takeoff; all 155 people aboard survived. His heroic actions, later dubbed the "miracle on the Hudson," were depicted in the 2016 film "Sully" starring Tom Hanks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed the American people following the deadly collision involving an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter outside Reagan National Airport. Hegseth says the crash occurred while the Black Hawk was on an annual proficiency training flight.

"We do know on our side who was involved. It was a fairly experienced crew, and that was doing a required annual night evaluation," Hegseth said in a video statement obtained exclusively by Fox News. "We anticipate that the investigation will quickly be able to determine whether the aircraft was in the quarter at the right altitude at the time of the incident."

"It's a tragedy, a horrible loss of life for those 64 souls on that civilian airliner. And of course, the three soldiers in that Black Hawk. They're in our prayers, their families and their communities as people are notified," Hegseth added.

On Wednesday, around 9:00 PM local time, the FAA issued a ground stop at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after a military helicopter with three soldiers collided with a civilian airplane carrying 60 passengers and four crew members.

In a press conference on Thursday morning, DC Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly announced nearly 30 bodies had been recovered from the scene of the collision so far. At this time, authorities do not believe there are any survivors, Donnelly added.

"We have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter," he added. "Despite all these efforts, we are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation."

AMERICAN AIRLINES CEO EXPRESSES 'DEEP SORROW' AFTER MIDAIR COLLISION

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser thanked first responders for working in a "very frigid" river through the night in what started as a search and rescue mission, which is now a recovery mission.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was sworn-in hours before the collision, vowed to get answers on behalf of the collision victims’ families and the American people. Duffy noted that the collision occurred on a clear night and that both the airplane and helicopter were in "standard" patterns.

"Safety is our expectation. Everyone who flies in American skies expects that we fly safely, that when you depart an airport, you get to your destination. That didn’t happen last night," Duffy said. Duffy believes that the evidence so far indicates that the collision could have "absolutely" been prevented.

AMERICAN FIGURE SKATER SAYS HE WAS BARRED FROM FLIGHT THAT COLLIDED WITH ARMY HELICOPTER

In a blunt Truth Social post, President Donald Trump called the crash "a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented."

Shortly after the collision, Vice President JD Vance urged people to "say a prayer for everyone involved."

DEI is about to die at the DoD.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth zeroed in on the controversial programs, releasing a memorandum on Wednesday stating that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is incompatible with Department of Defense (DoD) values, and created a task force to address the abolition of the program.

Further, it outlined how the department will restore America's fighting force – citing promotion and selection reform; elimination of quotas; and prohibition of Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, and DEI.

In an executive order issued Monday, "Restoring America's Fighting Force," President Donald Trump prohibited any preference or disadvantage for an individual or group within the Armed Forces on the basis of sex, race or ethnicity. 

DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH SAYS ‘NO MORE DEI AT DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE’: ‘NO EXCEPTIONS’

The memorandum – for senior pentagon leadership, commanders, and DoD field activity directors – noted the DoD will strive to provide merit-based, color-blind, equal opportunities for service members, but will not guarantee or strive for equal outcomes.

All decisions related to hiring, promotion, and selection of personnel for assignments will be based on merit, the needs of the department, and the individual's desires, according to the memo.

Officials created a "Restoring America's Fighting Force" Task Force to oversee the department's efforts to abolish DEI offices, boards, councils and working groups.

WHITE HOUSE OPM ORDERS ALL DEI OFFICES TO BEGIN CLOSING BY END OF DAY WEDNESDAY

It will also eliminate any "vestiges of such offices that subvert meritocracy, perpetuate unconstitutional discrimination, and promote radical ideologies related to systemic racism and gender fluidity."

Officials also nixed any programs, elements or initiatives that were established to promote "diverse concepts," according to the memo. 

Moving forward, officials said the DoD will not consider sex, race or ethnicity when considering individuals for promotion, command or special duty.

The department will also eliminate quotas, objectives and goals that are based on those characteristics.

U.S. Service Academies and other defense academic institutions will "teach that America and its founding documents remain the most powerful force for good in human history," according to the memo.

U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Air Force Academy officials provided Fox News Digital with the same statement when asked for comment on Trump's orders.

"In accordance with the Department of Defense, the U.S. Naval Academy will fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the Executive Orders issued by the President, ensuring that they are carried out with utmost professionalism, efficiency, and in alignment with national security objectives," officials said.

Fox News Digital requested comment from the U.S. Military Academy (West Point), U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, but did not immediately receive a response.

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An initial report on progress will be provided to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USDP&R) by March 1, and a final report by June 1.

The Air Force has resumed a course on the first Black pilots unit that was temporarily yanked in what officials claim was an effort to ensure compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning DEI in the federal government. 

Following backlash from legislators and even the new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Air Force claimed reports it had yanked a course teaching new recruits about the 15,000 Black pilots, mechanics and cooks in the segregated Army of World War II known as the Tuskegee Airmen were "inaccurate." 

However, Hegseth wrote on X Sunday that the course's removal had been "immediately reversed."

Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, Air Education and Training Command commander, said in a statement that the segment that included videos on the Tuskegee Airmen was temporarily yanked on Jan. 23 because a section of it that included DEI material was directed to be removed.

A video on the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), a paramilitary group of female pilots in World War II, was also temporarily removed.

"We believe this adjustment to curriculum to be fully aligned with the direction given in the DEI executive order," he said. "No curriculum or content highlighting the honor and valor of the Tuskegee Airmen or Women Air Force Service Pilots has been removed from Basic Military Training."

TRUMP’S CRACKDOWN ON TRANS TROOPS: NEW ORDER NIXES PREFERRED PRONOUNS AND RESTRICTS FACILITY USE

"No Airmen or Guardians will miss this block of instruction due to the revision, however, one group of trainees had the training delayed. The revised training, which focuses on the documented historic legacy and decorated valor with which these units and airmen fought for our nation in World War II and beyond will continue on 27 January."

Gen. David Allvin, Air Force chief of staff, explained further, "Allow me to clearly dispel a rumor – while we are currently reviewing all training courses to ensure compliance with the executive orders, no curriculum or content highlighting the honor and valor of the Tuskegee Airmen or Women Air Force Service Pilots has been removed from Basic Military Training."

"From day one, I directed our Air Force to implement all directives outlined in the Executive Orders issued by the president swiftly and professionally – no equivocation, no slow-rolling, no foot-dragging. When policies change, it is everyone’s responsibility to be diligent and ensure all remnants of the outdated policies are appropriately removed, and the new ones are clearly put in place," he went on in a statement. 

"Despite some inaccurate opinions expressed in reporting recently, our Air Force is faithfully executing all the president’s executive orders. Adhering to policy includes fully aligning our force with the direction given in the DEI executive order. Disguising and renaming are not compliance, and I’ve made this clear. If there are instances of less-than-full compliance, we will hold those responsible accountable."

Before the Air Force announced it would resume training on the airmen on Monday, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., had accused it of "malicious compliance." 

"I have no doubt Secretary Hegseth will correct and get to the bottom of the malicious compliance we’ve seen in recent days. President Trump celebrated and honored the Tuskegee Airmen during his first term," she said. 

PETE HEGSETH CONFIRMED TO LEAD PENTAGON AFTER VP VANCE CASTS TIE-BREAKING VOTE

"Amen! We’re all over it, Senator. This will not stand," Hegseth echoed.

WASP were vital to ferrying warplanes throughout World War II. The Tuskegee Airmen, an active fighter unit from 1940 to 1952, were the first soldiers who flew during World War II. The group destroyed more than 100 German aircraft. 

The nation's armed forces were not desegregated until 1948, under an executive order from then-President Harry Truman. 

Trump is expected to issue a new executive order focused on rooting out DEI in the military on Monday, in addition to one restricting accommodations for transgender troops. Another executive order will reinstate service members who were fired over refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. 

President Donald Trump is expected to sign a new executive order restricting transgender troops from serving in the military on Monday. 

The new order requires Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to update medical standards to ensure they "prioritize readiness and lethality" and take action to "end the use of invented and identification-based pronouns" within DOD, per a White House document reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

The order also restricts sleeping, changing and bathing facilities by biological sex. It’s not an immediate ban, but a direction for the secretary of Defense to implement such policies. 

It revokes former President Joe Biden’s executive order the White House argues "allowed for special circumstances to accommodate ‘gender identity’ in the military – to the detriment of military readiness and unit cohesion."

The order builds on another directive Trump issued last week that revoked a Biden-era order allowing transgender people to serve in the military. 

DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH SAYS 'NO MORE DEI AT DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE': 'NO EXCEPTIONS'

On the campaign trail, Trump promised to reinstate the ban on transgender troops he imposed during his first term. In his inauguration speech, he said he would formally recognize that there are only two genders: male and female.

There are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender service members – exact figures are not publicly available.

Between Jan. 1, 2016, and May 14, 2021, the DOD reportedly spent approximately $15 million on providing gender-affirming care (surgical and nonsurgical care) to 1,892 active duty service members, according to Congressional Research Service. 

The move comes as part of a campaign taken up by Trump and Hegseth to weed out any diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices across the military. And GOP lawmakers successfully included an amendment in their 2025 defense policy bill that bans irreversible transgender care for minors in the military healthcare system.

WHITE HOUSE OPM ORDERS ALL DEI OFFICES TO BEGIN CLOSING BY END OF DAY WEDNESDAY

A day-one order banning DEI policies across the federal government has already sidelined 395 bureaucrats, Fox News Digital reported. 

An order requiring the federal government to only recognize two genders has prohibited the use of taxpayer money for "transgender services" following reports that some inmates were receiving transgender care funded by the government. Medicaid, in some states, currently covers such treatments. 

Also, under that order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims are to be segregated by biological sex. It would block requirements at government facilities and at workplaces that transgender people be referred to using pronouns that align with their gender. Trump’s team says those requirements violate the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and religion.

The order does not issue a nationwide mandate on which bathrooms transgender people can use or which sports competitions they can participate in, though many states have passed laws in those areas.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth arrived for his first day at the Pentagon on Monday with a message regarding the Department of Defense's (DOD's) mission. 

Greeted by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and a gaggle of reporters, Hegseth said it was "an honor to serve on behalf of the president and serve on behalf of the country," adding, "The warfighters are ready to go." 

Hegseth quickly turned to the border crisis, acknowledging how President Donald Trump was "hitting the ground running" with executive orders declaring an emergency at the southern border and designating cartels foreign terrorist organizations. Hegseth said the DOD "snapped to" last week in sending more troops to aid in erecting barriers along the southern border, as well as to "ensure mass deportations," adding: "That is something the Defense Department absolutely will continue to do." 

"He's made it very clear. There is an emergency at the border," Hegseth said. "The protection of the sovereign territory of the United States is the job of the Defense Department." 

DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH SAYS 'NO MORE DEI AT DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE': 'NO EXCEPTIONS'

Last week, the Defense Department announced 1,500 active-duty service members and "additional air and intelligence assets" were being sent to the southern border "to augment troops already conducting enforcement operations in that region."

When asked if more troops would be deployed to the border now that he is taking the helm, Hegseth said, "Whatever is needed at the border will be provided. Whether that is through state active duty, Title 32 or Title 10, because we are reorienting." 

"This is a shift. This is not the way things have been done in the past," Hegseth said. "The Defense Department will support the defense of the territorial integrity of the United States at the southern border to include reservists, National Guard and active duty with compliance with the Constitution, the laws of our land, and the directives of the commander in chief." 

Hegseth, a combat veteran who deployed to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan, said he anticipated more executive orders from the White House later Monday. Those would include orders to remove diversity, equity and inclusion inside the Pentagon, reinstate troops who were "pushed out" over COVID-19 vaccine mandates and to implement the construction of an "Iron Dome for America," Hegseth told reporters, vowing to comply with Trump's directives "rapidly and quickly." 

"Every moment I am here I am thinking about the guys and gals in Guam, in Germany, in Fort Benning, in Fort Bragg, on missile defense sites and aircraft carriers," Hegseth said. "Our job is lethality and readiness and warfighting." 

TRUMP TO REINSTATE SERVICE MEMBERS DISCHARGED FOR NOT GETTING COVID-19 VACCINE

"We hold people accountable. I know the chairman agrees with that," Hegseth, who most recently was a Fox News host before Trump nominated him to lead the Defense Department, continued. "The lawful orders of the President of the United States will be executed in this Defense Department swiftly and without excuse. We will be no better friend to our allies and no stronger adversary for those who want to test us and try us." 

When asked about a wristband he was wearing, Hegseth said he wore it every day to remember Jorge Oliveira, a soldier he served with in Guantánamo Bay when he was a platoon leader. Oliveira was later killed in Afghanistan while Hegseth was there in a separate unit. 

"It's these guys that we do this for. Those who have given the ultimate sacrifice," Hegseth said. 

The secretary was also asked about assistance for Afghans who worked with the U.S. government. Last week, Trump issued an executive order pausing all U.S. foreign development aid for 90 days pending an assessment into whether the funds align with his administration's foreign policy. Reuters reported that flights for approximately 40,000 Afghans who were approved for special visas following former President Joe Biden's botched withdrawal have been suspended as a result. 

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"We are going to make sure there is accountability for what happened in Afghanistan, and we stand by our allies," Hegseth said. 

The Department of Defense (DoD) is the latest agency that is disbanding all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs following President Donald Trump's executive order terminating all federal DEI programs.

"The President’s guidance (lawful orders) is clear: No more DEI at Dept. of Defense," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in a post on X.

In a handwritten note shared along with the post on X, Hegseth wrote: "The Pentagon will comply, immediately. No exceptions, name-changes, or delays."

Hegseth added that "those who do not comply will no longer work here." 

WHITE HOUSE OPM ORDERS ALL DEI OFFICES TO BEGIN CLOSING BY END OF DAY WEDNESDAY

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., echoed Hegseth, writing: "The best way to stop discriminating against people on the basis of race or gender is to stop discriminating against people on the basis of race or gender," Kennedy wrote in a post on X. "Let DEI die." 

Hegseth, 44, was sworn in on Saturday morning after he secured his confirmation to lead the Pentagon on Friday after weeks of intense political drama surrounding his nomination and public scrutiny into his personal life. 

"All praise and glory to God. His will be done and we're grateful to be here," Hegseth said after taking the oath of office, surrounded by his wife and children.

Hegseth is a former Minnesota National Guard officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and a former Fox News host. 

Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed up by Elon Musk, reported that approximately $420 million in current/impending contracts, mainly focused on DEI initiatives, had also been canceled. 

On Inauguration Day, Trump signed an executive order that forced all DEI offices to close and placed all government workers in those offices on paid leave.

TRUMP'S FEDERAL DEI PURGE PUTS HUNDREDS ON LEAVE, NIXES $420M IN CONTRACTS

Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Charles Ezell sent a memo to heads and acting heads of departments and agencies directing them that by the end of business on Jan. 22, they were to inform all agency employees of the DEI shutdown. In addition, they were instructed to tell workers directly involved in DEI to take down all DEI-related websites and social media accounts, cancel any related contracts or training, and ask employees to report any efforts to disguise DEI programs by using coded or imprecise language.

The memo also directed the heads of agencies and departments that by noon on Jan. 23, they were to provide OPM with lists of all DEI offices, employees, and related contracts in effect as of Nov. 5, 2024.

By Friday, Jan. 24, at 5 p.m., agency heads were required to submit to OPM a written plan for executing a reduction-in-force action regarding DEI employees and a list of all contract descriptions or personnel position descriptions that were changed since Nov. 5, 2024, to obscure their connection to DEI programs.

The president also signed an order making it "the official policy of the U.S. government to only recognize two genders: male and female."

3 IN 10 VOTERS THINK ENDING DEI PROGRAMS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, POLL SHOWS, AS FEDERAL DEADLINE LOOMS

Trump issued two other executive actions targeting DEI — an executive order to end discrimination in the workplace and higher education through race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of DEI and a memo to eliminate a Biden administration policy that prioritized DEI hiring at the Federal Aviation Administration.

In his executive order, Trump wrote that he sought to protect Americans from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. He said these civil-rights protections "serve as a bedrock supporting equality of opportunity for all Americans" and that he "has a solemn duty to ensure that these laws are enforced for the benefit of all Americans."

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"Yet today, roughly 60 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, critical and influential institutions of American society, including the Federal Government, major corporations, financial institutions, the medical industry, large commercial airlines, law enforcement agencies, and institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI) or 'diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility' (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation," the order reads.

It adds that these "illegal DEI and DEIA policies also threaten the safety of American men, women, and children across the Nation by diminishing the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination when selecting people for jobs and services in key sectors of American society, including all levels of government, and the medical, aviation, and law-enforcement communities.

Prior to Trump's order, the FBI closed its DEI office in December. 

Fox News' Brooke Singman, Brie Stimson, Michael Dorgan and Landon Mion contributed to this report. 

The Senate voted to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee, Pete Hegseth, as defense secretary on Friday night after a high-tempered battle to sway lawmakers in his favor that was almost derailed by accusations about his behavior. 

The final vote came down to the wire: three Republicans opposed, making for a 50 to 50 vote. Vice President JD Vance was needed to break the tie in the upper chamber, putting the final tally at 51-50.

"Congratulations to Pete Hegseth. He will make a great Secretary of Defense!" Trump wrote on Truth Social after Hegseth's confirmation.

The Senate’s two moderate Republican women: Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted no. As did Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the former GOP leader. 

MODERATE REPUBLICAN MURKOWSKI WON'T BACK TRUMP PICK HEGSETH FOR DEFENSE SECRETARY

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis' support was not a given, and he did not reveal his stance until the vote was already underway. He ultimately said he would back Trump's pick, giving him enough support to be confirmed with Vance's tie-breaking vote. 

In her reasoning, Murkowski cited infidelity, "allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking" and Hegseth's previous comments on women serving in the military. 

The behaviors he has admitted to alone, she said, show "a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces."

Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), the nonprofit advocacy group at the center of many of the accusations brought up during Hegseth's confirmation hearing, praised his confirmation in a statement. 

"The confirmation of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense presents a real opportunity to prioritize the security and prosperity of our citizens, champion prudence and effectiveness in our defense strategy, and focus our Department of Defense on America’s most vital interests," the statement read. 

The New Yorker reported in December that Hegseth was forced out of CVA, the group he once ran, over allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety and personal misconduct. 

All Democrats opposed the confirmation, a far cry from an earlier vote this week, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio was confirmed unanimously, 99-0.

Hegseth will now lead the government’s largest agency, having long promised to root out Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) measures across each branch. 

HEGSETH CLEARS SENATE HURDLE AND ADVANCES TO A FINAL CONFIRMATION VOTE

The Pentagon under Trump, however, has not waited for a confirmed secretary. 

This week, the commander of the Air Force's 613th Air Operations Center in Hawaii, who had advocated for more women in roles like her own, was removed from her position. Gen. Kevin Schneider, commander of Pacific Air Forces, relieved Col. Julie Sposito-Salceies from the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, "due to loss of confidence in her ability to command the organization."

Shortly after Trump took office, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, the first uniformed woman to lead any military branch, was removed from her position. 

Trump this week also nominated former Space Force Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier and former Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller to top Defense Department posts – both men who were deeply critical of the Biden administration's policies at the Pentagon. 

Lohmeier, who had been nominated to serve as undersecretary of the Air Force, was fired as commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force base, after he wrote a book and appeared on podcasts claiming Marxism had infiltrated the armed forces and criticizing diversity policies.

Scheller made headlines for posting videos in uniform criticizing senior military leaders over the Afghanistan withdrawal. Scheller, the new senior advisor to the Department of Defense Under Secretary for personnel and readiness, was sent to the brig and court-martialed over the clips. 

Hegseth’s nomination was dealt a last-minute hurdle earlier this week when reports emerged that his ex-sister-in-law alleged he had abused his second wife. 

On Tuesday, Fox News obtained an affidavit from Hegseth's former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, which alleged he had an alcohol abuse problem and at times made his ex-wife, Samantha, fear for her safety. Danielle Hegseth was previously married to Pete Hegseth's brother and has no relation to Samantha.

KEY SENATE CHAIRMAN CRITICIZES 'ANONYMOUS SOURCES WITH ULTERIOR MOTIVES,' STANDS BY HEGSETH NOMINATION

But Danielle Hegseth added that she never witnessed any abuse herself, physical or sexual, by Pete against Samantha. 

Samantha Hegseth has also denied any physical abuse in a statement to NBC News.

Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker said in a statement Wednesday night that reports "regarding a confidential briefing on the FBI background investigation of Pete Hegseth that I received last week are starkly and factually inaccurate," and that he stands by Hegseth’s nomination.

Earlier Thursday, Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged Republicans to join him in opposing the former Fox News host and Army national guardsman. 

HEGSETH LAWYER SLAMS 'FLAWED AND QUESTIONABLE AFFIDAVIT' FROM EX-SISTER-IN-LAW

"Hegseth is so utterly unqualified, he ranks up there [as] … one of the very worst nominees that could be put forward," Schumer said.

Hegseth, who has been married three times, has admitted he was a "serial cheater" before he became a Christian and married his current wife, Jenny. 

The 44-year-old Army National Guard veteran, who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, is relatively young and inexperienced, compared to defense secretaries in the past, retiring as a major. But Republicans say they don’t want someone who made it to the top brass who's become entrenched in the Pentagon establishment. 

The Department of Defense (DOD) has ordered an immediate worldwide pause to its social media pages and is pausing all posts on all social media platforms, unless the posts have to do with U.S. military operations and deployments to protect the southern border, Fox News has learned.

The order came with President Donald Trump's approval from the White House and will remain in place until his pick for defense secretary is confirmed and directs otherwise, two senior U.S. defense officials told Fox News.

The temporary pause is expected to last a matter of days, while guidance is given to every uniformed and civilian public affairs officer responsible for social media websites.

All social media posts should reflect an emphasis solely on "warfighting and lethality," sources said.

FLASHBACK: WHITE HOUSE ACCUSED OF US FLAG CODE VIOLATION OVER PRIDE MONTH DISPLAY

A senior defense official said the new administration wants to ensure that "all communications are aligned" with its goals. The pause only applies to social media posts. Press releases will still be emailed to reporters and posted on DOD websites, sources said.

Civilian and military public affairs officers worldwide will soon receive internal guidance on all posts and social media outreach for military recruiting, posts from DOD schools and posts from combatant commands on ongoing military operations. 

Social media accounts will be shut down, and past content won't be erased, but no new posts will be permitted until the future defense secretary, once confirmed, directs otherwise, a senior U.S. defense official explained to Fox News. 

"The Department of Defense is reviewing its social media programming to make sure it aligns with President Trump's priorities on readiness, lethality and warfighting," a senior U.S. defense official told Fox News in a statement. "This pause does not apply for content and imagery relative to the DOD's current border security operations announced yesterday by Acting Secretary of Defense Robert G. Salesses."

Under previous administrations, including the Biden administration, the military had been criticized for social media posts focusing on what critics called "woke" priorities.

The U.S. Army in 2021 released an animated recruitment ad telling the story of an Army corporal with two moms as part of a recruitment campaign, "The Calling," which depicted the diverse stories of five different service members.

"It begins in California with a little girl raised by two moms," the narrator, Cpl. Emma Malonelord, said in the video. "Although I had a fairly typical childhood, took ballet, played violin, I also marched for equality. I like to think I've been defending freedom from an early age."

Critics quickly expressed concern about the ad undermining confidence in the strength of the U.S. military, Fox News Digital reported at the time. Many social media users posted side-by-side comparisons to ads released by other nations' militaries.

"We are so doomed," Media Research Center's Dan Gainor wrote at the time alongside the edited clip.

"Russians are building a military focused on killing people and breaking things. We're apparently building a military focused on being capable of explaining microaggressions and critical race theory to Afghan Tribesmen," John Hawkins concurred at the time.

TWITTER EXPLODES OVER RUSSIAN ARMY RECRUITMENT AD COMPARED TO ‘WOKE’ US VERSION: ‘WE ARE DOOMED’

At the start of Pride Month in 2022, the United States Space Force posted on X, highlighting Maj. Gen. Leah Lauderback's comments on the "QueerSpace" podcast.

"Maj. Gen. Leah Lauderback spoke on how the LIT is working to change policy, change minds, and create opportunities for LGBTQ+ members of the military," the post stated.

On the same day, the official U.S. Marines account on X shared an illustration of a Marine helmet with rainbow-colored bullets.

"Throughout June, the USMC takes #Pride in recognizing and honoring the contributions of our LGBTQ service members," the military branch wrote. "We remain committed to fostering an environment free from discrimination, and defend the values of treating all equally, with dignity and respect."

In June 2023, the U.S. Air Force posted an illustration to X during Pride Month, featuring a service member saluting in front of the rainbow flag.

The post received nearly 6,000 comments.

"As an Air Force vet, I am embarrassed by this," one critic wrote. "How [far] we have fallen as a proud nation. This bulls--- needs to end."

"Pentagon and today's Joint Chiefs are a national embarrassment and are destroying military readiness," another wrote. "Disgraceful."

The U.S. State Department recently adopted a "one flag policy" order from the Trump administration, which permits only the American flag to be flown at U.S. buildings at home and abroad, with two notable exceptions, the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action emblem and the Wrongful Detainees Flag.

Trump also ordered all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) government offices to close. All DEI federal workers were placed on paid administrative leave.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for further comment. 

Fox News Digital's Yael Halon and Stephen Sorace contributed to this story.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, will not support the confirmation of Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the defense department, citing a lack of experience and concerns over his past comments regarding women.

Several Republican senators remained on the fence about Hegseth's nomination as he faced a grilling from members of the Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing in January. 

Collins cited a lack of experience and Hegseth's previous comments about women serving in the military as reasoning for her decision to not back the Trump nominee.

"While I appreciate his courageous military service and his ongoing commitment to our servicemembers and their families, I am concerned that he does not have the experience and perspective necessary to succeed in the job," Collins wrote in a post on X on Thursday. 

KEY SENATE CHAIRMAN CRITICIZES ‘ANONYMOUS SOURCES WITH ULTERIOR MOTIVES,’ STANDS BY HEGSETH NOMINATION

"His limited managerial experience involved running two small non-profit organizations that had decidedly mixed results," Collins wrote in a lengthy social media post. 

MODERATE REPUBLICAN MURKOWSKI WON'T BACK TRUMP PICK HEGSETH FOR DEFENSE SECRETARY

In November, Hegseth said that he believes that "we should not have women in combat roles" during an appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show, a comment that has raised concerns from senators whose support is crucial in advancing his nomination.

"I am also concerned about multiple statements, including some in the months just before he was nominated, that Mr. Hegseth has made about women serving in the military," the senator said. "He and I had a candid conversation in December about his past statements and apparently evolving views. I am not convinced that his position on women serving in combat roles has changed."

Another Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, revealed on Thursday that she would also not be supporting Hegseth due to "allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking," which he has denied.

On Thursday, the Senate passed a motion to invoke cloture for Hegseth's nomination, advancing his confirmation to a final vote.

Pete Hegseth cleared a procedural hurdle Thursday for a final Senate vote to advance his confirmation to lead the Department of Defense, setting up a high-stakes showdown.

A motion to invoke cloture, or begin up to 30 hours of debate, passed 51-49. Republican Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted no on advancing Hegseth's confirmation, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voted yes. 

Hegseth’s nomination was dealt another hurdle this week when reports emerged that his ex-sister-in-law alleged that Hegseth had abused his second wife. 

Two sources told CNN Hegseth’s ex-wife, Samantha Hegseth, gave a statement to the FBI about Hegseth’s alleged alcohol use. The outlet said one of the sources said Samantha Hegseth told the FBI, "He drinks more often than he doesn’t."

On Tuesday, Fox News obtained an affidavit from Hegseth's former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, which alleges he has an alcohol abuse problem and at times made his ex-wife, Samantha, fear for her safety. Danielle Hegseth was previously married to Pete Hegseth's brother and has no relation to Samantha.

KEY SENATE CHAIRMAN CRITICIZES 'ANONYMOUS SOURCES WITH ULTERIOR MOTIVES,' STANDS BY HEGSETH NOMINATION

But Danielle Hegseth added that she never witnessed any abuse herself, physical or sexual, by Pete against Samantha. 

Samantha Hegseth has also denied any physical abuse in a statement to NBC News.

Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker said in a statement Wednesday night that reports "regarding a confidential briefing on the FBI background investigation of Pete Hegseth that I received last week are starkly and factually inaccurate" and that he stands by Hegseth’s nomination.

"It is disturbing that a sensitive, longstanding process used by committee leadership to vet presidential personnel is being litigated in the press by anonymous sources with ulterior motives," Wicker said, adding that he has been briefed by the FBI three times about a background check into Hegseth.

The new reporting came after a slew of reports damaging to Hegseth’s character, including a sexual assault allegation that he denies and reports about his alleged penchant for drinking and financial mismanagement. Hegseth has said he would abstain from alcohol if confirmed. 

Hegseth is expected to face one of the most vicious confirmation fights of any Trump Cabinet nominee. His confirmation hearing was heavy on personal character questions and interrogation over his opposition to female-specific standards for women in combat and light on policy inquiries. 

HEGSETH LAWYER SLAMS ‘FLAWED AND QUESTIONABLE AFFIDAVIT’ FROM EX-SISTER-IN-LAW

Earlier Thursday, Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged Republicans to join him in opposing the former Fox News host and Army national guardsman. 

"Hegseth is so utterly unqualified, he ranks up there [as] … one of the very worst nominees that could be put forward," Schumer said.

"People's lives depend on it — civilians and, of course, the men and women in the armed services — and Pete Hegseth has shown himself not only incapable of running a large organization, he often shows himself incapable of showing up or showing up in a way where he could get anything done. He is so out of the mainstream and so unqualified for DOD that I am hopeful we will get our Republican colleagues to join us. There will be a vote this afternoon."

Hegseth, who has been married three times, has admitted he was a "serial cheater" before he became a Christian and married his current wife, Jenny. 

The 44-year-old Army National Guard veteran, who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, is relatively young and inexperienced, compared to defense secretaries in the past, retiring as a major. But Republicans say they don’t want someone who made it to the top brass who’s become entrenched in the Pentagon establishment. 

Hegseth has made it clear that he will work to fight "woke" programs in the Pentagon that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). He originally said he opposed women in combat, before later clarifying that he only opposes standards for women in combat that are different from those for men. 

"I’m straight up just saying that we should not have women in combat roles," Hegseth said on the "Shawn Ryan Show" podcast. "It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated."

In 2019, he successfully lobbied Trump to pardon three service members convicted or accused of war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Trump may have looked ahead to sparing himself the headache this role caused him during his first administration. Only Jim Mattis and Mark Esper lasted more than a year. Three others served in an acting capacity. Hegseth is more likely to align himself with Trump's goals for the department. 

Fox News' Stephen Sorace, Julia Johnson and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.