Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday abruptly canceled the Pentagon’s Women, Peace & Security (WPS) program, an initiative signed into law by President Donald Trump during his first term and touted by his first administration as a sign of its commitment to women’s empowerment.
The program was born out of the law known as the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017, legislation sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and co-sponsored by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., that sought to promote the participation of women in mediation and negotiation processes to resolve violent conflict.
In a statement, Shaheen noted that members of Trump’s cabinet were integral to the bill’s success. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, then the Republican at-large representative from South Dakota, was the sponsor of the bill in the House and Secretary of State Marco Rubio was an original co-sponsor in the Senate. And though not involved in writing the legislation, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz formerly chaired the House WPS caucus.
