Sept. 24 (UPI) — The Trump administration has terminated the nearly 75-year-old advisory committee aimed at encouraging and retaining women in the armed forces over accusations of promoting a “divisive feminist agenda,” Pentagon officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision to disband the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services was made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a Tuesday statement<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The committee is focused on advancing a divisive feminist agenda that hurts combat readiness, while Secretary Hegseth has focused on advancing uniform, sex-neutral standards across the department,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joel Valdez, Department of Defense acting deputy press secretary, defended the decision to disband DACOWITS, suggesting online that the committee was no longer needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The panel, DACOWITS, existed during the last administration’s recruitment and retention crisis,” he said<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “With female recruitment numbers soaring under President Trump @SecWar’s leadership, it is clear that DACOWITS is not the reason women are joining the military.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pentagon added<\/a>: “We are cleansing the Department of wokeness.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The committee was established in 1951, making it one of the Defense Department’s oldest advisory bodies. According to its website<\/a>, it is composed of civilian women and men appointed by the Defense secretary to advise on matters and policies related to the recruitment, retention, employment, integration and well-being of women in the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its disbandment comes as the Trump administration conducts a cultural overhaul of the military, in an effort to remove so-called left-leaning ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n