Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has disbanded a 75-year-old Defense Advisory Committee that, while problematic throughout most of its existence, has mutated into a blackhole of radical feminism. In a memo, Hegseth directed the “formal disestablishment” of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.
“After further review, I have determined that the reinstatement of the Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services (DACOWITS) should not proceed,” Hegseth wrote in the memo, addressed to the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness and the director of administration and management. “The Department’s Advisory Committee Management Officer will terminate the DACOWITS in accordance with the requirements of [the Federal Advisory Committee Act]. In addition, the DACOWITS Sponsor will take appropriate action to realign resources associated with the DACOWITS, such as the reassignment of personnel, conclusion of contracts, and the archiving of DACOWITS’ records.”
An announcement from the Department of War heralded this memo.
🚨BREAKING: Secretary Hegseth has decided to terminate the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.
The Committee is focused on advancing a divisive feminist agenda that hurts combat readiness, while Secretary Hegseth has focused on advancing uniform, sex-neutral…
— Kingsley Wilson (@PressSecDOW) September 23, 2025
The DACOWITS was instituted in 1951 under Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall “to provide advice and recommendations on matters and policies relating to the recruitment, retention, employment, integration, well-being, and treatment of women in the U.S. Armed Forces.”
Over time, the Committee’s focus changed from ensuring women had an opportunity to serve to pushing women into Special Operations Forces and submarines, and worrying about how military women were portrayed in the media and breastfeeding policy. In short, it stopped being a way of advising leadership on how to ease the path for women in the Armed Forces into a whiny, mouthy little special interest group that tried to make the Armed Forces serve the needs of women.
Gender neutral, color blind, merit based. https://t.co/vNdMU1t2ha
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) September 23, 2025
This isn’t the first rodeo with the disbandment of DACOWITS. President George W. Bush briefly attempted to shut down this organization in 2002, but, like many of his efforts, he never followed through on the plan. In 2021, in a rare moment of mission focus by the general officers in the Pentagon, DACOWITS was shut down but quickly reestablished by Secretary of Defense Lloyd “AWOL” Austin.
Anyone is welcome to contribute to the extent that they can, but standards must be high and rigid. DACOWITS ensured that these standards were flexible, creating maximum promotional opportunities for women. The first woman to graduate from Ranger School spent nearly eight months in training and being eased through a 61-day course. The only purpose of that exercise was to achieve a “first.” The Army didn’t need a woman Ranger; the feminists needed a scalp to take in their fight for equity and against the patriarchy and toxic masculinity.
Women are no longer a novelty in the military and shouldn’t be treated as such. The military does not exist to create opportunities for women to become general officers, which is the approach taken by DACOWITS. Secretary Hegseth is correct that our military needs to get back to a focus on killing people and breaking things.
Few things are harder than turning around a failing, but complacent and self-satisfied organization. That is the challenge facing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The military services have been hollowed out through DEI and dysfunctional leadership. The industrial base is dead in the water. Follow RedState for some of the most informed coverage on his efforts to recreate a force in crisis. Join RedState VIP and help continue that coverage. Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
