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 on X.
"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.
Joel Valdez, Department of Defense acting deputy press secretary, defended the decision to disband DACOWITS, suggesting online that the committee was no longer needed.
"The panel, DACOWITS, existed during the last administration's recruitment and retention crisis," he said on X.
"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."
The Pentagon added: "We are cleansing the Department of wokeness."
The committee was established in 1951, making it one of the Defense Department's oldest advisory bodies. According to its website, 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.
Its disbandment comes as the Trump administration conducts a cultural overhaul of the military, in an effort to remove so-called left-leaning ideology.
Among the changes imposed by Hegseth are grooming standards to be clean-shaven and "neat in presentation," banning transgender Americans from serving in the armed forces, tightening restrictions on media coverage and eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, among others.
It has also signaled a cultural transformation through promoting a so-called warrior ethos as counter to a "woke" culture as well as renaming military bases after Confederate soldiers who fought against the United States in the Civil War.
He has also attempted to rename the Department of Defense the department of war, a change that requires congressional approval.
During his confirmation hearings, Hegseth came under Democratic criticism for sexual misconduct, which he denied, as well as for saying that women should not serve in combat roles in the U.S. military.
VA uses $84M in grant funding to help homeless veterans
Washington DC (UPI) Sep 23, 2025 -
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said Tuesday it's using tens of millions of dollars in grant money to well over 100 U.S.-based organizations to help homeless veterans.
The VA stated that about $84 million in grant money will be given to about 176 groups throughout the United States that have the purpose of helping homeless U.S. veterans transition back into permanent housing, as well as that help those at risk of having no place to call home.
"No one who served our nation in uniform should go without shelter," said U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins.
Some $42 million in grants will cover legal services through the VA's homeless veterans and at-risk grant program.
An additional $42 million will be used fund managers for the exhaustive administrative case management processes that very often involve in-person home visits.
The VA attempted similar efforts earlier this year.
On Tuesday, the VA secretary stated the grants provide "crucial support and services to help thousands of veterans on their journey back to self-sufficiency," Collins said in a statement.
A multitude of complicated issues surround the topic of unhoused veterans like landlord-tenant disputes to prevent eviction, child support or custody issues, estate planning, navigating the federal bureaucracy and scores of other issues up to and including criminal.
Government data has suggested that as many as 32,000 Americans who served the United States military could be homeless at any given time. Experts on the topic, however, say those numbers are conservative and don't show the full picture.
Data in 2021 suggested that veterans constitute about 6% of the U.S. population, with 8% of it homeless and possibly representing tens of thousands.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development previously attributed ongoing VA programs that has directly aided nearly 90,000 veteran households to find "stable, rental homes."
Last year in December the VA under then-U.S. President Joe Biden said homelessness among America's vets decreased by nearly 8% from 35,574 in 2023 to 32,882 in 2024.
Experts say Los Angeles sits as America's "epicenter" for the highest number of homeless U.S. vets nationwide per capita.
The Biden VA targeted LA last March with plans to house some 41,000 homeless veterans which came on top of Biden's $78 million "voucher" program last year in June to further add to VA efforts.
In May, U.S. President Donald Trump inked one in a flurry of scores of executive orders that would establish a first-ever national center for homeless U.S. veterans near Los Angeles in a facility that could house up to 6,000.
It came the same month Trump's VA unrolled a $50 million grant program to turn around veteran suicide stats.
If you are a veteran who is experiencing homelessness, call the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877-4AID-VET (877-424-3838).
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