STATEMENT OF THE FORMER JAGS WORKING GROUP ON THE WARRIOR ACT AND WOMEN IN THE MILITARY

The Former JAGs Working Group was created in February 2025 when the Secretary of Defense fired The Judge Advocates General of the Army and Air Force for the purpose of eliminating them as obstacles to the policy initiatives he and the president intended to advance. His exact words: to eliminate them as “roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief.”

As we work to rebuild the military’s legal, moral, and ethical guardrails this administration has systematically dismantled, we look for opportunities to support eLorts we believe will help. Today, we have identified one such eLort: the WARRIOR Act. The WARRIOR Act is a bill introduced by Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force veteran, and other Members of Congress who share our concern that the course this administration has set for the military is one that will ultimately weaken our national security. Rep. Houlahan’s bill seeks to ensure that all who serve in the military are able to achieve their maximum potential and thereby contribute meaningfully to our nation’s defense. It is a bill that will block current administration eLorts to eliminate women from or subordinate women within the military’s ranks.

In pursuit of a “warrior ethos” he has defined as a culture of “maximum lethality, not tepid legality,” the Secretary of Defense has not only engaged the military in a series of unnecessary, unlawful, and unwise demonstrations of force, he is deliberately reengineering the personnel policies and practices that have long retained and recruited the very best and most capable men and women our nation can oLer.

In recent weeks, the Secretary’s objective to make the military a “brotherhood” has been on full display as he has begun a campaign to eliminate women from its ranks. Before he assumed oLice, he made no secret of his desire to limit the roles of women serving in the military. He recently removed two female oLicers from a brigadier general promotion list without explanation. In between, he has railed against women in combat roles, argued that women detract from his “warrior ethos,” and begun the process of establishing a “male standard” for physical fitness that appears intended to disparately impact females and remove most if not all of them from combat roles and perhaps the military.

Even though this Secretary considers the role and rule of law in the military to be “tepid legality,” we who have served as judge advocates know that adherence to the law actually makes a military more lethal and eLective. Even though this Secretary considers women unsuited for military service, we who have served in uniform know that our success as a military would not have been possible without the courage, competence, sacrifice, and leadership of the thousands of women who also have served.

Without the contributions of legal professionals and women – two groups disfavored in the Secretary’s “warrior ethos” concept of military perfection – our nation would not be as safe and successful as we have been for 250 years.

29 March 2026