Before Pete Hegseth became defence secretary, it is fair to say that he did not always see the point of women in some parts of the army. “Our military runs on masculinity. It’s not toxic at all, it’s necessary,” he once wrote. To win confirmation by the Senate he moderated his views: all combat roles remain open to women. That is just as well. Finding enough recruits is hard in a tight labour market. Strangely, one thing that helps the armed forces do so is an app that Congress has tried to ban on national-security grounds.