President Donald Trump was sworn into office Monday and swiftly made several changes and discussed his plans to do so to the U.S. armed forces and intelligence community.
Within the first 24 hours of his second term, he promised to reinstate the thousands of troops separated over their refusal to get the coronavirus vaccine, vowed to send U.S. troops to the southern border, and directed the Defense Department to come up with a plan “to seal the borders.”
“The Department of Defense is fully committed to carrying out the orders from our commander in chief, and is doing so immediately under his leadership,” a defense official said in a statement Monday evening.
A major component of Trump’s early actions and that of his inaugural addresses were focused on the southern border.
“I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” Trump said. “Under the orders I signed today, we will also be designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.”
He did not specify how many troops he intended to deploy to the southern border.
One of the many executive orders Trump signed also gave U.S. Northern Command 10 days to deliver a plan to “seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.”
In a separate one, Trump called on officials to come back to him within 14 days with a list of drug cartels and gangs in Latin America that should be designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
“The Cartels have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere that has not only destabilized countries with significant importance for our national interests but also flooded the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs,” the order reads.
Trump promised in his inaugural address to reinstate the roughly 8,400 service members separated over the COVID-19 vaccine and give them back pay. The Pentagon ordered troops to receive the vaccine as it does for several other vaccines, but there was little recourse for anyone who sought a religious exemption. Congress ordered the Defense Department to end its mandatory vaccination program in December 2022.
The president also halted all U.S. foreign aid for 90 days for a review.
Trump, along with most Republicans, has derided the government’s emphasis on diversity and inclusion, which he also barred in an executive order Monday night.
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He and Pete Hegseth, whom Trump tapped to be the next defense secretary, have frequently criticized the military’s focus on DEI, arguing that it was a distraction from its mission of defending the U.S. and deterring adversaries.
Trump also, as it relates to the intelligence community, revoked the security clearances of 51 national security officials who said Hunter Biden’s laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” back in 2020. Trump also revoked the clearance of John Bolton, one of his national security advisers during his first term.