Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has made it known that he will sign an executive order directing the construction of an “Iron Dome” missile defense program.
Trump made a pledge to bolster US military assets with executive action in the evening at his south Florida golf resort, the Trump National Doral Miami, on Monday during a retreat for Republican lawmakers.
“We have to have a strong, strong defence”, Trump said from the podium. “And in a little while, I’ll be signing four new executive orders”.
The first, he explained, was to “immediately begin the construction of a state-of-the-art Iron Dome missile defence shield, which will be able to protect Americans”.
Two more orders, he added, would be aimed at removing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and getting “transgender ideology the hell out of our military”.
Additionally, a fourth order would reinstate service members who had been fired for breaking COVID-19 mandates. Between August 2021 and January 2023, approximately 8, 000 members had been discharged for that reason.
Trump argued that the actions were necessary to give the US “the most lethal fighting force in the world.”
A flood of executive orders
The executive actions Trump has taken since returning to the White House on January 20 were yet another ripple in the wave of executive actions.
According to officials, Trump signed a record number of executive actions on his first day in office, amounting to a total of 42 orders, memorandums and proclamations.
Many of those initial orders , pertained to immigration and social issues. For instance, he made a move to end birthright citizenship, a constitutionally protected right that endows anyone born in the US with citizenship.
However, some of his earlier executive orders merged with those that were made public on Monday.
He called for the end of government DEI programmes, which he accused of perpetrating “illegal and immoral discrimination”. Additionally, he signed a second law that says the gender identities of men and women are “not interchangeable.”
However, the most recent wave of orders directly affects the US military’s strategic priorities.
Monday’s orders, for example, echo a “transgender military ban” that Trump pursued in 2017, during his first term in office. President Joe Biden later reversed that ban in 2021.
An estimated 8, 000 service members identify as transgender, though more may be reluctant to reveal their gender in public.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s first day at the Pentagon also coincided with the executive orders Trump unveiled.
Hegseth, a veteran and former Fox News host, has previously criticized what he called the “woke” ideology that is roiling the military and questioned whether women should serve in combat roles.
Hegseth, who is also the head of the Pentagon, has pledged to oversee a significant overhaul of the military’s leadership and to establish a “warrior culture” within the armed forces.
Hesgeth overcame allegations of abuse and alcoholism to receive Friday confirmation from 50 Republican senators.
Three Republicans, including former Senate party leader Mitch McConnell, opposed his nomination.
Creating an “Iron Dome”
The Republican leader made a promise on the campaign trail by putting an “Iron Dome” in Trump’s executive order to create one.
A US-funded air defense system in Israel that detects and intercepts incoming rockets is known as the “iron dome.”
In his campaign for re-election in 2024, Trump had repeatedly stated that he wanted to lead Israel’s Iron Dome system.
He revealed his plans to build “the best Iron Dome in the world” in an August broadcast on the social media platform X.
And in July, he added the Iron Dome proposal to the Republican Party’s official platform.
But military experts have repeatedly questioned whether such a system is necessary, or even feasible, for the US.
Israel’s current defense system only guards against rockets and mortars with a low-power. And Israel itself is only about the size of New Jersey, one of the US’s smaller states.
Given the advanced firepower of potential adversaries like Russia and China, experts claim that building a similar system across the vast US mainland would be prohibitive, not to mention potentially ineffective.
Additionally, Observers point out that the US already has programs in place for missile defense, including those aimed at the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program and the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system.
Trump’s Iron Dome project’s future is also uncertain because it almost certainly will need congressional approval for funding.
“You know, we protect other countries, but we don’t protect ourselves”, Trump said on Monday.
Source: Aljazeera
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