Secretary of Defense orders all DoD components to designate intimate spaces by sex (the "Hegseth Memorandum")

A memorandum for senior Pentagon leadership, commanders of the combatant commands, and Defense agency and DoD field activity directors, titled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government." It states that the "president has given us our marching orders in his Executive Order 14168" and that "[e]ffective immediately, the Department of Defense will remove all traces of gender ideology." It directs all DoD components — expressly including the National Guard Bureau — to "[e]nsure that intimate spaces designated for women, girls, or females (or for men, boys, or males) are designated by sex and not identity," and tasks the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to "send a task and oversee implementation of these actions." The memorandum states no rationale grounded in employee safety, dignity, or operational efficiency.