President Donald Trump is anticipated to sign three executive orders on Monday that will significantly alter military policies. These orders are expected to prohibit transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. armed forces, eliminate the military’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, and reinstate service members who were discharged for refusing the Covid-19 vaccine, along with backpay, according to two White House officials speaking to CNN.

The orders, initially reported by the New York Post, follow the recent swearing-in of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense, Trump’s nominee for the Pentagon. Hegseth has expressed intentions to implement substantial cultural reforms within the military, including the cessation of DEI practices and the removal of what he terms “woke” service members.

In 2017, Trump instituted a ban on transgender Americans serving in the military, a policy that was reversed by then-President Joe Biden in 2021. Shortly after beginning his second term last week, Trump signed an order that rescinded Biden’s 2021 directive allowing transgender individuals to serve. The forthcoming order is expected to go further by establishing new military standards concerning gender pronouns and asserting that mental and physical readiness necessitates the exclusion of transgender service members.

One official referenced a fact sheet stating, “It can take a minimum of 12 months for an individual to complete treatments after transition surgery, which often involves the use of heavy narcotics. During this period, they are not physically capable of meeting military readiness requirements and require ongoing medical care. This is not conducive for deployment or other readiness requirements.”

The official stated, “The specifics of the implementation [of the ban] fall under the Department of Defense.” According to the Palm Center, an independent research organization that has extensively studied sexual minorities in the military, there were approximately 14,000 transgender service members in the US military in 2018.

A memo from the Pentagon during Trump’s initial term suggested that exceptions be made for transgender service members who were already in uniform prior to the ban, those who do not require a gender change, and individuals who had maintained their biological sex for 36 consecutive months before joining. It remains uncertain whether the new administration’s ban will include similar exceptions.

Additionally, a second executive order prohibits any “discriminatory” policies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the military. This order follows the Trump administration’s directive that mandated federal employees in DEI offices to be placed on paid administrative leave immediately.

All DEI initiatives within the US armed forces will undergo an internal review led by Hegseth.

The third executive order instructs Hegseth to reinstate all active and reserve service members who were discharged for not receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. These individuals will be restored to their previous rank and receive back pay and benefits, according to one official. However, the Pentagon had already lifted the military’s Covid-19 vaccination mandate, allowing these service members to return after Biden signed the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which mandated this change. As reported by CNN in October 2023, only 43 out of more than 8,000 service members discharged for vaccine refusal sought to rejoin the military eight months after the mandate was officially rescinded.