It’ll be “very hard” for President-elect Trump to undo many of the social changes President Obama implemented in the military should he decide to do so, the Army secretary said on Thursday.
Eric Fanning acknowledged that the path to social change over the course of history “has never been purely linear.”
“But I do think it’s very hard to roll things back completely,” Fanning said at the Defense One Summit in Washington. “Society is changing very quickly.”
He also said the decisions the military has already made will make it more difficult to kick people out of the service who have already been accepted.
“When you’re looking in to making some of these changes, the debate is whether or not you’re going to let someone wear the uniform, which is a very different discussion from whether or not you’re going to make someone take the uniform off,” Fanning said. “I feel pretty confident that these changes and this direction is here to say.”
Republicans have criticized Obama for using the military as a social experiment during his time in office, including allowing gay troops to serve openly, lifting the ban on women serving in combat and allowing transgender troops to serve and receive medical care.
Gay and transgender troops are already worried that Trump could roll back some of the reforms.
Trump did not speak specifically about what he would do on these rules during the campaign. Last month, when questioned directly about how he would handle “forces of political correctness” in the military, Trump said some of the changes are “ridiculous,” but said he would defer to top military leaders on their recommendations.
