Decision Brief: Restoring America’s Trust in the U.S. Armed Forces

Policy Recommendation: The President should publish an Executive Order on Restoring Trust in the U.S. Military and establishing a Presidential Commission on Military COVID-19 and Anthrax Policies (COMCAP).

Reason: For generations the U.S. Military has been the most trusted institution in America. In the wake of the military’s implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, Gallop polling revealed that America’s trust in the military had fallen as low as 60% by mid-2023. Recognizing this, President Trump stated in his January 20, 2025 Inaugural Address:

“This week, I will reinstate any service members who were unjustly expelled from our military for objecting to the Covid vaccine mandate with full backpay. And I will sign an order to stop our warriors from being subjected to radical political theories and social experiments while on duty. It’s going to end immediately. Our armed forces will be free to focus on their sole mission, defeating America’s enemies. Like in 2017, we will again build the strongest military the world has ever seen. We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”

The President’s planned orders to protect the force from “radical political theories and social experiments while on duty,” are indeed necessary steps in restoring the military’s focus on lethality and protecting the U.S. Constitution.  However, to accomplish the President’s intent to reinstate servicemembers whose careers ended prematurely over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate AND to “again build the strongest military the world has ever seen,” the Trump Administration will need a formal mechanism to address the systemic loss of trust in the military associated with illegal/unconstitutional medical mandates.

This could be achieved through the establishment of a Presidential Commission on Military COVID-19 and Anthrax Policies (COMCAP).

Background: More than 8,000 service members were removed from the military for refusing the COVID vaccine, but estimates compiled by groups of affected senior servicemembers (such as those forced to retire) suggest that the military’s end strength was reduced by between 80,000 and 95,000 through premature voluntary terminations of service because of the COVID-related policies.

Even after the National Defense Authorization Act rescinded the mandate in 2023, CNN reported that “Only 43 of more than 8,000 discharged from US military for refusing Covid vaccine have rejoined.”  Similarly, while veterans who left the service over the COVID-related policies were pleased to hear President Trump’s Inaugural Address announcement, the likelihood of large numbers of them re-joining is low if they do not see a formal mechanism established to both provide effective redress and also hold accountable the uniformed and civilian leaders who violated their rights.

Another vital point is that it was not only expelled servicemembers who suffered from the Department of Defense’s COVID-19 mandate. Many thousands suffer the moral injuries of having compromised their consciences and strongly held religious beliefs to continue serving and providing for their families. There is mounting evidence that many servicemembers were physically harmed by the COVID-19 vaccines, causing them great concern about their future health and whether the department of Veteran Affairs will consider these injuries as “service-connected.”

Unfortunately, over the past two decades, the COVID-19 vaccine mandate (20 January 2021 to 19 January 2025) was not the only case where investigational drugs were compelled upon servicemembers prior to receiving full approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The Anthrax vaccine mandate (December 1997 to 1 February 2007) also violated informed consent requirements for investigational drugs.

Fortunately, there are veteran officers and senior enlisted servicemembers who are familiar with the issues surrounding the COVID-19 and Anthrax mandates and who are motivated to help correct the wrongs associated with these mandates while restoring trust in the military and unity within its ranks.  These veterans have compiled a “draft” executive order and are continuing to gather feedback from among current members of the military and those who left its ranks over the mandates. This draft can be found here:  https://h2fman.substack.com/p/restoring-trust-in-the-united-states

Pushback: Expect pushback from across institutions of the government bureaucracy who were complicit with the censorship of truth surrounding COVID (such as its origin, etc.) and who were involved in the roll-out of the COVID vaccines. Expect significant pushback from high ranking uniformed and civilian leaders of the current Department of Defense and the civilian and military lawyers who assisted them in designing and implementing the COVID vaccine mandate and other policies of coercion that targeted religious servicemember populations.

Governing Laws and Regulations: The President has the ability to establish a Presidential Commission on Military COVID-19 and Anthrax Policies (COMCAP) through executive order.  The operation of Presidential commissions is largely governed by the Federal Advisory Commissions Act (FACA). Servicemembers’ requests for redress largely involved complaints of the prior administration not following the law. This Executive Order implements America’s just laws in a manner consistent with their spirit and letter and wholly within existing Presidential authority and existing law, statute, and regulations.

The Bottom Line: For the President to keep promises made on the campaign trail and during his Inaugural Address regarding rebuilding of the U.S. Military, he should immediately issue an Executive Order on Restoring Trust in the U.S. Military and establishing a Presidential Commission on Military COVID-19 and Anthrax Policies (COMCAP). He should then move quickly, through his new Secretary of Defense, to staff this Presidential Commission with knowledgeable experts who can help him achieve the spirit and intent of the promises he made to the American people.

AUTHOR

Tommy Waller

President & CEO

Tommy Waller is the President and CEO of the Center for Security Policy. Waller retired from the Marine Corps Reserves at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel after serving more than two decades on both active duty and in the reserves with deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Waller joined the Marine Corps in 1998 on a NROTC scholarship, was commissioned in 2002, trained as an infantry officer, and then conducted multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq through 2006. During these combat tours he served in an infantry battalion, as part of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and as a Reconnaissance Platoon Commander for 2d Recon Battalion.

In 2007, he accepted orders to Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Virginia, where he completed the Marine Corps Expeditionary Warfare School and was the first recipient of the Captain Robert M. Secher Scholarship to the Wharton School of Business where he completed an executive education course on high stakes negotiations.

From 2009, when Waller left active duty, he would serve multiple roles in Marine Corps Reserves’ 4th Marine Division, with most of his assignments at 3d Force Reconnaissance Company, eventually rising to the position of Commanding Officer of the unit in July of 2019. During his time with 3d Force and 4th Marine Division, Company Waller conducted numerous missions on the continent of Africa and led a team of reconnaissance and intelligence Marines to Belize to conduct a counternarcotics/counterterrorism mission. He also completed the Marine Corps Command and Staff College and was cross assigned to serve as a key staff member of the U.S. Air Force’s Electromagnetic Defense Task Force (EDTF).

Waller joined the Center for Security Policy in 2014. He served as Director of Infrastructure Security until 2021, when he was officially named the Center’s Executive Vice President.

He holds a BA in International Relations from Tulane University.

RELATED ARTICLE: Hegseth Confirmed As Secretary Of Defense After Chaotic Process

EDITORS NOTE: This Center for Security Policy column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.