Secretary of War Pete Hegseth publicly praised his wife, Jennifer Hegseth, on Monday, August 3, 2026, after President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the first-ever Presidential Military Spouse Commission and named her its chair. The post, shared on X in response to a video from the Department of War’s rapid response account, thanked both his wife and the president for what he called a “historic and deeply important” step for military families.
Hegseth’s post read in full: “So proud of you @JennyHegseth — thank you for stepping up for our great military families. The best of our country. And thank you Mr. President — historic and deeply important.” The post was published at 2:15 p.m. on August 3, 2026.
The Secretary of War’s message came directly in response to a post from the Department of War’s official rapid response account, which shared footage of Trump announcing the commission from the Oval Office. That post quoted the president saying: “I’m signing an executive order to establish the first-ever Presidential Military Spouse Commission. It will be chaired by Jennifer Hegseth.”
The Executive Order
Trump signed the order, titled “Establishing the President’s Military Spouse Commission,” during an Oval Office ceremony on Monday attended by Pete Hegseth, Jennifer Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, and a group of military spouses. According to the text of the order, the commission is intended to address the “significant challenges” military spouses face “due to the nature of military service,” including frequent relocations, long separations from deployed service members, and limits on housing, employment, and other resources.
The order states that “thriving military families mean a more resilient fighting force and thus a stronger and more secure America,” and directs the commission to advise the president on policies affecting military spouses, monitor implementation of the order, liaise with spouses on their concerns, and recommend actions to improve their quality of life in areas including housing, employment, healthcare, education, and deployment-related support.
Under the order, the spouse of the Secretary of War serves as chair of the commission, with membership drawn from the spouses of senior military leaders, including the secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the service chiefs; senior enlisted advisors across the branches; and the Secretary of Homeland Security. The commission is required to submit a report to the president at the end of each fiscal year and will terminate two years from the date of the order unless extended.
Trump’s Remarks at the Signing
During the signing ceremony, Trump told those gathered in the Oval Office that “America cannot have the strongest military in the world without the love and devotion of our remarkable military spouses, who make the extraordinary sacrifices for our country.” He noted that “many military spouses spend months separated from their loved ones while our heroes are deployed overseas,” and said the commission would “provide recommendations for improving the quality of life for military spouses so that we can better support both our military families and the entire United States armed forces.”
Trump also framed the announcement as a long-overdue step, telling attendees, “Thank you all for being here as we take a major, new step to support our incredible military families, something that we’ve been working on for a long time… for decades, there’s never been anything like this.”
Jennifer Hegseth’s Role and Remarks
Jennifer Hegseth, who will serve as chair of the commission, told those in attendance that the issues facing military families are longstanding and require the input of people who have lived them. “These are generational issues that are long overdue to address, and we have the most amazing women here who have decades of experience as military spouses themselves to take a look at it,” she said.
She also described a year spent engaging directly with military families ahead of the commission’s launch, saying she had “spent the last year traveling around and meeting with military spouses and families around the world,” and separately told Fox News Digital, “I am deeply honored to lead this Commission alongside my fellow military spouses in leadership. We will work tirelessly to dismantle the barriers our families face every single day and these families can rest assured they have a champion in the White House with President Trump.”
Hegseth on Family Readiness and the Force
Pete Hegseth used the occasion to tie the commission’s mission directly to military readiness, a theme he has emphasized throughout his tenure as Secretary of War. “Strong families equal strong formations,” he said, “and if your family’s not taken care of that, then it causes hesitation and complications for the warfighters up front.” He added that a service member who knows “their family is good to go” will “go the extra mile, which is what our nation asks.”
Commission Membership and Scope
Beyond Jennifer Hegseth, the commission will include Christie Mullin, wife of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, along with more than 20 other military spouses representing the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the service secretaries, and the senior enlisted leaders of each branch. The panel is tasked with developing policy recommendations across housing, employment, healthcare, education, and deployment-related support, and with serving as a direct channel between military families and the White House.
Background: A Persistent Employment Gap
Monday’s order builds on a long-running effort to address unemployment among military spouses, a problem that has remained largely unchanged for more than a decade. Department of Defense survey data has repeatedly put the unemployment rate among civilian spouses of active-duty service members at roughly 21 percent, nearly four times the national civilian rate during the same period.
Researchers and advocacy groups have attributed the gap to frequent relocations, limited access to affordable childcare, and employer hesitancy to hire spouses who may need to relocate again within a few years. A 2025 workforce study found that active-duty military spouses were significantly more likely than civilian spouses to have young children at home, compounding the employment barriers created by permanent change-of-station moves.
Earlier this year, the Department of Defense expanded hiring flexibilities aimed at reducing military spouse unemployment, directing the department to make broader use of noncompetitive appointment authorities and remote work options for spouses accompanying service members on new assignments. That effort, part of a broader White House goal of reducing military spouse unemployment by five percent, was described by defense personnel officials as a first step that would need to be scaled beyond a single department to produce lasting change.
Continuing Federal Efforts
The new commission also follows steps taken during Trump’s first term to expand employment opportunities for military spouses, including efforts to broaden occupational licensure portability across state lines and to increase remote and flexible job options for spouses affected by frequent relocation. The White House cited those earlier initiatives directly in Monday’s order as the foundation the new commission is meant to build upon.
Looking Ahead
The commission’s first annual report to the president is due at the end of the current fiscal year, with the panel authorized to continue operating for two years unless extended. Its establishment marks the most direct White House engagement with military spouse advocacy to date, formalizing a channel between military families and senior administration officials that had previously existed largely through individual agency programs rather than a standing presidential body.