Rights groups sue Pentagon over study of women in combat — Defense News

In the United States, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Women’s Law Center, and the Service Women’s Action Network have sued the Department of Defense. The organizations are seeking documents concerning a study of the effectiveness of women in combat positions, Defense News reports.

The lawsuit is intended to compel the department to comply with the rights groups’ request for information about the reasons for commissioning this work. The organizations want materials on the scope, purpose, and methodology of the study, as well as on how the Pentagon plans to use its results.

The study was commissioned for six months

In January, the Department of Defense assigned a six-month study to the nonprofit research group Institute for Defense Analyses, which is largely funded by the federal government. According to the lawsuit, the study was transferred to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in April 2026.

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The lead researcher at JHU/APL is Jane Pinelis. The lawsuit states that she authored a 2015 study for the U.S. Marine Corps that reported negative effects of service in mixed-sex units.

Plaintiffs’ arguments

The plaintiffs argue that the 2015 study was criticized for design flaws and biased analysis. As set out in the lawsuit, critics, including the then-U.S. Secretary of the Navy, described the work as an attempt to demonstrate men’s physical superiority rather than establish minimum standards and test who meets them.

Gillian Thomas, a senior attorney at the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, said that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had repeatedly questioned, without evidence, women’s ability to serve in ground combat units. In the ACLU’s view, the public has the right to know the reasons for conducting the new study and the subsequent plans for its results.