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30 Sep 25. Trump: Military Will Protect Nation With Focus on Merit, Reawakened Warrior Spirit. The U.S. military, said President Donald J. Trump, is strong again, with a focus on merit and a warrior spirit.
This morning at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, hundreds of general and flag officers from around the War Department sat shoulder to shoulder in an auditorium to listen to two of the very few collection of people who still outrank them: the secretary of war and the president of the United States.
Trump spoke after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth discussed 10 new directives meant to strengthen the military, including a laser focus on standards.
The United States, Trump said, was built on merit, but the focus later shifted.
“We got away from it for a long time,” the president said. But now merit is back — within the federal government and within the War Department.
“We’re going to be greater than we ever were before,” Trump told the generals. “We’re bringing back a focus on fitness, ability, character and strength — and that’s because the purpose of American military is not to protect anyone’s feelings — it’s to protect our republic. And it’s the republic that we dearly love. It’s to protect our country. We will not be politically correct when it comes to defending American freedom, and we will be a fighting and winning machine.”
A stronger more lethal military, Trump said, comes not just from inside the armed forces with training and adherence to standards. It also requires the support of the civilian leadership above it.
“Together, we’re reawakening the warrior spirit, and this is a spirit that won and built this nation: from the cavalry that tamed the Great Plains to the ferocious, unyielding power of Patton, Bradley and the great Gen. Douglas MacArthur,” Trump said. “In this effort, we’re a team. And so, my message to you is very simple: I am with you, I support you, and as president, I have your backs 100%. You’ll never see me even waver a little bit.”
“Together over the next few years, we’re going to make our military stronger, tougher, faster, fiercer and more powerful than it has ever been before,” he continued.
A stronger military doesn’t just mean stronger troops, who are trained and who follow standards, Trump said. It also means having a military that has the best equipment with which to carry out both offensive and defensive operations, including an improved nuclear deterrent, better aircraft and more surface warfare ships and submarines.
“We’re investing tens of bns of dollars in modernizing our nuclear deterrence capabilities like never before,” the president said. “And we’ve begun construction on what we call the ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense shield. It’ll be the most sophisticated in the world.”
For the Navy, he said, more ships are on the way.
“Under my budget, we will be expanding the U.S. Navy by at least 19 ships next year, including submarines, destroyers, assault ships and more,” Trump told the officers.
“History has shown that military supremacy has never been simply a matter of money or manpower. At the end of the day it is the culture, the spirit of our military that truly sets us apart from any other nation,” he said. “Our ultimate strength will always come from the fierce people, those brilliant people with such pride and the unbending will and the traditions of excellence that have made us the most unstoppable force ever to walk the face of the earth, and that’s what we are.”
It was just over three weeks ago that the Defense Department became the War Department, a change in name the president said is more than cosmetic. Instead, he said, the return to an older name harkens back to a time when he thought the department did a lot more of the thing it should be best at: winning wars.
“We won the first world war; we won the second world war — we won everything in between and everything before that. We only won,” Trump said.
Now the department name from that era is back.
“In the coming months, we’ll be making even more historic announcements to fully embrace the identity of the Department of War,” Trump said. “I love the name. I think it’s so great. I think it stops wars. The Department of War is going to stop wars.” (Source: U.S. DoD)
30 Sep 25. Hegseth slams ‘fat generals,’ Trump touts cities as troop ‘training grounds.’
• Summary
• Defense chief: commanders should resign if they don’t back agenda
• Hegseth announces changes to how Pentagon handles discrimination complaints
• Trump’s remarks on US deployments spark fierce reaction from Democrats
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed “fat generals” and diversity initiatives that he said led to decades of decay in the military and told a rare gathering of commanders on Tuesday they should resign if they do not support his agenda.
Joining Hegseth was U.S. President Donald Trump, who also delivered an address to the assembled admirals and generals in Quantico, Virginia that floated the idea of using deployments to U.S. cities as “as training grounds for our military.”
The remarks by Hegseth, a former Fox News personality, and Trump, a former reality television star, had a made-for-TV element to them after top U.S. military officials were summoned on short notice last week to the impromptu event.
“Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading and we lost our way. We became the ‘Woke Department,'” Hegseth said as he kicked off the event. “But not anymore.”
Addressing an auditorium full of top brass who flew in from around the world, Hegseth defended his firings of flag officers, including the top U.S. general, who is Black, and the Navy’s top admiral, who is a woman. He said the officers he relieved were part of a broken culture.
He promised sweeping changes to how the Pentagon handles discrimination complaints and investigates accusations of wrongdoing. He said the current system has top brass walking on “egg shells.”
“If the words I’m speaking today are making your hearts sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign,” Hegseth said.
“I know the overwhelming majority of you feel the opposite. These words make your hearts full.”
Hegseth said it was “completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon.”
He said all fitness tests would be set to male benchmarks only and emphasized the importance of grooming standards.
“The era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos,” Hegseth told the audience, which sat in silence.
Democrats broadly condemned the event, which they said sought to drive partisan politics deep into the U.S. military.
“It signals that partisan loyalty matters more than capability, judgment, or service to the Constitution, undermining the principle of a professional, nonpartisan military,” said Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate’s armed services committee.
TRUMP TELLS COMMANDERS: I HAVE YOUR BACKS
Trump, as he departed for the event from the White House, told reporters he would fire military leaders if he did not like them.
When Trump took the stage, he delivered a speech that lasted more than an hour.
“If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room,” Trump joked. “Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future.”
He then spoke warmly of the military, in sometimes-wandering remarks that touched on issues like the prowess of U.S. nuclear submarines but also included fierce criticism of the media, former President Joe Biden and Venezuela.
Echoing Hegseth, Trump turned his attention to his opposition to diversity initiatives.
“Merit. Everything’s based on merit. .. We’re not going to have somebody taking your place for political reasons, because they are politically correct and you’re not,” Trump said.
“I am with you. I support you, and as president, I have your backs 100%,” Trump said.
The auditorium was filled with uniformed officials, seated in front of a stage with a large American flag, a lectern and boards that read: “Strength. Service. America.”
As Trump spoke, several officers sat looking expressionless, and the room was far quieter than the crowds at Trump’s usual gatherings. A naval officer took notes.
After his speech, Trump departed and there did not appear to be any one-on-one meeting with the assembled military leaders.
The U.S. military is meant to be apolitical, loyal to the U.S. Constitution and independent of any party or political movement. That creates pressure on the commanders to avoid reacting to overtly political comments, by Trump or Hegseth.
It was unclear how much the event cost. Last week, Hegseth ordered military leaders to fly in from around the world for the gathering, just ahead of a potential government shutdown.
REVAMP OF DEFENSE PRIORITIES?
The Pentagon has undergone eight months of blistering changes since Trump took office, including firings, banning books from academy libraries and ordering lethal strikes on suspected drug boats off Venezuela.
This month, Trump signed an executive order to rename the Department of Defense the “Department of War”. That change will require congressional approval.
Over the weekend, Trump announced plans to send National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon. Earlier this year, he sent Guard and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles, despite protests from local officials. He has promised to send troops to Chicago.
In his speech, Trump said he told Hegseth “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”
He acknowledged that he has been criticized for deploying the military on U.S. streets, but said America was in the grips of what he described as a war from within waged by immigrants in the country illegally who his administration is seeking to deport.
“America is under invasion from within. We’re under invasion from within, no different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways, because they don’t wear uniforms,” Trump said.
That triggered a sharp reaction from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat.
“Anyone who talks about their fellow Americans as enemies to be ‘taken out’ is not fit to lead the nation,” Pritzker said on X. (Source: Reuters)
29 Sep 25. Hegseth Announces Series of War Department Reforms in Sweeping Speech to Top Military Brass. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth today announced a series of 10 new directives aimed at strengthening the War Department’s people and culture during an in-person speech in Quantico, Virginia, to the U.S. military’s most senior leaders.
The wide-ranging, 45-minute speech before nearly every O-7 and above nonstaff military officer and senior enlisted leader from the joint force covered multiple topics, including the implementation of military equal opportunity and equal employment opportunity reform; changes to grooming and fitness standards; a review of hazing, bullying and harassment definitions; a reduction in mandatory training requirements, and others.
“Good morning, and welcome to the War Department, because the Department of Defense is over,” Hegseth said, noting the recent rebranding of the department emphasizes the military’s requirement to ensure peace by preparing for war, and that the American people deserve a military that will win any war it chooses or that’s thrust upon it.
“The topic today is about the nature of ourselves; because no plan, no program, no reform [and] no formation will ultimately succeed unless we have the right people and the right culture at the Department of War,” Hegseth told the group.
He added that, in his eight months on the job, he has learned the best way to take care of troops is to give them good leaders committed to the War Department’s warfighting culture.
“Not perfect leaders [but] good leaders; competent, qualified, professional, agile, aggressive, innovative, risk taking, apolitical [and] faithful to their oath and to the Constitution,” Hegseth emphasized.
Stating that the military has been forced to focus on the wrong things by misguided politicians for too long, Hegseth said that he’s made it his own mission to uproot the obvious distractions that have made the War Department less lethal in past years.
“The new War Department’s golden rule is this: do onto your unit as you would have done onto your own child’s unit … Standards must be uniform, gender-neutral and high. If not, they aren’t standards, they’re just suggestions,” Hegseth said.
He then began announcing some of the new directives the War Department will begin implementing, starting with changes to fitness standards.
The secretary announced that active component service members from all branches now must execute two annual fitness tests, with one being the already existing fitness test and the other being either a combat field test for combat arms personnel or a CFT or regular fitness test for non-combat arms personnel.
He also announced that active-duty service members are to perform physical fitness training every duty day, and that National Guard and reserve component members must continue to take at least one fitness test annually.
Additionally, Hegseth said that warfighters in combat-related occupations must execute their fitness test at a gender-neutral male standard with a score of 70% or higher.
“It all starts with physical fitness and appearance. If the secretary of war can do regular, hard PT, so can every member of our joint force,” Hegseth said.
Moving next to grooming standards, Hegseth announced that beards will be no longer authorized.
A memo on that topic released in conjunction with Hegseth’s speech explains that service members with facial hair-related medical exemptions will have one year to seek and execute a medical treatment plan to resolve the condition.
“Simply put, if you do not meet the male-level, physical standards for combat positions, cannot pass a PT test or don’t want to shave and look professional, it’s time for a new position or a new profession,” Hegseth said.
He next announced that the War Department will begin undertaking a full review of the definitions of “so-called ‘toxic leadership,’ bullying and hazing,” in order to re-empower leaders to enforce high standards without fear of reprisal.
“Leading warfighters toward the goals of high, gender-neutral and uncompromising standards in order to forge a cohesive, formidable and lethal Department of War is not toxic,” Hegseth said, adding that actual toxic leadership entails endangering subordinates with low standards, among other definitions.
Hegseth also announced the implementation of a military equal opportunity and equal employment opportunity reform, also intended to re-empower leaders to pursue high standards without fear of potentially unjust reprisal.
“We are attacking and ending the ‘walking on eggshells’ and zero-defect command culture. A risk-averse culture means officers execute not to lose, instead of to win,” he said, adding the same goes for risk-averse non-commissioned officers who are afraid to enforce high standards.
“We are liberating an Inspector General process — the “IG” — that has been weaponized, putting complainers, idealogues and poor performers in the driver’s seat,” Hegseth said, adding that being a racist or sexual harasser is wrong and illegal, and that punishment for such actual infractions will be “ruthlessly enforced.”
Hegseth then announced that the War Department will be making changes to the retention of adverse information on personnel that will allow leaders with forgivable, earnest or minor infractions to not be encumbered by those infractions in perpetuity.
He also said that promotions across the joint force should be based only on merit.
“We’ll promote top performing officers and send those faster [while getting] rid of poor performers more quickly. Evaluations, education and field exercises will become real,” Hegseth said.
He also announced a reduction in the high level of mandatory training that service members have to take annually.
“Less PowerPoint reviewer online courses, more time in the motor pool and more time on the [shooting] range,” he said.
The secretary told the assembled leaders that all 10 of the directives the War Department was rolling out are designed to empower them.
“These directives are designed to take the monkey off your back and put you, the leadership, back in the driver’s seat,” Hegseth told the group.
“Move out with urgency, because we have your back, I have your back and the commander in chief has your back,” he said.
Hegseth’s remarks were followed by remarks from President Donald J. Trump. (Source: U.S. DoD)
28 Sep 25. Hegseth Speaks at Inaugural Gold Star Advisory Council Meeting. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth today chaired the first-ever meeting of the War Department’s Gold Star Advisory Council, during which he vowed to improve the Pentagon’s overall process for interacting with Gold Star families, including the department’s Casualty Assistance Program.
Gold Star family members are the surviving relatives of U.S. service members who died in the line of duty.
Hegseth established the council — which is tasked with honoring the memories of fallen service members and ensuring their family members are never forgotten or left behind — in May with the signing of a memo.
“For far too long — especially in our generation — there was just a big gap between what ‘right’ looks like and what reality was. Whether it’s husbands or wives or fathers or mothers, the whole casualty assistance and Gold Star process was broken,” Hegseth said, adding that Gold Star families should be welcomed into the arms of a grateful nation, rather than running into bureaucracy or being unable to get the answers they need.
“Our charge here is that there’s a lot of things that are broken [and] a lot of things that need to change. … We may not have broken them, but we’re in charge now and we’re going to fix them, and we’re going to do everything we can,” Hegseth said.
The Gold Star Advisory Council will seek to elevate the voices of Gold Star family members directly to War Department leadership to “tackle real concerns and transform the casualty process for good,” Hegseth told the media earlier in the day, adding that the council has his “full backing to call out the failures, shake up the bureaucratic status quo and drive the changes that will stick.”
Co-vice chairs of the council include Anthony Tata, undersecretary of war for personnel and readiness, and Gold Star wife Jane Horton, who also serves as a senior advisor to Hegseth.
“As much as I can humanly understand — and I know I can’t understand everything that each of you have been through — I know the responsibility I have … to make sure we get this right … and to make sure that we take care of all of you and everyone that you represent,” Tata told the Gold Star family members in attendance.
“And you have my commitment in that regard,” he added.
Horton told the Gold Star family members in attendance that it was an honor to serve them and to represent their fallen service members. She also said she has confidence in Hegseth’s commitment to the council.
“I know that [Hegseth] means it when he says that we’re going to get things done and that there’s going to be action behind these words,” Horton said.
During the meeting, Hegseth was sure to credit past efforts made by those who worked in the War Department’s Gold Star program, stating that it wasn’t for a lack of caring that the program had deficiencies.
“It was just not enough concentration on forging that solution that really works and really shows the humanity to a process that is ultimately a human process,” Hegseth said.
“Hopefully we can aggregate all of that [previous hard work] with the authority of the secretary’s office and drive some of that change that maybe just couldn’t get done because it wasn’t happening at this level,” he added. (Source: U.S. DoD)
29 Sep 25. National Guard deployment in Portland (Oregon) sustains elevated domestic unrest risks. On 28 September, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered 200 Oregon National Guard troops to be deployed to Portland (Oregon) under federal authority. The deployment comes after US President Donald Trump announced plans to send troops to Democrat-led Portland to protect federal immigration facilities against ‘domestic terrorists’ using ‘full force, if necessary’. It remains unclear what President Trump means by ‘full force’; this increases physical security risks at the pro-immigration and anti-National Guard demonstrations that will likely take place in the coming days. Oregon officials have filed a lawsuit to prevent the National Guard deployment, accusing the Trump administration of using excessive powers. The lawsuit claims that demonstrations at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in Portland have been small and contained since June. Furthermore, the lawsuit states that violent crime in Portland has decreased in the first six months of 2025, with homicides falling by 51% year-on-year. We assess that following the 24 September shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas (Texas), federal-state tensions regarding immigration policy will remain elevated, driving risks of domestic unrest across major Democrat-led cities in the near term. (Source: Sibylline)
27 Sep 25. U.S. and UAE Conduct 9th Joint Military Dialogue. From September 25-26, senior delegations from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States (U.S.) convened in Abu Dhabi for the 9th U.S.-UAE Joint Military Dialogue (JMD). The UAE delegation was led by Assistant Under Secretary for Policy & Defense Communication His Excellency Ali Al Ahmed and the U.S. delegation was led by Assistant Secretary of War for International Security Affairs, The Honorable Daniel Zimmerman.
The JMD is the preeminent bilateral forum for advancing the U.S.-UAE defense partnership, providing an opportunity to review common security concerns, develop joint approaches, and advance shared goals in support of a more secure and prosperous UAE and broader Middle East region.
The delegations discussed a range of bilateral and regional defense issues, including integrated air and missile defense, military cooperation, foreign military sales, and emerging capabilities development. The JMD provided an opportunity for delegations to build out the newly announced partnerships between the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the UAE’s Tawazun Council, as well as the UAE and the Texas National Guard under the State Partnership Program.
The United States and the UAE reaffirmed their commitment to a strong and mutually beneficial bilateral defense relationship, and to enhancing military-to-military cooperation, joint capability development, and long-term defense alignment between the two nations. As Major Defense Partners (MDP), the two sides agreed to deepen their cooperation across multiple domains to advance shared objectives, including a commitment to sign a Special Operations Forces Statement of Intent in the near future. The UAE is one of two countries that was designated by the United States as an MDP. The United States and UAE will continue to invest in this critical partnership on the basis of mutual respect, common interests, and a shared vision of peace through strength. (Source: U.S. DoD)
26 Sep 25. New Pentagon strategy to focus on homeland, Western Hemisphere. The Pentagon’s top national security focus will mirror that of President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda, with multiple U.S. officials telling Military Times that the department will prioritize protecting the homeland and the Western Hemisphere. Countering China will remain a key national security interest of the new National Defense Strategy, which is expected to be released soon, officials said.
The Pentagon document lays out the military’s plans to increase lethality, deter aggression, confront adversaries and defend America’s borders, a mission one official said was “why Trump was elected.”
Republican voters in the 2024 presidential election ranked the economy and immigration as their most important issues, which Trump vowed to address and bring under control. On Jan. 20, on his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order calling on U.S. Northern Command to help “seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking and other criminal activities.”
“[Protecting] the border is the top priority for the base, and I think for moderates, too. So this shift is fulfilling that promise,” said one official, who spoke to Military Times on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive policy information.
Defense of the American homeland has historically been the top national security priority for Republican and Democratic presidents alike.
To achieve this goal, the Pentagon has used a combination of projecting military power forward to meet threats where they are, building alliances to work together against common enemies, maintaining a strong nuclear deterrent and building a missile defense capability to protect key population centers.
After the U.S. was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, Washington shifted to a counter-terror focus, as near-peer competitor Beijing continued to develop its military.
During the first Trump administration, the Pentagon reprioritized to focus on great-power competition with China and Russia over countering terrorism. Keeping its competitive advantage over China and Russia remained the department’s top priority under the Biden administration.
One official stressed to Military Times this week that the new NDS will not be a complete shift away from China. Instead, the official said the Pentagon can use this hyperfocus on the Western Hemisphere to better counter Chinese malign activity in Latin America, a region often thought of as “America’s backyard.”
“For too long, China, Russia and Iran have been active in Latin America, and Washington’s response has often been somewhere between nonexistent and ineffective,” said Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
However, analysts, including Bowman, caution that if the U.S. only brings a “military hammer” to a region that needs interagency and public-private sector support for its economic challenges, the U.S. “will lose the competition with China in Latin America and waste a lot of money and military resources.”
He also warned that defending U.S. vital interests in the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East while adopting a more robust U.S. military posture in Latin America could quickly exacerbate existing shortfalls in U.S. military capacity.
“If we take on additional military commitments and requirements and don’t provide the Pentagon commensurate additional resources, readiness will erode. We have seen that movie before, and it is not a good one,” Bowman said.
As part of the new strategy, the department will continue to focus more on drug cartels, including cartels that are tied to China, according to a U.S. official. The official added that China has drastically increased its footprint in Latin America, particularly around the Panama Canal, a critical trade route for both Washington and Beijing.
“So the strategy is still very keyed in on defending against China,” the official stressed.
Michael Shifter, an adjunct professor of Latin American studies at Georgetown University, said the Panama Canal is “clearly” important to Trump. Negotiations are underway to shift two ports there away from Chinese operations to those controlled by the U.S. company BlackRock, and Panama has withdrawn from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which has extended Chinese investment to more than 100 nations.
With the current administration focused on the illegal drug problem in the region, Shifter hopes U.S. military assistance to Latin America will not repeat the actions of its checkered past. Washington’s war on drugs in the 1980s, along with its determination to keep communism out of the Western Hemisphere, led to policies backing militaries that terrorized local populations and committed human rights atrocities.
The last time the U.S. sent ground troops to Latin America was during the 1989 invasion of Panama to depose de facto ruler Gen. Manuel Noriega, who was wanted in the U.S. for racketeering and drug trafficking. Shifter is “very skeptical” whether the U.S. would send ground troops anywhere in Latin America today.
“I don’t see that the president wants to risk American lives anywhere, and a lot of people got killed in Panama. If he did it in Venezuela, a lot more people would get killed. I think that would be huge risk that I don’t see Trump being prepared to take,” Shifter told Military Times.
Meanwhile, Trump said Friday the U.S. military had carried out its third fatal strike against an alleged drug-smuggling vessel this month.
On Wednesday Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro told BBC News that the strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea near the Venezuelan coast were an “act of tyranny.” The strikes, which the U.S. says are meant to stop the flow of fentanyl, have reportedly killed at least 17 people.
Shifter said actions like these make people in the region nervous while questioning the strikes’ legality.
“[The administration is] trying to say that these are terrorists, like al-Qaida was a terrorist group, but al-Qaida was a military force. These are people that are breaking the law. They’re not terrorists, per se. They’re not attacking the United States like al-Qaida was, and so the legal justification for this is, I think, questionable,” Shifter said.
(Source: Defense News)
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