MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Virginia — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave what the Pentagon described as his “State of the Force” address on Wednesday afternoon to hundreds of troops exactly one year after he gave a similar speech in the same venue.
Roughly 600 activity-duty E-6 and O-3 service members attended Wednesday’s event. They were given a small black book titled The War Department as they walked in, featuring several of Hegseth’s most notable speeches as secretary, with a foreword from President Donald Trump. They started filing into the auditorium about 45 minutes before the event began, as country music played through the speakers.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke briefly and then introduced Hegseth, who was greeted with a standing ovation.
“One year ago today, I stood right here on this very stage and addressed generals and admirals and sergeant majors,” the secretary said, opening up his roughly hourlong speech. “Now, the hyperventilating media thought it might be an impromptu PT test. Instead, the speech was a declaration of independence for the War Department, marking a clean break from the Defense Department of old.”
The first half of his address started as many of his speeches do: He bashed the media and accused them of treason for the coverage of the Iran war, promoted meritocracy and gender-blind fitness standards, and bashed diversity and inclusion initiatives that he ended.
“We are no longer the woke department or the weak department,” he said. “Simple translation of that: no weirdo, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors, just tough, ready, committed troops.”
Hegseth added, “Our so-called press makes Iranian state media look reasonable. Our media’s shameful cuts for political retribution blinds them to the consequences of reckless so-called reporting. So-called journalists juiced up on Trump derangement syndrome think they’re fighting against our president, but they’re really undermining you, our warfighters.”
The crowd was largely quiet during his speech, though there were laughs at the secretary’s impression of Trump.
During the latter half of his speech, Hegseth announced the establishment of the Autonomous Warfare Command, which will be set up as a four-star functional combatant command by Oct. 1, 2027. Owen West, the current director of the Pentagon’s Innovation Unit, and Navy SEAL Senior Chief Max Strasiser will jointly lead the effort.
It’s the latest announcement from the department regarding its efforts to harness and synchronize its strategy for the development and mass production of drones, larger and various types of autonomous systems, and the use of artificial intelligence.
Hegseth also shared details about a plan called FORTRESS America, which is an acronym for Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy Supply, and Survivability. The goal is for military bases to independently power their own grids so an adversary cannot take down civilian infrastructure to cripple military plans.
Last month, the Army announced it would be installing advanced nuclear reactors at five bases. Contracts to own, construct, and operate these five reactors came out to a combined $2.2 billion.
Officials said at the time they expect to build more than 20 nuclear microreactors across military installations over the next several years.
PENTAGON TO CREATE FIRST-EVER AUTONOMOUS WARFARE COMMAND, HEGSETH REVEALS
He also announced that the department intends to build a new military base domestically and encouraged governors to apply to host it.
“If your state wants the honor of hosting 15,000-25,000 of America’s great troops, show us why and how you’re going to do it,” he said. “Cutting through the red tape, offering up the land, and rolling out the red carpet for our military families.”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
