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The criticisms against Sec. of War Pete Hegseth are “entirely political,” and anyone could have said the same things about “the Obama and Biden administration—and much more egregiously.” Hegseth has turned the U.S. military around in ways no one thought was possible, like getting the military back to meeting all of its recruiting quotas, explains Hanson during today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” Recruitment under the Biden administration fell “some 40 to 50,000 recruits,” and former Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin’s Pentagon used excuses like “people are out of shape, in gangs, using drugs, etc.”

The U.S. Navy has submitted its report on the potential punishments for Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) over a recent video where he and other Democratic lawmakers told U.S. service members to disobey “illegal orders.”The report, which was ordered by the Defense Department and referred to the Navy, was sent to the Pentagon’s Office of General Counsel, “where they are providing a legal review and input,” a department official told The Hill on Thursday. “It defies belief that with all of the threats facing our country, Pete Hegseth initiated this ridiculous process to try to intimidate Senator Kelly for saying something...

Key Points and Summary – For a generation, America’s biggest weapons programs have delivered more delay than deterrence. -The M10 Booker, Zumwalt-class destroyer, Littoral Combat Ship, and Constellation-class frigate all started with clear operational needs and bold promises, then sank under shifting requirements, immature technology, and an overstretched industrial base... -As China cranks out ships and missiles at scale, Washington’s acquisition system is struggling to field replacements for aging platforms. -Unless the Pentagon is forced to simplify, stabilize, and speed procurement, the U.S. edge will erode. Why Can’t America Build A Military?.. he M10 Booker light tank, the Zumwalt-class destroyer,...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved Boeing’s long-planned acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems two decades after it was spun off, according to The Seattle Times. The decision was issued on Wednesday and allows the $4.7 billion all-stock merger to proceed under conditions designed to preserve competition in both the commercial and defense aviation sectors. In a July 2024 news release, Boeing emphasized that the transaction is intended to improve manufacturing consistency and support the company’s engineering workforce. Boeing’s total assumption of Spirit’s debt brings the transaction value to about $8.3 billion. In its complaint released earlier this month, the FTC...

EXCLUSIVE: 🚨SECRETARY OF THE ARMY’S OFFICE PLOTTING COUP AT THE PENTAGON TO REMOVE @SecWar PETE HEGSETH AND REPLACE HIM WITH @SecArmy DAN DRISCOLL 🚨 Individuals in the office of US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll have been orchestrating a Coup against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth @PeteHegseth in an effort to have him removed by President Trump and replaced by Dan Driscoll. Over the last 2 weeks, the legacy media, which is incredibly hostile to Hegseth, has been posting puff pieces about Dan Driscoll and how he is a “rising star” at the Pentagon. Sources have told me that Jake Sullivan...

The U.S. Army is not in “terminal decline” but at a “classical crisis”—a decisive turning point. Critics see an “obsolete” force, but the author points to historical parallels (post-WWI, post-WWII, and the post-Vietnam “Hollow Army”) where the Army successfully renewed itself. Signs of this “metamorphosis,” like the SkyFoundry drone initiative (aiming for 10,000/month by 2026), show the Army is adapting, not collapsing, and will emerge smaller but more lethal.

The department, which has met its 8-percent overall reduction goal, is now going after “low performers.” The Defense Department is making another push to slim its civilian workforce, this time by directing managers to fire employees for “unacceptable performance” while continuing to encourage civilians to leave voluntarily. A 20-page memo signed by the Pentagon’s personnel boss late last month lays out several mechanisms for civilian employees to resign or be removed for cause, beyond the 60,000-plus employees who have already voluntarily bowed out this year through either the Deferred Resignation Program or Voluntary Early Retirement Authority. It also gives employees,...

Mark Bashaw, the only member of the Armed Forces to be court-martialed for refusing to take the COVID shot, has been reinstated to the U.S. Army, promoted as if he'd never been discharged, and awarded back pay. Making the victory sweeter is the fact that he was prosecuted by none other than current Virginia congressman, then Colonel Yevgeny Semyonovich Vindman, the brother of Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr Semyonovich Vindman, of Trump impeachment fame. Bashaw, a former USAF noncommissioned officer, had been commissioned into the Army's Medical Service Corps and was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground. He was charged in February 2022...

America’s military brass now wear more ribbons than warriors of old—symbols of a “participation trophy” culture that risks dulling the nation’s warfighting edge.As America faces the very real threat of an armed conflict with a peer competitor—the People’s Republic of China (PRC)—it is worth noting that since the fall of the Soviet Union, America’s military has been infected by a peacetime mentality deluged with grade inflation, careerism, and politics and, for the purposes of this article, an awards program that makes our senior officers and senior enlisted look like cheap, tin-pot military dictators.After two years of bloody fighting in...

AUSA 2025 — The Army’s Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George announced Tuesday that Western Hemisphere Command, which will combine the Army North Command, Army South Command and Force Command (FORSCOM), will be stood up before the end of the year.The move to stand up the new command comes as the service has been making strides to slim down the size of its headquarters and cut the number of four-star general officer billets as part of its larger continuous transformation effort. Earlier this month, the Army combined Futures Command with Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), into one command dubbed the...

Pete Hegseth's Press Releases, Testimony, and Speeches in 2025 (Post-Appointment)Below is a chronological list (oldest to newest) of Pete Hegseth's public press releases, testimony, and speeches after his appointment as Secretary of Defense (renamed Secretary of War) around February 2025. This includes official DoD/War Department statements, congressional testimony, and public addresses sourced from defense.gov (or war.gov) and his official X account (@SecWar). Each entry includes the date, a brief description of the topics covered, the direct link to the statement, and any additional links mentioned within it. A blank line separates each entry for clarity.April 8, 2025: Joint statement with...

Why did Frank Kendall think he could get away with such a blatant lie? One that could be so easily, utterly, debunked? Did he assume that the only people who watch Nicolle Wallace's show are fellow lefties who would nod their heads in agreement no matter how outlandish the hogwash he might spew? Notice to liberals who might be tempted to follow in Frank's foolish footsteps: we're out here, watching. NewsBusters' mission is to expose and counter liberal media bias. We, along with other conservative outlets, monitor MSNBC and CNN. You're very unlikely to get away with such a pathetic,...

Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth were accused of 'condescending and insulting' America's top generals and admirals at a highly anticipated summit on Tuesday. The president and Secretary of War hosted hundreds of military chiefs at Marine Corps Base Quantico on Tuesday, for a meeting they hoped would inspire the nation and revolutionize America's fighting force. But ex-Pentagon chiefs warned that the political speeches, which meandered through various topics from fat soldiers to Joe Biden's autopen, risked alienating the top brass. A former national security official told the Daily Mail that he found it 'incredibly condescending ... and a highly inappropriate...

Today, Secretary Hegseth delivered a historic speech to America's generals and admirals. To describe this as a game changer is perhaps an understatement. Timestamps to the major points in the speech follow. The President also spoke. A separate article detailing his speech will follow later.

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U.S.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the 24th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States at the Pentagon, in Washington D.C., U.S., September 11, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabWASHINGTON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - U.S. military leaders deployed around the world have started to prepare to travel to Virginia for a meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth next week, which some officials on Friday billed as a gathering focused on the "warrior ethos."Hegseth has summoned U.S. generals and admirals from around the world to a meeting in...

For context, Hegseth explained that the DoD is investigating the involvement of Chinese nationals to assess potential code vulnerabilities in vital US systems. He reiterated that it is indispensable for the end of Chinese participation in DoD systems, prioritizing U.S. national security over corporate profits In any case, Hegseth began his comments by explaining how this program came to be. “Last month, the Department of Defense was made aware of an Obama-Biden era legacy program called Digital escorts. For nearly a decade, Microsoft has used Chinese coders remotely supervised by us contractors to support sensitive DoD cloud systems,” he explained....

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is set to gather senior generals and admirals in Quantico Sept. 30 for a high-stakes, unprecedented meeting shrouded in mystery. Some really big news in the American military community broke this week, as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is convening an unprecedented meeting of his senior generals and admirals in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday, September 30th. As the proprietor of a somewhat prolific X account that largely focuses on military matters, many people have been asking me what I think this meeting is all about, as the meeting is currently shrouded in mystery. So what...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered hundreds of the U.S. military’s generals and admirals to gather on short notice — and without a stated reason — at a Marine Corps base in Virginia next week, sowing confusion and alarm after the Trump administration’s firing of numerous senior leaders this year. The highly unusual directive was sent to virtually all of the military’s top commanders worldwide, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the matter. It was issued earlier this week, against the backdrop of a potential government shutdown, and as Hegseth’s overtly political moves have deepened a sense...

… Multiple War Department officials confirmed to Fox News that top military commanders had been asked to fly to Virginia for a meeting next week, though the topic of the discussion is unclear. The lack of details surrounding the gathering has some fearing a looming purge. War Secretary Pete Hegseth has previously said he wants to cut 20% of senior generals and admirals. The order, first reported by the Washington Post, applies to senior officers with the rank of brigadier general or above or their Navy equivalent and their top enlisted advisers. It comes as administration officials have been preparing...