US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. Photo / Getty Images
Hundreds of the United States military’s top leaders absorbed highly partisan addresses from President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth today.
Each harshly criticised their predecessors and touted their agendas in a summit that was extraordinary in nature but ultimately broke little new ground.
The event was organised by Hegseth’s team at the Pentagon, with generals and admirals in command across the globe and their top enlisted advisers - some travelling thousands of kilometres - ordered last week to Marine Corps Base Quantico, about 50km south of Washington in Virginia.
General Dan Caine, Trump’s hand-selected chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told attendees in his opening comments that the event was an “unprecedented opportunity and honour” for the senior officers to hear directly from their civilian leadership.
Trump, in meandering remarks that stretched for about an hour and 10 minutes, joked that if those in attendance did not like what he had to say, they could leave the room - but “there goes your rank, there goes your future”, he added, drawing some uncomfortable laughter.
Since returning to power, Trump and Hegseth have fired numerous generals and admirals, often without cause - and focusing on a disproportionate number of women.
The President defended his polarising use of the armed forces to police American cities, decrying what he said was “the enemy within” while insisting he should be allowed to use military force domestically.
He extolled his decision to rebrand the US Defence Department as the Department of War, lamented his inability to end the conflict in Ukraine, and tacitly acknowledged the highly sensitive movements of US submarines off the coast of Russia.
“I call it the ‘n-word,’” the President said of the submarines, appearing to allude to the vessels’ nuclear power. “There are two n-words, and you can’t use either of them.”
The assembled military brass sat through the presentations mostly silent, in keeping with the military’s non-partisan tradition.
Peter Feaver, a political scientist at Duke University, said that they “managed well a very difficult walk along a high wire” by listening respectfully to both partisan speeches without responding.
Trump and Hegseth, he added, also deserve credit for showing that they understand why the military leaders were remaining quiet.
“The speeches raised a lot of questions that the military will have to grapple with in the months ahead,” Feaver said.
“But they won’t have to do so on live TV, and so a very tricky moment in American civil-military relations did not produce the disaster that some feared.”
Trump was introduced by Hegseth, who had planned the event without the President involved.
The gathering came together quickly last week, following a mysterious order for all senior military commanders to be in Virginia that provided them with no information about the itinerary.
The order, first reported by the Washington Post on Friday, alarmed some military leaders and their staffs after the firing of so many generals and admirals this year.
During his remarks, Hegseth, a former Fox News personality who served as an officer in the National Guard at times, lectured the men and women - each with decades more military experience - seated silently before him.
He vowed to make the military “stronger, tougher, faster, fiercer, and more powerful than it has ever been before”, repeating numerous talking points he has used throughout his tenure atop the Pentagon - including that the military brass needs to crack down on standards ranging from physical fitness to grooming and discipline.
Hegseth blamed “foolish and reckless politicians” for allowing the military to stray from its primary focus, to fight and win wars, and pledged to fix what he called “decades of decay” in the force.
He also declared that “politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement”, the guidelines that shape how US troops use lethal force in combat, are gone.
Hegseth cited the Gulf War - in which US troops and allies beat back an Iraqi invasion and annexation of neighbouring Kuwait within months, from 1990 to 1991 - as an example of a conflict that he sees as a model for the US. He characterised it as a “limited mission with overwhelming force and a clear end state”.
He also cited President Ronald Reagan’s build-up of the US military in the 1980s as playing a significant role and noted that many military leaders then drew on combat experience in Vietnam.
“The same holds true today,” Hegseth said.
“Our civilian and military leadership is chock full of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who say ‘never again’ to nation-building and nebulous end states. This clear-eyed view all the way in the White House, combined with President Trump’s military build-up, postures us for future victories.”
Hegseth said he will overhaul the channels troops and civilian employees have available to them to anonymously file whistleblower complaints, report toxic leadership, or point out unequal treatment based on race, gender, sexuality, or religion.
“No more frivolous complaints. No more anonymous complaints, no more repeat complaints, no more smearing reputations, no more endless waiting, no more legal limbo, no more side-tracking careers. No more walking on eggshells,” Hegseth pronounced.
“Of course, being a racist has been illegal in our formations since 1948. The same goes for sexual harassment. Both are wrong and illegal.”
Upholding high standards, Hegseth declared, “is not toxic”, decrying what he said has been a “bastardisation” of phrases like “toxic leader”. The Pentagon, he said, will undertake a review of such phrases, empowering military officials to “enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing”.
That last-minute assembly has raised questions among critics about its cost - particularly for an address that could have been delivered by secure videoconferencing equipment.
Flying, lodging and transporting all the military leaders from as far away as Japan, the Middle East and Europe is likely to cost millions of dollars, according to two former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The event also raised security concerns about having all the top leadership in one place, particularly given that today is the end of the financial year, with a government shutdown looming.
Guidance issued by the Defence Department states that if a shutdown occurs, all travel should be “terminated”, but with exceptions granted by senior leaders.
- Natalie Allison, Michael Birnbaum, Emily Davies, Patrick Svitek and Amy B Wang contributed to this report.
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