Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Details Pentagon Reforms He's Begun Since Trump Took Office
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00:00You're like a hurricane, here I am, rock you like a hurricane.
00:09I cannot tell you how humbled I am to be in this room, amongst the absolute and very
00:35best that our country produces.
00:36You can pick any other ballroom in the country, including in Washington, D.C., and you're
00:44not going to find the likes of Americans like we have in this room.
00:47So good morning and thank you very much for having me, and I want to thank the Mayor and
00:50Senator Collins and all of Tampa for the incredible and wholehearted support that it gives to
00:56the United States military.
00:58SOCOM, CENTCOM have no better home than here on the Gulf Coast.
01:04Looking out at this crowd and hearing Jay speak, I'm reminded of one of the first soft truths,
01:10which is humans are more important than hardware.
01:17More than any other military formation, I saw it in a small way as a conventional infantryman
01:2420 years ago, soft's about people.
01:27It starts and ends with the troops downrange.
01:30Each of you and your commitment to the mission is more important than any of the cutting edge
01:35hardware and software we're going to see on the convention floor, and I look forward to
01:40seeing it.
01:41Gathered here in record-breaking numbers are warriors, patriots, innovators, entrepreneurs,
01:49visionaries, allies, and partners.
01:53It is an absolute honor, and I mean it, to be here with you.
01:57Special operations has never been more important for our country.
02:03Yesterday was actually my 100th day in office as Secretary of Defense.
02:09And as I said from the beginning, this is the deployment of a lifetime.
02:14Each day I get a chance to see, like few others do, the great work that soft does around the
02:20world.
02:21The battle-tested team in this room that is essential to everything that President Trump
02:27does and his leadership to put America first and establish peace through strength.
02:34I wish everyone in this room could have a chance to be in the Oval Office like I was yesterday,
02:40and watching how this commander-in-chief puts the interests of our nation first in advancing
02:48the safety and security of the American people.
02:50It's a thing to behold.
02:53That first and foremost includes defending our homeland, our border, Golden Dome, standing
03:00up to the Communist Chinese, and of course increasing burden-sharing with our allies and partners.
03:07Border security equals national security, and we're going to get 100% operational control
03:15of our southern border.
03:17And SOF is making a unique contribution there as well.
03:21Our long-standing relationship with our partners in Mexico is crucial to supporting NorthCom
03:28and securing our border, something that's ongoing to this day.
03:32But Homeland Defense, as you all know, first and foremost, is a global mission.
03:36In the last six months, SOF has eliminated over 500 terrorists who threaten our homeland directly.
03:45And alongside global SOF partners, your team has captured at least another 600 terrorists.
03:53So it starts and ends with the homeland.
03:56That's why we do this.
03:58We don't fight because we hate what's in front of us.
04:01We fight because we love what's behind us.
04:05But second, overseas, we are reorienting toward deterring the Communist Chinese, no doubt our
04:11pacing threat.
04:14As America's experts in irregular warfare, SOF brings to bear unique capabilities and leverages
04:21critical partnerships.
04:23SOF's global efforts below the threshold of conflict, which you all know, and often out
04:29of sight, create the very dilemmas that the Communist Chinese need as we shape their perceptions.
04:35You see, we have to convince Xi Jinping that today is not the day to test the United States' resolve.
04:42And SOF underpins deterrence in the Indo-Pacific.
04:47At the same time, you're preparing the battlefield and standing ready to help us prevail if China
04:54were to choose conflict.
04:57And third, as I've said many times before, but it's important to hear today with so many
05:02of our partners, America first does not mean America alone.
05:07We shift our focus as we do to the Indo-Pacific.
05:09President Trump looks to our partners throughout the world to put their shoulder to the plow and
05:16take their share of the burden in their own defense, which is a message you've heard from
05:23me on the world stage multiple times, and we will continue to yell from the rooftops.
05:29We look to our friends to be force multipliers alongside the United States.
05:34It has to be a two-way street.
05:36We can't want your security more than you want your own security.
05:40How many times have we seen that?
05:43SOF is playing a key role in accomplishing this goal shoulder to shoulder with our allies,
05:49many of which, as I mentioned, are with us this morning.
05:53In addition to these ongoing efforts, SOF provides lethal precision and timely crisis response
05:58options to the Commander-in-Chief, President Trump.
06:02He confronts the hardest challenges in the world.
06:05As you know, no one brings easy problems to the Oval Office.
06:10But SOF brings solutions.
06:13When called, SOF snuffs out urgent threats, rescues American citizens, and protects our diplomats.
06:19In the last three years, these and other presidentially-directed missions have increased by 200%.
06:30SOF has answered the call, and SOF has risen to the challenge every single time.
06:36They're doing this day in and day out around the world and around the clock, and I don't
06:41have to tell this group.
06:43Sometimes in open combat, but more often in the twilight challenges just short of war.
06:51Most of you in this room have done just that.
06:55So the question is, following two decades of conflict in the Middle East, where does SOF
07:01and DOD go from here?
07:02Well, from day one at the Department of Defense, our overriding objectives have been clear.
07:12Restore the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence.
07:21It all starts with restoring the warrior ethos.
07:26When President Trump asked me to take this job, he told me one key thing, but really two.
07:34The first was, uh, Pete, you're going to have to be tough as shit.
07:41They're going to come after you.
07:54Boy, he was not kidding about that one.
07:59This job requires a steel spine, and that's fine.
08:02My job's easy compared to what you do.
08:06We're doing the work on behalf of the American people and the American warfighter.
08:10But then the President, after he said that, went on to say, I need you and I want you to
08:14restore the warrior ethos in our military, full stop.
08:19And that's been my first priority since day one, is restoring the warrior ethos.
08:25It's one of the most fundamental of those three objectives.
08:29Again, humans, more important than hardware.
08:33Everything starts and ends with warriors from training to the battlefield.
08:37We are leaving wokeness and weakness behind.
08:42No more pronouns.
08:45No more climate change obsession.
08:48No more emergency vaccine mandates.
08:51No more dudes in dresses.
08:55We're done with that shit.
09:06We're focused on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards and readiness.
09:13That's why since election day, since President Trump was elected, recruitment and retention
09:17numbers are up historically.
09:21Attracting military service is something Americans have long been attracted to, but more so when
09:26they see leadership they want to follow.
09:28They want to be in disciplined formations that value them, not for immutable differences,
09:33not for the color of our skin or gender, but because of honor and integrity and grit and
09:41patriotism.
09:43They want a meritocracy where they can work hard, make themselves better, kick ass and
09:47rise up.
09:49They're looking for adventure, camaraderie, risk, danger.
09:54They want to push themselves and test themselves against others.
09:59They want to flourish in an environment that embraces hard work, discipline and the warrior
10:04ethos.
10:06They want to push themselves and test themselves.
10:11I've experienced it firsthand across the world.
10:14I have a chance to get up and do PT with the troops, oftentimes when we're traveling.
10:20And some people think it's a novelty.
10:23It's not.
10:24It's always been a basic part of military service.
10:26You get up early, you get up, and you work out because we're going to be fit and we're
10:31not going to be fat.
10:32And even if the sec def has a little bit of time to do it, every troop has an opportunity
10:36to do it.
10:37The problem is it went from let's do PT with the troops to every special operations
10:43group in the world trying to smoke the sec def.
10:48I find myself almost blacking out by the end of the workout and then having to hand out
10:54coins and try to stay right ways up.
10:58Appreciate that.
11:02You, this group, have long been the standard bearers of what it means to be an American
11:07warrior.
11:08An exclusive club where the cost of membership is commitment, toughness, courage, grit, paired
11:16with accountability, intelligence, and skill.
11:22At times, and this is a key thing and something we've seen firsthand.
11:27When the broader force has strayed from the path, has strayed from sanity, has strayed from
11:35standards, you have been keepers of the flame.
11:40So it's great to see so many outstanding leaders this morning who embody that warrior ethos.
11:46General Fenton, thank you for your courage, your determination, and your grit showing your
11:52forces what right looks like.
11:53And, of course, Command Sergeant Major Shorter, the real boss of SOCOM.
12:04Thanks for leading your troops and demonstrating that the US military strategic advantage lies
12:08in the strength, and it's true, of our NCO Corps.
12:12Like so many other soft leaders past and present, you have kept the flame of the warrior ethos
12:16burning bright.
12:18You know, in 1943, naval combat demolition units were preparing for the imminent invasion
12:24of Sicily.
12:25Lieutenant Commander Draper Kaufman compressed their physical training program into a demanding
12:32week known as Hell Week.
12:36Even with the demand to get many more sailors to the line more quickly, Lieutenant Commander
12:42Kaufman kept the standards high.
12:45Between 30 to 40 percent of students failed the program, but those who graduated were ready.
12:53Today, the standards remain high across special operations training programs, and I thank you
12:58for that.
12:59In fact, we're doing standards assessments across DOD, and we started at special operations,
13:05multiple accessions courses.
13:07And the report back from the Green Berets and the Army Rangers that we sent the Navy SEALs
13:12to those courses is standards still high, sir.
13:16We're heading out to other formations and basic courses to determine why those standards have
13:21dropped and to make sure they're raised.
13:25In this particular instance, it included the Navy's rigorous basic underwater demolition school,
13:29or BUDS, which traces its roots to Lieutenant Commander Kaufman's training.
13:35As you know, it still features Hell Week.
13:38High expectations and high attrition.
13:42Soft, fat, easy, weak, mushy, and quitter are not the adjectives that attract these types
13:51of professionals.
13:52It's the opposite.
13:54And this will continue.
13:56We will never compromise.
13:57We cannot compromise on standards.
14:00Our standards will be high, and in combat formations, they will be gender-neutral.
14:07Because the weight of a 155 round, or a rucksack, or a human being doesn't care if you're a man
14:15or a woman.
14:17All that matters is whether you are capable of executing that combat mission in front
14:22of you.
14:23I spent a lot of time in a town in Washington, D.C., where there's a deficit in one thing.
14:29Common sense.
14:31I mean, that's why President Trump is so popular.
14:34That's why the American people responded.
14:36He leads with common sense.
14:39He's asked me to apply common sense.
14:43Our combat formations don't need to look like Harvard University.
14:48They need to look like killers.
14:50Trained and skilled and prepared.
14:53The standards need to be high.
14:56And they need to be gender-neutral.
14:57So that if you can do the job, you're in that formation.
15:01And if you can't, you are not.
15:04That is restoring the warrior ethos.
15:08And it's something we've seen across our formation that the troops are responding to.
15:13Morale.
15:14Morale.
15:15Recruiting.
15:16Retention.
15:17Readiness.
15:18Training.
15:19Capabilities.
15:20Responding.
15:21To common sense.
15:23And a back-to-basics approach.
15:25That's the warrior ethos.
15:28So we start there.
15:30Our second priority is rebuilding the military.
15:33And President Trump has declared and delivered on a generational investment.
15:38Rebuilding our military, much like Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s.
15:42Our goal is to put the best systems in the hands of our warfighters.
15:46Because you, our warfighters, should never be in a fair fight.
15:50We're doing this by reviving our defense industrial base.
15:54Reforming our acquisitions process.
15:56And rapidly fielding emerging technologies.
15:59Sure, Golden Dome for America is a part of that.
16:03The new sixth generation fighter, NGAD, F-47, is a part of that.
16:07B-21s are a part of that.
16:10But what we see today and what you see in your formations are the fielding, rapidly emerging technologies
16:16which are critically important.
16:17That help us remain the leader in the world for generations to come.
16:22Everyone here today, from SOLIC to the Soft Secretariat to SOCOM and every special operations network
16:28has a role to play in rebuilding our military.
16:32Special operations forces have long operated like a tech startup.
16:37You're agile and nimble, lean and lethal.
16:42You leverage innovation to get more capability.
16:47And you push the limits of technology and human performance in ways that conventional formations just cannot.
16:54You adopt advanced technologies early, you make them better, and then you help them spread to the rest of the joint force.
17:04You are willing to experiment and fail while learning from each failure and each success.
17:12We need you to keep doing that.
17:14I get a chance to see it with my own eyes when I travel.
17:17I see it in the reports that are sent up from General Fenton and others.
17:21That rapid fielding, that rapid iteration, that feedback loop is critical across the joint force.
17:28And this tradition of rapidly introducing trailblazing technology can be traced, of course, to soft World War II roots in the Office of Strategic Services.
17:38They developed briefcase radios, modified small arms, and more which met wartime needs.
17:45Today, that means loitering munitions, AI-enabled targeting platforms, and new counter UAS systems.
17:54I want to recognize and thank a few DOD Pathfinders in these critical efforts.
17:59Soft AT&L and their expert team of teams, led by Melissa Johnson, callsign Mojo.
18:05And the Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate, led by Gabe Ramos, with their rapid prototyping and innovative partnerships.
18:14These teams and others like them are moving out with a sense of urgency.
18:18While some in Washington talk about acquisition reform, and I'll tell you, there's plenty of white papers out there that'll tell you about acquisition reform.
18:27You, they are acquisition reform.
18:31So we want to thank our industry partners, many of which are here today, over 800 companies this year at SoftWeek.
18:39You're an essential part of the Global Special Operations Network.
18:44I'm grateful that so many of you participate in the events this week to enable the Soft Enterprise.
18:52You must know what we need, and we must know what you can build.
18:58And together we can broaden the boundaries of what is possible.
19:03Because as we rebuild the military, we have to unlock the creativity of our companies for our arsenal of democracy.
19:11Even though we're not a democracy, we're a republic, and we need to start teaching that in our schools again.
19:15Small comment.
19:17You know, it's the basic stuff they slip by us.
19:28The small lies they tell us.
19:30Those are the ones that grow in the minds of young people who then turn around and don't love their country.
19:35A huge part of ensuring we have a room like this, full in the future, is ensuring our kids and grandkids know why America is such a special place.
19:45What our founders gifted us 250 years ago.
19:48There's a reason we're going to have a big old army parade on June 14th of 2025.
19:54It's because what we celebrate in this country is a reflection of what we value.
20:03There are a lot of vapid things to celebrate.
20:05Plenty of reality shows and garbage music and stuff on Netflix.
20:10How about we hold up our special operations community?
20:14How about we recognize the Army and the Marine Corps of the United States at 250 years?
20:18There's the sacrifice of those men who stood on bridges 250 years ago and said, we will live free.
20:24We have an incredible story to tell if we're willing to tell it.
20:29And then if we're willing to raise young men and women willing and able to raise their right hand to defend this nation.
20:35Never compromise on what you believe and why.
20:39You rose your right hand.
20:41You raised it to defend our country and the Constitution.
20:45Know the why and share it with your kids and grandkids.
20:49Encourage them to serve.
20:50It was one of the challenges of the book I wrote before I had this job, The War on Warriors.
20:55I was asking myself the same question.
20:58Do I want to serve in today's military given what has happened to it?
21:02And I can tell you a hundred days in watching our Commander in Chief.
21:06What he has been willing to do.
21:08The common sense he has applied.
21:10The courage he has shown.
21:13I look forward to having a military.
21:16My kids would, I would proudly ask my kids to join.
21:19I've got a 14 year old boy.
21:21I look out.
21:22He's my oldest and 13 year old and 12 year old.
21:25I'm fighting right now to create the kind of formations to provide the kind of platforms that would serve them.
21:32Should they have the courage to do exactly what all of you have done.
21:37So we need to continue to reward innovation.
21:41Encourage creative solutions.
21:43Move faster than ever before.
21:45As General Fenton points out, threats evolve now in hours, not in years.
21:50In fact, I saw a report this morning on the plane here that demonstrated our enemies are adapting in a matter of hours.
21:57Not in a matter of years.
21:59Days if we're lucky.
22:01We can't and we won't fight today's opponent at yesterday's pace.
22:05When our opponents know that our military is armed with the most capable weapons systems known to man, wielded by skilled warriors with the will to prevail, they are less likely to challenge us on the battlefield.
22:16And that is the point.
22:18Which leads to our third objective, restore the warrior ethos, rebuild the military, and third, reestablish deterrence after four years of deferred maintenance under the Biden administration.
22:33After a disastrous retreat from Afghanistan, which we are still investigating and will get completely to the bottom of, especially DOD's role.
22:42After what happened on October 7th in Israel.
22:47After the war that was unleashed in Ukraine.
22:50The world saw what it, after a friggin spy balloon, flew over our country for a week.
22:57The world saw what it believed was a feckless America.
23:02Not anymore.
23:04And a huge part of it is SOF's capabilities.
23:08In today's contested world, SOF does not go alone.
23:12They go first, but they also go with partners.
23:17SOF's ability to work by, with, and through international partners pays huge dividends on our border, in the Indo-Pacific, and around the world.
23:27Partners, as I see so many of our partners right here in the front, are central to how SOF works.
23:34If they have to believe that America is strong, that peace through strength is real, then they want to come into our orbit and be force multipliers.
23:43I'm talking about generational relationships that we have built with partner forces around the globe.
23:48I can't tell you how many meetings I'm in, here or around the globe, where I meet with foreign ministers, or ministers of defense, from allied countries.
23:57Or countries sort of on the brink of whether they're going to go our way or the way of the Communist Chinese.
24:03And I'm looking at a minister of defense who was a part of an exchange program 20 years ago with U.S. special operators, with Green Berets.
24:11Or they went to a military education school at Fort Benning 20 years ago.
24:16And so their affinity for U.S. troops for the United States is real.
24:21That is mostly, especially on the leading edge, a product of SOF.
24:26The level of cooperation between U.S. SOF and our allies and partners is unprecedented in scale and invaluable from what we gain from it.
24:35Today, there are over 6,000 U.S. special operations professionals at work outside the U.S. in over 80 countries.
24:43Representatives from 60 of those countries are with us here at SoftWeek.
24:48And we welcome all of them.
24:50We also have international partners from 28 nations stationed right here at SOCOM.
24:56These relationships and partnerships take years to build, and the impact could be, in some cases, decades from now.
25:04But these allies and partners strengthen our militaries as they build their own Tier 1, Tier 2 special operations forces.
25:15No one does that partnership better than SOF.
25:19And I know it's not a surprise to any of you.
25:21Again, it's in your roots.
25:24In World War II, joint U.S. and British teams went behind enemy lines with resistance fighters in Europe.
25:29In Vietnam, SOF worked closely with South Vietnamese counterparts on some of the most dangerous missions, including daring rescues of downed pilots.
25:39And more recently, special operators have worked shoulder to shoulder with partners across the globe, like assisting our Colombian and Filipino partners in fighting against insurgents.
25:49And that tradition continues today.
25:52Just last month, I was in Panama and saw how closely the U.S. and Panamanian Special Forces worked together to combat shared threats and achieve common goals.
26:02Just watching in our own hemisphere in Panama, but it's not just Panama, the way in which the Communist Chinese, through malign influence, attempt to leverage their relationships and just straight up money with local leaders to try to pull them in their direction.
26:18It's happening in real time.
26:21And yes, we have diplomats and there's politicians that think about these problem sets.
26:25But for the most part, it's special operators.
26:28It's COCOM commanders.
26:29It's others who are on the ground partnering, creating that enduring bond and relationship with local forces that pulls them out of that orbit and toward the United States.
26:39In an instance of the Panama Canal, that's key terrain, a choke point built by Americans that ought to have our focus.
26:47And the point of that trip was to partner with Panamanians and take back the Panama Canal from Chinese influence.
26:53A strategic prerogative the president has pointed out that special operations plays a large role in.
27:00So SoftWeek helps us build these generational relationships and they are needed.
27:05Our adversaries are working together as well.
27:09China, Iran, Russia, North Korea, and so we have to as well.
27:15Harnessing our partnerships gives us strategic and tactical advantage, achieving peace through strength.
27:23Under the leadership of President Trump, the message to our adversaries has been undeniably clear.
27:29America is back.
27:32SAF amplifies this message and carries it to all the far-flung corners of the world.
27:39It's a pivotal mission that is laser-focused on warfighting, as I know all of you are.
27:46We're restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military, and reestablishing deterrence.
27:52Enemy aggression will be met swiftly and harshly.
27:57And we're beginning a new golden age of America and a golden age of national defense.
28:03But there is no time to waste.
28:06As General Fenton said, and he's right, we're in the midst of a Special Operation Forces renaissance.
28:13And I know I can count on SAF to step up and meet this moment, to set the standards, to serve at the tip of the spear.
28:21And my pledge to you is the same pledge that President Trump has made to me that has asked me to share with all the formations I meet with when I travel abroad and talk to formations here at home.
28:35He tells me to tell every warrior out there, we have your back.
28:42That's all I ever wanted when I was a rifle platoon leader leading 40 men in combat.
28:47I wanted to know my company commander, my battalion commander, my brigade commander, my division commander had my back.
28:54In any difficult situation I was in, where split-second decisions are made in the fog of war, sometimes you're right, sometimes you're wrong.
29:02Sometimes you hit the right target, sometimes you miss.
29:07Most politicians can't understand the impossible dynamics that our Special Operators face.
29:12Take what I experienced and make it 25x, what Special Operators experience.
29:19What he did in his first term, President Trump, and what he has pledged in his second and is ongoing to this day is, we will have your back.
29:27As you execute violently the defense of our nation, our job is to ensure we have yours.
29:34So I want to thank you for everything you do, and the best gift I can give you is getting up every day working as hard as I can with my staff,
29:42from the West Wing to the Pentagon, to ensure you have everything you need.
29:47And when you make that tough call, your commander in chief, your secretary of defense, and your country are behind you.
29:54Because we are grateful, beyond grateful, for what you, your families, give on behalf of this nation.
30:03No one serves alone. It's you, your kids, your spouses, your communities, your churches, the people that love you, the people that support you, that believe in what we do.
30:14We have your back and we love you too. God bless the United States and all of our warriors. Thank you.