Above photo: U.S. military senior leaders wait for President Donald Trump to arrive at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025 in Quantico, Va. Evan Vucci/AP.
‘Era Of The Department Of Defense Is Over.’
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed hundreds of top commanders from around the world.
NOTE: AP reports that President Trump declared that the United States has a war from within and urged the US military to use cities as training grounds: “President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed using American cities as training grounds for the armed forces and spoke of needing U.S. military might to combat what he called the “invasion from within.” Addressing an audience of military brass abruptly summoned to Virginia, Trump outlined a muscular and at times norm-shattering view of the military’s role in domestic affairs. He was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who declared an end to “woke” culture and announced new directives for troops that include “gender-neutral” or “male-level” standards for physical fitness. The dual messages underscored the Trump administration’s efforts not only to reshape contemporary Pentagon culture but to enlist military resources for the president’s priorities and for decidedly domestic purposes, including quelling unrest and violent crime. “We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” Trump said. He noted at another point: “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 has already tested the limits of a nearly 150-year-old federal law, the Posse Comitatus Act, that restricts the military’s role in law enforcement. He has sent National Guard and active duty Marines to Los Angeles, threatened to do the same to combat crime and illegal immigration in other Democratic-led cities, and surged troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. National Guard members are generally exempt from the law because they’re under state control. But the law does apply when they’re “federalized” and put under the president’s control, as happened in LA over the Democratic governor’s objections.
Washington, DC — “Good morning, and welcome to the War Department because the era of the Department of Defense is over,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told hundreds of generals and admirals gathered Tuesday at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia.
The secretary told the top military brass, summoned on short notice last week, that 10 directives would arrive in the inboxes of commands Tuesday. Some of the initiatives include adding combat field tests for combat arms units, emphasizing “male-level” standards for fitness, and seeing that every member of the joint force — including four-star generals — take a fitness test twice a year and meet height and weight requirements.
“Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops. Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon,” Hegseth said.
The secretary said the military has been held back by “woke” policies.
“Today is another liberation day, the liberation of America’s warriors,” Hegseth said. “You are not politically correct and don’t necessarily always belong in polite society. We are purpose built.”
President Donald Trump, who spoke about 20 minutes later, echoed Hegseth: “The [purpose] of America’s military is not to protect anyone’s feelings. It’s to protect our republic.
″We will not be politically correct when it comes to defending American freedom. And we will be a fighting and winning machine.”
The collection of commanders sat stoically through the speeches in keeping with the military tradition of nonpartisanship.
Trump and Hegseth recently worked together in an effort this month for the Pentagon to be called the “Department of War” in official communications and pursue actions that would permanently rename the Defense Department. Trump said he “loves the name” and thinks it “stops wars.”
Since taking charge of the Pentagon in January, Hegseth has ordered reviews of physical fitness, body composition and grooming, reverting back to the base names of Fort Benning and Fort Bragg, and restoring the “warrior ethos.”
Hegseth, a 45-year-old Army National Guard veteran and former Fox News host, said the U.S. military has promoted too many leaders for the wrong reasons based on race, gender quotas and “historic firsts.”
“Political leaders set the wrong heading, and we lost our way. We became the Woke Department but not anymore,” the secretary said.
Hegseth said he is loosening disciplinary rules and weakening hazing protections.
He said he would order a review of “the department’s definitions of so-called toxic leadership, bullying and hazing to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second-guessing.”
The secretary said the Pentagon is empowering drill sergeants to instill “healthy fear in recruits.”
“Yes, they can shark attack. They can toss bunks. They can swear and yes, they can put their hands on recruits,” Hegseth said. “This does not mean they can be reckless or violate the law, but they can use tried and true methods to motivate new recruits to make them warriors.”
The Pentagon has been thinking about bringing back shark attacks after the Army decided to move away from the practice in 2020. Hegseth shared a story in August that he was considering allowing Army drill sergeants to swarm on trainees and shout in their faces again. Pentagon spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson told reporters last month “shark attacks are going to be something” Hegseth looks to reinstate.
The directives would include “gender-neutral” or “male-level” standards for physical fitness.
It is not about preventing women from serving, Hegseth said.
“But when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral,” he said. “If women can make it excellent, if not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it. That is not the intent, but it could be the result.”
Hegseth is also relaxing mandatory training requirements such as for cybersecurity and controlled unclassified information, or CUI. Controlled unclassified information has been spotlighted this month as part of the Pentagon’s crackdown on journalists. The new rules require reporters to pledge they won’t gather any information, even unclassified, that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release and will revoke the press passes from those who do not obey.
The secretary announced there will be an overhaul of the channels troops and defense personnel have available to them to anonymously file whistleblower complaints, report toxic leadership or point out unequal treatment based on race, gender, sexuality or religion.
The offices include the Defense Department’s inspector general office and the equal employment opportunity office.
“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 sidetracking careers. No more walking on eggshells,” Hegseth said. “Of course, being a racist has been illegal in our formations since 1948. The same goes for sexual harassment. Both are wrong and illegal.”
Hegseth came under investigation in April by the Pentagon’s IG into the use of the Signal messaging app where the secretary discussed upcoming military strikes in Yemen. The probe at the time came less than two weeks after the top editor of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg, revealed he was mistakenly included in the conversation on the Signal app in which national security officials for Trump discussed the plans for airstrikes.
The Pentagon’s watchdog has completed a review and has submitted its findings to Hegseth, CNN reported.
Hegseth last week summoned the military’s top commanders — there are about 800 generals and admirals of all ranks — and their senior enlisted leaders. Many command thousands of service members and are stationed across the world in more than a dozen countries and time zones. They were not informed beforehand about the purpose, and officials have not provided a reason for why it needed to occur in person.
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, opened the meeting with a statement before introducing Hegseth.
“What a group here today,” Caine said. “I will tell you that our enemies are terrified right now that we are all in the same room.”
The general added he was at the White House on Monday night with Hegseth and the Joint Chiefs as the president and first lady Melania Trump honored 50 Gold Star families. It was a “deeply meaningful event” even in the “nature of our business.”
“Global risk is on the rise, our adversaries … are aligned, and we must align with equal resolve and unity,” Caine said. “Even as we strive for and seek peace, we must be prepared for war. Now more than ever, it is vital that we hear from our civilian leaders, understand where they’re taking the department and the joint force.”
The event initially raised concerns that Hegseth was gathering the group to inform them of mass firings or layoffs. The secretary in May signed a memo to reduce the total number of generals and admirals by 20%.
The Trump administration has fired a slate of senior military officers since returning to office. Some of the firings include Air Force Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the chief of naval operations; Adm. Linda Fagan, commandant of the Coast Guard; and Air Force Gen. James Slife, the service’s vice chief of staff.
During his remarks, Trump praised some people at the Pentagon but also said he has gotten other people “out of here.”
“I’ll be honest with you, [I] didn’t like doing it. But we got many of you out of here because we weren’t satisfied,” the president said.
Gen. David Allvin, the Air Force chief of staff, last month announced he would retire sometime close to Nov. 1. Trump has nominated Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach to replace Allvin.
“If the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign,” Hegseth said. “We should thank you for your service. But I suspect I know the overwhelming majority of you feel the opposite.”
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the meeting “an expensive, dangerous dereliction of leadership.”
“Even more troubling was Mr. Hegseth’s ultimatum to America’s senior officers: conform to his political worldview or step aside,” Reed said in a statement posted on X. “That demand is profoundly dangerous. It signals that partisan loyalty matters more than capability, judgment or service to the Constitution, undermining the principle of a professional, nonpartisan military.”
Trump covered many topics during his more than 70-minute speech. He spoke about tariffs, former President Joe Biden and the autopen and the attempts to end the war in Ukraine, expressing disappointment in Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I’ve never walked into a room so silent before,” Trump said about the collection of high-ranking officers. “Don’t laugh. Don’t know if you’re allowed to do that. You know what? Just have a good time.”
He told generals and admirals they could do anything they wanted from applauding to walking out of the speech.
“If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future,” the president said.
The meeting comes as the government anticipates a government shutdown on Oct. 1. The Trump administration last week warned that it could carry out mass layoffs of federal workers who would usually be furloughed, or temporarily relieved from work, if the government shuts down.
Service members would be forced to report for duty without pay. The Defense Department has not released a contingency plan for a potential shutdown but guidelines issued in previous years offer a preview of how troops could be affected.
