Pete Hegseth, the US Defence Secretary, has announced wider departmental changes in an address to the country’s top military leaders in Quantico.
He announced thar he’s overhauling the Inspector General’s office, saying, “the IG that has been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues, and poor performers in the driver seat.”
He also said that the department will do the same with Pentagon’s equal opportunity program, a program which largely is responsible for complaints of things like sexual harassment and discrimination based on race, religion, and gender.
“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.”
Pete Hegseth
He justified his previous firing of senior commanders, saying that he went with “his gut” and got rid of those he believed wouldn’t shift away from policies set in previous administrations. He ominously added that he was certain more leadership changes would be made.
Also, Hegseth stated that the military will require combatants to meet the “highest male standard” in physical fitness tests. He acknowledged that this may exclude some women from serving. “Standards must be uniform, gender neutral, and high,” he said.
“This is not about preventing women from serving. We very much value the impact of female troops. Our female officers and NCOs are the absolute best in the world. But when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral.
“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, so be it … It will also mean that we mean that weak men won’t qualify because we’re not playing games. This is combat. This is life or death.”
Pete Hegseth
He ordered officers to focus on physical appearance and fitness, attacking what he called the “tiring” sight of “fat troops” and “fat Generals and Admirals.” “It’s a bad look,” he said, adding that he was upping physical fitness testing to twice a year.
He also said this was an end to the “era of unprofessional appearances” and announced that officers could no longer have beards.
Additionally, Hegseth vowed an end to diversity efforts, wanting to usher in a change to the “politically correct” culture of the military – which had made the department “the woke department.”
He asserted that said they were “fixing decades of decay” by doing away with DEI programs, and ending the promotion of a “risk-averse” officer corps. He said that troops had been distracted by political correctness, racial quotas, climate change, “gender delusions”, “woke garbage” and fears of being labeled as “toxic” leaders.
He stressed that the department would review its definitions of “toxic”, “bullying” and “hazing” “to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing.”
“The era of politically correct, overly sensitive, don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now.”
Pete Hegseth
Moreso, Hegseth told senior military officers to resign if they don’t agree with his new standards.
“The sooner we have the right people, the sooner we can advance the right policies. But if the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign.”
Pete Hegseth
Trump Points To Major Reforms To Military Acquisitions And Sales
US President, Donald Trump also addressed the military officials at Quantico, saying amongst other things that Hegseth will soon announce “major reforms to streamline military acquisitions and expedite foreign military sales.”
“We have tremendous numbers of countries that want to buy our equipment, and you know, many cases, it takes too long. They’re backlogged…We make the best equipment in the world, but they got to make it faster.”
Donald Trump
Trump also said that he’s contemplating making the military “larger” and his administration plans to make “more historic announcements” in the coming months to “fully embrace the identity of the Department of War.”
He said that so-called “dangerous cities” should be used as “training grounds” for military troops and the national guard.
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