Pentagon declines to confirm timing or invite list for new address
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is considering summoning hundreds of senior military personnel back to Marine Corps Base Quantico for a second address this year, according to U.S. officials — a move that would revisit the unusual gathering he convened at the same venue last fall to roll out new priorities for the armed forces.
Hegseth would likely use the venue to outline his priorities and release a new set of directives to the force, the officials said. It could not be immediately determined when the meeting would take place or whether it would include all serving admirals and generals.
“We have nothing to announce at this time,” said Pentagon spokesman Joel Valdez.
In last September’s Quantico gathering, Hegseth ordered all of the country’s generals and admirals to appear on short notice and without a stated reason, surprising senior military officers and stirring some consternation in their ranks. He used the event to roll out his priorities, focusing on rejecting the previous administration’s policies he dubs “woke” and emphasizing a return to “warfighting” as the Pentagon’s sole mission.
“For too long, we have simply not done that. The military has been forced by foolish and reckless politicians to focus on the wrong things,” Hegseth said at the time. “In many ways, this speech is about fixing decades of decay, some of it obvious, some of it hidden.”
The Pentagon simultaneously released 11 memorandums that set out the administration’s priorities for the department, including new fitness and grooming standards. “The era of unprofessional appearance is over,” Hegseth said. “No more beardos.”
Hegseth added that physical standards “must be high and gender-neutral.” “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 that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it.”
Hegseth and President Trump, who opened the event last year, received a polite but muted response from the military officers, who sat stone-faced throughout the presentations per strict regulations that bar engaging with or encouraging political activity.
Trump used his lengthy address to hail the administration’s use of military force to police American cities and to threaten additional action.
“What they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles—they’re very unsafe places, and we’re going to straighten them out one by one,” Trump said. “And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war too. It’s a war from within.”
It is not clear yet whether Trump will attend the second iteration of the event.
Since becoming Pentagon chief last year, Hegseth has made it his goal to reverse the previous administration’s diversity and inclusion efforts, which he has long contended hurt U.S. military standards, and to restore a culture that gives priority to physical standards over what he calls “wokeness.” He has been criticized by former officials and outside experts who say he is steering the services in an overtly partisan direction.
Critics say Hegseth is too focused on superficial issues at the expense of readiness to fight future wars.