Hegseth mentioned that the priorities he outlined shall be achieved ‘with a concentrate on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, requirements, and readiness.’
Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth has issued a press release outlining his prime priorities on the helm of the Division of Protection (DOD) after being confirmed by the Senate on Friday and sworn in by Vice President JD Vance on Saturday.
“We are going to put America First, and we’ll by no means again down.”
Hegseth supplied extra particulars about his dedication to advancing President Donald Trump’s imaginative and prescient of reaching peace by way of energy. He mentioned he’ll search to perform Trump’s goal in 3 ways—“by restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our navy, and reestablishing deterrence.”
Hegseth mentioned his concentrate on restoring the warrior ethos would contain rebuilding belief, fostering unity, and sustaining excessive requirements.
“The energy of our navy is our unity and our shared objective,” he mentioned within the assertion.
Additional, Hegseth pledged to strengthen the navy by higher aligning its capabilities with threats, revitalizing the protection industrial base, guaranteeing monetary accountability, and rapidly deploying rising applied sciences to the battlefield.
“We are going to stay the strongest and most deadly pressure on this planet,” Hegseth mentioned.
Lastly, the protection secretary vowed to revive deterrence by way of a concentrate on bolstering homeland protection and dealing with allies to counter threats from adversaries.
“We are going to work with allies and companions to discourage aggression within the Indo-Pacific by communist China, in addition to supporting the President’s precedence to finish wars responsibly and reorient to key threats,” Hegseth mentioned.
Calling the present second in world affairs “harmful,” Hegseth mentioned that the priorities he outlined shall be achieved “with a concentrate on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, requirements, and readiness.”
“Our enemies will neither relaxation nor relent. And neither will we. We are going to stand shoulder to shoulder to fulfill the urgency of this second,” he mentioned. “Collectively we’ll accomplish the President’s mission to discourage struggle, and if essential, defeat and destroy our enemies.”
Hegseth’s rise to the highest of the Pentagon hierarchy comes after a tumultuous Senate affirmation course of during which he confronted powerful questions on his views on ladies serving in fight, in addition to allegations of alcoholism, sexual assault, and monetary mismanagement at two veteran nonprofit organizations.
Hegseth was confirmed through a tie-breaking vote forged by Vance in a late-night Senate affirmation session on Jan. 24. It was solely the second time within the historical past of Cupboard secretary confirmations that the vice chairman had intervened to interrupt a impasse.
“We don’t need to combat wars, we need to deter them,” Hegseth mentioned. “But when we have to combat them we’re going to carry overwhelming and decisive pressure to shut with and destroy the enemy and produce our boys dwelling.”