Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned Tuesday that the Division of Govt Potency (DOGE) is “welcome on the Pentagon,” telling journalists in Stuttgart, Germany, right through his first in a foreign country commute on the helm that the Division of Protection (DoD) can also be reviewing U.S. army posture globally to account for various “strategic assumptions” between President Donald Trump and previous President Joe Biden.
Upon arriving on the headquarters of U.S. Eu Command and Africa Command, Hegseth did push-ups, dead-lifts and different PT workouts with the first Battalion, tenth Particular Forces Workforce (Airborne) – a gesture the secretary, a battle veteran himself, mentioned used to be intended to have interaction with the troops at once and listen to about their missions, relatively than only speaking via four-star generals.
Taking questions from journalists later on, Hegseth, who has vowed to revive the “warrior ethos” on the Pentagon, addressed how Trump has called on NATO members to spend 5% in their GDPs on protection. Requested if the U.S. must additionally spend that quantity, Hegseth mentioned he and Trump percentage the view that U.S. protection spending must no longer pass beneath 3% GDP, including that the present management must spend greater than the Biden management.
HEGSETH SAYS FORT BRAGG IS COMING BACK, BUT WITH A TWIST
Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth talks to the media right through his consult with to the headquarters of U.S. Eu Command and Africa Command on the Africa Command at Kelly Barracks in Stuttgart Germany, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Picture/Michael Probst)
Hegseth accused the Biden management of getting “traditionally underinvested within the functions of our army,” including that Trump is dedicated to “rebuilding The usa’s army via making an investment.”
Requested if he expects Elon Musk to begin unilaterally slashing protection systems, Hegseth described the DOGE chief as a “nice patriot excited by advancing the The usa First schedule” who is aware of “Trump were given 77 million votes in a mandate from the American other people, and a part of this is bringing precise businesslike potency to govt.” Hegseth spoke of a “partnership” with DOGE to scale back Pentagon waste, agreeing with Musk’s evaluation that it may well be to the music of “billions” of bucks.
However the secretary stressed out that spending on the Pentagon didn’t equate to the “globalist agendas” pursued via the U.S. Company for World Building (USAID).
“As I mentioned on social media, we welcome Doge to the Pentagon,” Hegseth mentioned. “And I’m hoping to welcome Elon to the Pentagon very quickly. And his crew operating in collaboration with us.”
Hegseth mentioned, “There are waste redundancies and headcounts in headquarters that wish to be addressed. There is simply undoubtedly. Have a look at a large number of the local weather systems which have been pursued on the Protection Division. The Protection Division isn’t within the industry of local weather exchange, fixing the worldwide thermostat. We are within the industry of deterring and profitable wars. So such things as that.”
Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth participates in PT with the first Battalion, tenth Particular Forces Workforce (Airborne), a U.S. Military Particular Forces battalion based totally in Stuttgart, Germany. (DefSec Hegseth on X)
NOEM, HEGSETH, BONDI PLEAD WITH CONGRESS FOR MORE BORDER FUNDING AMID LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS
“There is a variety of puts the place we would like the prepared eye of DOGE, however we’re going to do it in coordination,” he added, pointing to attainable adjustments in guns procurement systems as smartly. “We aren’t going to do issues which can be to the detriment of American operational or tactical functions… President Trump is dedicated to turning in the most productive imaginable army.”
“The Protection Division isn’t USAID,” Hegseth mentioned. “USAID has were given a large number of issues that I mentioned with the troops – pursuing globalist agendas that shouldn’t have a connection to The usa First. That is not the Protection Division. However we are additionally no longer very best both. So the place we will to find billions of bucks, and he is proper to mention billions throughout the Protection Division, each buck we save, there’s a buck that is going to warfighters. And that’s the reason just right for the American other people.”
Hegseth used to be additionally requested if there have been plans to shift U.S. forces from Europe to the Indo-Pacific to concentrate on the Chinese language danger.
“There aren’t any plans at this time within the making to chop the rest,” Hegseth mentioned. “There may be an working out that we are going to assessment pressure posture the world over.”
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“President Trump’s making plans assumptions are other in some ways, or a minimum of strategic assumptions, than Joe Biden’s,” he mentioned. “We undoubtedly do not want a plan at the again of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. And what came about on October seventh and the struggle that used to be unleashed in Ukraine. You must organize and mitigate the ones issues via coming along your folks in Israel and sharing their protection, and peacefully resolving the warfare in Ukraine. However the ones should not outline how we orient.”
On his choice to opposite Biden’s 2023 renaming of Castle Liberty again to Castle Bragg, Hegseth mentioned, “It approach Bragg is again. It approach the legacy of an establishment that generations of American citizens have mobilized via and served at is again.”
“I by no means known as it Castle Liberty as it wasn’t Castle Liberty. It is Castle Bragg. And so I used to be venerated so as to put my signature on that,” Hegseth mentioned. The North Carolina base’s authentic namesake used to be Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Accomplice normal, however Hegseth mentioned it will now be named after %. Roland L. Bragg, a Global Struggle II hero who earned the Silver Megastar and the Pink Center for his braveness right through the Fight of the Bulge.