Under a second Trump administration, the Department of Defense will enhance the military’s lethality, root out social justice initiatives, boost recruitment, and ensure a fiscally responsible use of taxpayer funds, Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth promised Tuesday.
During a four-hour confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hegseth outlined President-elect Donald Trump’s vision of an apolitical, merit-based military focused on lethality and deterrence instead of racial quotas or climate change.
“We can no longer count on reputational deterrence, we need real deterrence,” Hegseth told the committee in his opening statement. “And in pursuing these America First national security goals, we’ll remain patriotically apolitical and stridently constitutional, unlike the current administration.”
Hegseth emphasized the importance of boosting investments in the defense infrastructure and nuclear initiatives, as well as encouraging technological innovation. At the same time, he said fiscal responsibility is a “strategic prerogative,” given that the Pentagon has never passed a single audit.
