Inside the Room for Trump and Hegseth’s Speeches to Top Military Brass

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va.—President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth addressed hundreds of senior military officials here in remarks that touted their efforts to revamp the U.S. military’s culture and opened the door to additional missions to police American cities at home. 

“Welcome to the War Department, because the era of the Department of Defense is over,” Hegseth said, continuing his embrace of the secondary title approved by a recent Trump executive order.

Hegseth announced several policy initiatives, some of which have already been previewed. He said that daily PT would be required for all members of the military, regardless of rank. He stressed that women would need to meet the same physical training standards as men for “combat arms” roles. He also said he was barring racial and diversity considerations for career advancement, a theme he has struck in recent months to restore the “warrior ethos” to an agency he derisively referred to as the “woke department.” 

Hegseth also said officers should resign if they do not agree with the direction the Trump administration is setting for the U.S. military.

The scale of the Quantico meeting was without recent precedent. Many of the generals and admirals and their senior enlisted leaders were bused to this base, which was under tight security. Two hours before Hegseth’s address, the room was already filling up. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin and Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman were seated in the front row along with the rest of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including Chairman Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, who introduced Hegseth.

Behind the service chiefs sat leaders of the combatant commands. Each service had its own section, and the services’ songs played on loops before Hegseth’s arrival.

In his speech, Hegseth acknowledged that he has already significantly reshaped the ranks of top leadership.

Since taking office, Hegseth has replaced Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., Chief of Naval Operations Lisa M. Franchetti, Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife, the head of U.S. Cyber Command and National Security Agency director Air Force Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, and Defense Intelligence Agency director Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey A. Kruse.

“I have fired a number of senior officers since taking over: the previous chairman, other members of the Joint Chiefs, combatant commanders, and other commanders,” Hegseth said. “The rationale, for me, has been straightforward. It’s nearly impossible to change a culture with the same people who helped create or even benefited from that culture.”

Hegseth also took aim at the Pentagon’s inspector general, whose acting chief is investigating the defense secretary’s use of the commercial messaging app Signal to discuss strikes on the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. Hegseth charged that IGs had been “weaponized” for the benefit of “complainers, ideologues, and poor performers.”

Many of the attendees appeared to be jotting down notes during Hegseth’s speech as he listed his priorities.

Trump followed with an address where he once again praised the B-2 pilots, tanker aircrew, and other Airmen who participated in Operation Midnight Hammer, the June mission to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. Allvin nodded in approval at those remarks.

“For the Air Force people here, you can be very proud,” Trump said. The president also offered praise to the “great people” of the Space Force, saying, “We really dominate in that sphere now.”

Over the course of more than hour, Trump also highlighted the current and potential use of the National Guard and Active-duty military to aid law enforcement in American cities, saying it was important to quell “the enemy within.”

“San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they’re very unsafe places and we’re gonna straighten them out one by one,” said Trump. “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.”

The military’s top leaders gave a respectful hearing to Trump and Hegseth, but the reception was subdued as the officers sought to maintain an apolitical bearing.

Outside the room, political reactions to Trump and Hegseth’s remarks were swift.

Reps. Adam Smith (Wash.) and Chrissy Houlahan (Penn.), the top Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee and its personnel subcommittee, respectively, issued a statement criticizing the event as a “staggering and unacceptable waste of time, money, and resources.”

Smith and Houlahan, an Air Force veteran, also accused Hegseth of promoting “a regressive culture war” with his remarks.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), who serves as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, similarly critiqued Trump’s remarks about the military’s role in domestic law enforcement operations.

“President Trump’s remarks offered no strategy, no operational guidance, and no plan to address real threats,” Reed said in a statement. “His reckless suggestion that American cities be used as ‘training grounds’ for U.S. troops is a dangerous assault on our democracy, treating our own communities as war zones and our citizens as enemies.”

Reed’s Republican counterpart, Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.), did not issue a comment on the speeches, nor did Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee.