Pete Hegseth defends tough talk to generals

By Bill Gertz - The Washington Times - Updated: 5:29 p.m. on Wednesday, October 29, 2025

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, defending a Sept. 30 speech that some military and political leaders slammed, said Wednesday that his blunt-spoken address to a rare gathering of hundreds of high-ranking military officers was intended to retool thinking across the entire chain of command.

One reason for calling the military commanders from around the world to Quantico, Virginia, he said, was to make clear that diversity, equity and inclusion programs must end in America’s fighting forces.

“Part of the reason I gave the speech I did at Quantico is to make sure that message is heard from four-star to private and everyone adheres to the same standard and that leaders are empowered through the echelon,” Mr. Hegseth said in an interview.

Top military officials, who spoke to The Washington Times on the condition of anonymity, sharply criticized the speech, which was roundly panned publicly by veterans, including those serving in Congress.

“It was a massive waste of time. … If he ever had us, he lost us,” one active-duty Army general told The Times in an Oct. 20 report. Another source expressed concerns that Mr. Hegseth was simultaneously doing deep damage to the military, from a public relations standpoint and structurally behind the scenes, that may not be fully apparent until months or even years from now.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Democrat and Iraq War veteran, called for the secretary’s resignation.

In comments Wednesday to a gathering of some 100 airmen at the Yokota Air Base north of Tokyo, Mr. Hegseth wasn’t backing down. He said President Trump directed him from “Day 1” to redirect the military toward warfighting and away from political correctness. The goal, he said, is rekindling the warrior ethos “all the way up and down the chain” of command.

Doing so, he said, will improve discipline, set higher standards, ensure accountability and increase readiness.

Policies that prevent those must end, and all leaders must “enforce those standards,” he said.

“I gave a speech — some of you may have seen it — to a few generals and senior enlisted,” he said, referring to the Quantico meeting.

He said critics asked what he was doing “talking about haircuts and beards.”

“It’s not about beards and haircuts. The point is, when you let little things go inside any organization, you start to erode the standards across the board, up and down the chain.”

Enforcing the small things helps improve the overall situation “because there’s one standard across the force,” he said.

“That’s why it was so dangerous when phrases like ‘our diversity is our strength’ were peddled as the most important thing in our military,” he said.

The assembled Air Force troops were from diverse races and backgrounds, “and that’s a beautiful thing,” he said.

“But when you’re wearing that uniform, none of that matters because your strength is your shared purpose,” he said. “Your strength is the unity of our mission. Your strength is the ultimate support of the Constitution. Your strength is the capability of what you can do, what you put in the air, what you put on the ground, the dilemmas you create for the enemy.”

The military is now back to a merit-based, colorblind and gender-neutral system, and with that policy, military leaders can enforce uniform standards to revive a warrior ethos that is back to military basics, he said.

The military lost its way on some of those things, and the new leaders are changing course as the military is being rebuilt, Mr. Hegseth said.

“We’re going to be the most lethal because, obviously, a lot of it has to do with platforms and planes and ships and missiles and long weights fires and drones and hypersonics and subs and all the things you see. But it’s the capabilities of all of you that employ that sophistication at the decisive moment.”

• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.