The Defense Secretary acknowledged the challenges facing the military, such as recovering from Biden-era policies, while outlining innovative strategies to address them.

Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed students and their families at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, PA last week, using the opportunity to share his vision for reforming the military.

“Fighting for you has been the privilege of a lifetime — a deployment of a lifetime,” Hegseth told the students. “From Day One, our overriding objectives have been clear: restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military, and reestablishing deterrence.”

Throughout his speech, Hegseth emphasized that, moving forward, the Department is abandoning Biden-era Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles in favor of an approach centered on meritocracy and “no more distractions.”

“No more social engineering. No more climate change worship. No more electric tanks. No more gender confusion. No more pronouns. No more excuses. No more quotas,” the Secretary continued. “We are laser-focused on our mission of war fighting. We are color-blind, and we are merit-based.”

Hegseth also dove deeper into his vision for the DOD and military in an interview immediately after his address at the War College. Hegseth expressed to the outlet that some younger military leaders may need more time to grow comfortable with the Trump administration’s policy of eliminating DEI.

“They don’t know how to react to it or whether to fully embrace it and whether their commanders will support them in fully embracing it,” Hegseth acknowledged, speaking of his student audience at the Army War College. “So our job is to change the entirety of the culture so that they can truly lead with a warfighter ethos.”

The rhetoric of redirecting focus from individual identity to unifying factors like war fighting aligns with broader reforms initiated under the Trump administration, which have included eliminating DEI programs in other realms like higher education. 

Hegseth’s well-received appearance at the Army War College marks a positive step forward for the defense secretary after months of falling on the receiving end of relentless media attacks. 

President Trump has continuously reaffirmed his confidence in Hegseth in the aftermath of various controversies, such as the secretary’s use of the Signal group messaging app; Trump told The Atlantic in an interview published Monday that he believed Hegseth would “get it together” and recover from his public relations nightmare.

“He’s a talented guy, he’s young, he’s smart, highly educated, and I think he’s gonna be a very good defense- hopefully a great defense secretary, but he’ll be a very good defense secretary,” President Trump remarked in a Tuesday interview with ABC reflecting on his first 100 days back in office.

In the days since his address at the Army War College, Hegseth made waves by ending the Pentagon’s “Women, Peace, and Security” initiative, a program aimed at integrating gender perspectives into defense strategies. Notably, this move signifies the Trump administration’s intensifying focus on breaking down identity-centered programs, as the women’s initiative was originally signed into law during the President’s first term.