Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed hundreds of military leaders on Tuesday after they were by the Pentagon at the last minute.
Hegseth vowed that the Defense Department, now called the , is “done with that sh**,” in reference to what he called “toxic ideological garbage” and “the plank in our own eye.”
“This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department, to rip out the politics, no more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship, no more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris,” Hegseth told the room full of the military’s senior officers.
He also announced directives for troops, including “gender-neutral” or “male-level” standards for physical fitness as well as an end to “woke” culture in the military.
“The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now at every level,” Hegseth said.
President Donald Trump is expected to speak shortly after Hegseth.
The speech comes as the country faces a that could force millions of troops to work without pay if a spending bill does not pass Congress by midnight on Wednesday.
Hegseth did not share details on what would be discussed ahead of the meeting, but , “Today, we end the War on Warriors.”
Meetings between top military brass and civilian leaders are nothing new. But experts say the scale of the gathering, the haste with which it was called and the mystery surrounding it are particularly unusual.
“The notion that the secretary is going to talk to the generals and give them his vision for running the department — and maybe also for strategy and organization — that’s perfectly reasonable,” said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a retired Marine colonel.
“What’s mystifying is why it’s on such short notice, why it’s in person and what else might be involved,” he added.
Trump that the meeting would be “talking about how well we’re doing militarily, talking about being in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things.”
Sources also mentioned the speech focusing on the importance of to the U.S. military.