New details are leaking about why Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called top military officials from around the world for an in-person meeting in Virginia next week.
The former Fox News personality-turned-top Trump official reportedly wants to make a video of his short speech.
A White House official separately told CNN that the meeting is meant to be a show of force of what the new military looks like under Trump.
In the speech, Hegseth will reportedly discuss the Trump administration’s reinvention of the Defense Department as the “Department of War” and address new readiness, fitness and grooming standards.
As it was put to CNN, the “guys with the stars on their shoulders make for a better audience from an optics standpoint.”
The defense secretary’s team plans to record his speech and then release it publicly. It will also reportedly be amplified by the White House.
The gathering, which is scheduled to take place Tuesday, was described as a “pep rally.” But bringing hundreds of generals to Quantico, including those stationed abroad, could prove to be an extremely expensive pep talk.
In response to the Daily Beast’s question about Hegseth’s plans to use the gathering to make a video, a Pentagon spokesperson said it had nothing more to add besides a short previous statement from chief spokesperson Sean Parnell.
“The Secretary of War will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week,” Parnell said.
The video plan would explain why the meeting couldn’t be conducted over secure video conferencing, as some retired military officials have pointed out was possible, and would be less dangerous than having so many military officials travel.
The original idea for the gathering of top military brass was Hegseth’s, CNN reported.
The defense secretary, an Army veteran, has repeatedly shown distain for “woke” military leaders, ordered a reduction of four-star generals, ranted about what he calls the “warrior ethos,” and shared content of himself working out.
Hegseth has remained largely tight-lipped about the upcoming meeting, but he appeared to address some concerns about it on Friday morning with a sarcastic post on X.
The defense secretary wrote “Cool story, General” in response to a tweet from retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges about Adolf Hitler gathering Nazi generals in 1935 and them being “required to swear a personal oath to the Führer.”
When no reason was given as to why Hegseth was ordering top generals to gather, multiple retired military officials raised questions.