Secretary of War Pete Hegseth used his State of the Force address at Quantico to outline sweeping changes involving military leadership, autonomous weapons, installation security, and preparations for future warfare. He also delivered [1] one blunt line guaranteed to irritate the woke crowd.
Hegseth announced a new command structure overseeing military drone technology, plans to reshape the officer corps, and an effort to build a war machine unburdened by bureaucratic details and woke nonsense. The address came one year to the day after he criticized military leaders for embracing policies he believes weakened the force.
The Pentagon is eliminating roughly one in five generals and admirals during the second Trump administration through firings or position cuts. Hegseth presented the reduction as part of his effort to fundamentally change how the Pentagon operates and sharpen its focus on winning.
Hegseth said he wants the department to be “unrelenting, unapologetic, and uncompromising” in its mission. He added that generals who “clung to the woke department or seem to think civilian control of the military is simply a suggestion, well, they no longer work here.”
“The number crunchers say we fired 10% of the generals and admirals across the force, and that number sounds about right,” Hegseth said. He also said the overall number of general officer positions had been reduced by another 10%.
“And I know because I directed it that we’ve also reduced the overall number of general officer slots by an additional 10%. So yes, 20% reduction across the board. Now the media calls that a purge. I call it accountability, and long overdue.”
Then came the line built to launch a thousand liberal complaints. “No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals,” said Hegseth, who also rejected any return of drag queen PowerPoint presentations.
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The central policy announcement, however, involved Project Meridian and the creation of the Autonomous Warfare Command, also called AutoWarCom. The command will purchase new drones and robotics as part of what Hegseth described as “the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history.”
AutoWarCom is expected to become functional in October 2027. Hegseth initially selected Owen West, a former Marine, former assistant War Secretary, and Goldman Sachs trader, along with Max Strasiser, a Navy SEAL test pilot who has built robotic systems in combat.
A four-star military officer who has not yet been named will eventually lead the command. One priority will be establishing an American-made pipeline of inexpensive unmanned systems, allowing the United States to adapt quickly during a potential war.
“Once we apply sustained budget to changed doctrine, we will outperform the world,” said West, who has been leading the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit. “And by snapping in AI, we will be ahead of the world, because we are the leaders in AI.”
Hegseth previously consolidated many Pentagon drone and autonomous programs under one office created in June. He is now directing that office to begin laying the foundation for the combatant command through Project Agincourt, which West and Strasiser will lead.
Project Meridian will examine how future generations may fight. Hegseth tasked entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey, along with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, with studying the future of warfare and producing their findings within 120 days.
Pentagon chief technology officer Emil Michael will work with Musk, Luckey, and Gingrich on the project. “On any future battlefield, from under the earth to beyond the moon, our American warriors will be armed with absolute technological superiority because we will have the foresight to prepare today for tomorrow,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth separately announced Fortress America, a new high-level office charged with protecting military installations from attacks affecting civilian infrastructure. According to a memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, a senior civilian and a two-star military officer will head the office.
The initiative calls for every major United States military installation to generate power independently from the civilian energy grid. It will also seek to strengthen American supply chains and the defense industrial base while protecting installations against sophisticated cyber and drone attacks.