Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday took the podium at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum to attack post-Cold War U.S. foreign policy, declaring a new military focus on the Western Hemisphere while lambasting the decisions of former administrations.
Over roughly 40 minutes, Hegseth touched on a myriad of topics, including repeated demands that allies fend for themselves, better defense of American borders, a recharge of the U.S. defense industrial base and the ongoing boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea.
But more notably, the speech appeared to offer a softer stance on China’s military and all but ignored Russia.
“The War Department will not be distracted by democracy building, interventionism, undefined wars, regime change, climate change, woke moralizing and feckless nation-building,” Hegseth said, referring to the Trump administration’s new name for the Defense Department. “We will instead put our nation’s practical, concrete interests first.”
At one point he offered a blunter view: “Out with idealistic utopianism. In with hard-nosed realism.”
Hegseth’s comments mirror the Trump administration’s recently released National Security Strategy, which builds on Trump’s “America First” ideology by focusing on building up a larger military presence in the Western Hemisphere and tightening up border security, among other priorities. The 33-page document also provides the first explicit reference to the president replicating the Monroe Doctrine — calling for U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere — which Hegseth mentioned multiple times in his speech.
The Trump administration will “rightly prioritize our homeland and hemisphere,” he told the audience in Simi, Calif. “Threats persist in other regions, and our allies need to step up, and step up for real.”
He praised countries such as Germany, Poland and South Korea, all which have said they will increase defense spending, referring to President Trump’s push to ensure NATO countries and allies that host U.S. troops pay more for their own defenses.
“Allies are not children,” he said. “We can and should expect them to do their part.”
He also floated the idea that the U.S. military would become further involved in securing the U.S.-Mexico border, telling the audience: “We’ll secure the border in part by organizing training and equipping units specifically for border defense missions, including operations in the land, maritime and air.”
On China — which past national defense strategies have placed as a top threat — Hegseth offered a softer approach.
“President Trump and this administration seek a stable peace, fair trade and respectful relations with China,” he said. The U.S. will follow a policy of “respecting the historic military buildup [China is] undertaking,” he added, while the Pentagon “maintains a clear-eyed appreciation of how rapid, formidable and holistic their military buildup has been.”
A significant portion of the speech was dedicated to establishing a difference from the foreign policies and decisions of the Biden administration to that of Trump’s, condemning such episodes as the disastrous end to the Afghanistan War, allowing a Chinese spy balloon to float across the U.S. before it was shot down and the days-long disappearance of then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, when he failed to disclose he was undergoing surgery. He also called out by name retired Gen. Mark Milley, who served under both administrations and has made pointed criticisms of Trump.
The speech comes as the administration faces scrutiny over its military campaign in the Caribbean that includes more that 20 separate attacks on boats officials have claimed, without evidence, are carrying drugs bound for the U.S. Those strikes have killed more than 80 people the administration has said are “narco-terrorists,” though some lawmakers and legal experts have labeled such attacks as war crimes.
In a Q&A after his speech, Hegseth again defended a second strike on a boat on Sept. 2 that killed survivors clinging to the vessel after the first round of missiles. News of the second strike, first reported by The Washington Post late last month, has caused a firestorm in Congress over whether the decision is a war crime.
“If you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you,” he said.
Hegseth said he “fully” supports the strike — ordered by Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, a Navy SEAL officer who now leads U.S. Special Operations Command — telling the audience, “I would have made the same call myself.”
He also continued to deny ever giving an order to “kill everybody” during the operation that’s now facing bipartisan backlash, turning to the audience and asking if anyone from the Post was in attendance.
“I don’t know where you get your sources, but they suck,” Hegseth said, addressing the outlet. “You don’t walk in and say, ‘Kill them all.’ It’s just patently ridiculous.”
The Hill has reached out to the Post for comment.