(NewsNation) — NewsNation spent 24 hours with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as he traveled throughout Los Angeles for a stop on the nationwide “Arsenal of Freedom” tour, which the Pentagon describes as “a call to action to revitalize America’s manufacturing might and reenergize the nation’s workforce.”
During the visit, Hegseth met with defense industry leaders to discuss accelerating the production of weapons and weapon systems. He also trained with ROTC recruits at UCLA.
This is all part of a push from President Donald Trump, who told NewsNation a few weeks ago that he wants defense contractors to speed up their processes. Trump recently called on Congress to increase the U.S. defense budget from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, arguing it will allow the country to build its “dream military.”
NewsNation joined Hegseth for a stop at Divergent Thursday night, a defense company that specializes in 3-D printing weapon systems.
“Big contract, small contract, doesn’t matter. All I care about, all our department cares about, all the president of the United States cares about is who can do it the best, the fastest, the most lethal, the cheapest, the most options for the warfighter. That’s it,” Hegseth said during his stop at Divergent.
“And our job is to get the bureaucracy out of the way so that anybody can compete and win.”
NewsNation partner The Hill contributed to this report.