Pete Hegseth, New Defense Secretary, Outlines Pentagon’s Priorities

• Jan. 25, 2025, 1:02 p.m. ET

Pete Hegseth, newly sworn-in as President Trump’s defense secretary, issued his set of priorities for the department on Saturday, saying that the Pentagon will “put America first, and we will never back down.”

In a message to the Defense Department’s three million employees — including some 1.3 million uniformed personnel — Mr. Hegseth outlined three main priorities for his tenure.

First, he said he intends to “revive the warrior ethos and restore trust in our military.” Many military specialists question the need, arguing that the armed forces have been focused on waging war for years.

Second, Mr. Hegseth emphasized the strengthening of the nation’s industrial base — which ramped up after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago — and streamlining the military’s cumbersome processes for buying new weapons.

Finally, he said the Pentagon would “re-establish deterrence by defending our homeland” and working with allies in the Indo-Pacific region to confront a rising military threat from China. He said the military will also support President Trump’s priority “to end wars responsibly,” presumably a reference to the war in Ukraine as well as the conflicts in the Middle East.

“All of this will be done with a focus on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards and readiness,” Mr. Hegseth said.