Defense Second Hegseth summons “unusual” meeting of top military leaders
Defense Secretary Pete Hegses ordered around 800 senior military leaders to come to a last-minute meeting in Quantico, northern Virginia.
President Donald Trump said before heading to Kuncheongtio, Virginia, to address a group of top military generals, that if he doesn’t like them, he’ll “fire them on the spot.”
“If you don’t like anyone, I’ll fire them on the spot,” he said.
While Trump was preparing to leave Washington, his defense secretary was addressing a packed meeting of hundreds of military commanders in the Quantico auditorium. Defense Secretary Pete Hegses said he would oppose “collapse” at the Department of Defense, cracking down on physical fitness and grooming standards, and abandoning “awakening” policies.
“This speech is about correcting decades of collapse, some of which are obvious, some of which are hidden,” Hegses said.
“We’ve become a wake-up department, but it’s not like that anymore.”
Reflecting Trump’s threat, Hegses said that if senior executives did not resonate with his message, they should resign.
“If the words I’m speaking today sink your heart, you should do something honorable and resign.”
Hegseth has issued 10 new orders, including implementing physical fitness standards, bringing combat weapon positions to “highest male standards,” orders to shave and shorten their hair.
While the generals and admirals of the conference are not forced to take their own physical fitness tests, all members of the joint force must take a physical fitness test twice a year to meet the criteria for height and weight.
“We don’t talk about hot yoga and stretching,” added Heggs.
With just a week’s notice, Hegseth ordered a brigadier or all senior commanders in the ranks of the lower half or more to report to Virginia Base, about 40 miles south of Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump has announced that he will also speak to the general a few days before the meeting.
Defence experts said the base and the small towns it surrounds by the general’s top general and his aides are likely to create traffic snarling and security nightmares. From the day before the meeting, read the town’s announcement on Quantico’s Facebook page: “Residents can expect increased security checks, changes in traffic patterns and increases in security personnel.”
Costs for the meeting – Taking senior officers and their staff to Quantico, submitting them and securing a community could be millions of dollars, experts told USA Today.
“This kind of thing has never been done before, as it comes from all over the world. It doesn’t cost a little, but it costs a little,” Trump said of the unprecedented meeting.
Democrats and other critics have accused the meeting as a waste of money and said it was a bad idea to take the country’s top generals out of work for a Pep Larry-type event.
The meeting “supposes deep concerns about security, costs and operational impacts.” “Our enemy knows that many of our most senior commanders around the world are associated with some of the highest levels of the civilian chain of command,” said Senators Tammy Duckworth and Mazzy Hirono, who sat on the military committee.
Zach Anderson contributed.
