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- #usmilitaryshift
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- #hardnosedrealism
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- #trumpdefensepolicy
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Tensions in global security strategy are escalating as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declares the end of America’s “utopian idealism,” unveiling a sweeping military shift that prioritizes the Western Hemisphere and reduces U.S. commitments abroad. Speaking at the Reagan Defense Forum, Hegseth delivered a blistering critique of decades of foreign policy while outlining a new doctrine centered on “hard-nosed realism.”
The overhaul emphasizes stronger border defense, a rebalanced approach to China, and demands that European allies take responsibility for their own security. The announcement comes amid a controversial Caribbean military campaign that has destroyed more than 20 suspected drug-running vessels and raised legal and ethical questions in Washington. With a trillion-dollar defense budget, new investments in ships, drones, and air defense systems, and a strategic pivot away from interventionism, the administration’s new course signals a dramatic redefinition of U.S. global power.
#HegsethStrategy #NewUSDefenseStrategy #USMilitaryShift #WesternHemisphereFocus #HardNosedRealism #ReaganDefenseForum #TrumpDefensePolicy #USChinaRelations #BorderDefenseExpansion #CaribbeanOperations #USForeignPolicyShift #DefenseBudgetTrillion #GoldenDomeProject #USAlliesDefense #NationalSecurityStrategy #USMilitaryPriorities #GlobalPowerShift
The overhaul emphasizes stronger border defense, a rebalanced approach to China, and demands that European allies take responsibility for their own security. The announcement comes amid a controversial Caribbean military campaign that has destroyed more than 20 suspected drug-running vessels and raised legal and ethical questions in Washington. With a trillion-dollar defense budget, new investments in ships, drones, and air defense systems, and a strategic pivot away from interventionism, the administration’s new course signals a dramatic redefinition of U.S. global power.
#HegsethStrategy #NewUSDefenseStrategy #USMilitaryShift #WesternHemisphereFocus #HardNosedRealism #ReaganDefenseForum #TrumpDefensePolicy #USChinaRelations #BorderDefenseExpansion #CaribbeanOperations #USForeignPolicyShift #DefenseBudgetTrillion #GoldenDomeProject #USAlliesDefense #NationalSecurityStrategy #USMilitaryPriorities #GlobalPowerShift
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NewsTranscript
00:00And so far in this administration, nobody has built more new border wall than the Department of War.
00:07The Biden administration was more concerned about Ukraine's borders than our own.
00:12They tried to make it controversial to say that border security is national security.
00:16The War Department will not be distracted by democracy building, interventionism, undefined wars, regime change, climate change, woke moralizing, and feckless nation building.
00:30We will instead put our nation's practical, concrete interests first.
00:36We will deter war. We will advance our interests. We will defend our people.
00:42Peace is our goal.
00:45And in service of that objective, we will always be ready to fight and win decisively if called upon.
00:51Well, thank you. And good afternoon.
00:54You know, folks in Washington like to invoke President Reagan's name often when they criticize President Trump.
01:05They say or at least insinuate that Donald Trump is nothing like Ronald Reagan.
01:10They say the current president's approach is nothing like the vision championed by Ronald Reagan at the height of the Cold War,
01:17as we grappled with the Soviets and ultimately prevailed.
01:22But those folks are wrong. They're dead wrong.
01:26Most who invoke Ronald Reagan's name today, especially self-styled Republican hawks, are not much like Ronald Reagan.
01:37The policies they've championed are nothing like his.
01:41In fact, for the better part of 30 years, they've been quite the opposite.
01:48If you look at actual policies, Donald Trump is the true and rightful heir of Ronald Reagan.
01:54It's President Trump who has inherited and restored President Reagan's powerful but focused and realistic approach to national defense.
02:05It's therefore only fitting that we gather at the Reagan Presidential Library today to talk about President Trump's America first peace through strength common sense agenda
02:16and what it means at the Department of War.
02:19One need only look at the results to understand why President Trump is that rightful heir.
02:27So let's look at what Reagan and his administration actually did.
02:32Reagan rebuilt the military after Vietnam, and that is rightfully considered one of his greatest achievements.
02:39President Trump has done and is doing the same, making historic investments in defense.
02:46But President Reagan also believed sincerely in the peace part of peace through strength, as his actions showed.
02:56It was not a popular thing to do at the time, at the height of the Cold War, to talk to communists.
03:03Yet President Reagan did.
03:05During his high-profile meetings with Mikhail Gorbachev and others, Ronald Reagan saw the prudence and potential
03:12in engaging with our nation's adversaries from a position of strength, so he did.
03:17Even in the face of fierce criticism at home, including from his own party.
03:23Now, President Reagan wasn't naive.
03:25He recognized that fruitful engagements with our adversaries were only possible from a position of strength,
03:31especially military strength.
03:34which is why he focused so much on building up the American military.
03:39We still talk about the Reagan buildup.
03:43And my kids and yours will someday talk about the Trump buildup.
03:48President Reagan and his team inherited a military worn down from their generation's endless war in Vietnam.
03:55And they took the lessons of that war to heart.
03:57This is why he was so deliberate in how he used the joint force.
04:04Indeed, the most famous military doctrine of the Reagan administration,
04:07named for his Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger,
04:10was specifically designed to correct for the failures that led to Vietnam.
04:18Among other key principles, the Weinberger Doctrine stipulated.
04:21One, the United States should not commit forces to combat
04:25unless the vital national interest of the United States or its allies are involved.
04:31Two, U.S. troops should only be committed wholeheartedly and with the clear intention of winning.
04:39Otherwise, troops should not be committed.
04:42Third, U.S. combat troops should be committed only with clearly defined political and military objectives
04:49and with the capacity to accomplish those objectives.
04:53And fourth, the commitment of U.S. troops should be considered only as a last resort.
05:01This is sound stuff.
05:03And it was reflected in how President Reagan actually used the American military,
05:07namely in a focused, decisive manner,
05:10and only when he determined that it was in our nation's vital interest to do so.
05:15In fact, throughout his time in office, President Reagan only committed U.S. ground forces twice,
05:22in Grenada and in Lebanon.
05:24Otherwise, he focused the joint force on the Cold War-era threat and priority theater,
05:30Soviets in Europe.
05:32That's how President Reagan achieved peace through strength always,
05:36with a clear eye toward lasting peace.
05:39Suffice it to say, Ronald Reagan's disciplined, focused, and realistic approach was a far cry
05:47from the grandiose, nation-building, moralistic, and rutteless wars
05:54that many of his self-described acolytes led us into in the decades after Reagan left office.
06:00Wars my generation fought it.
06:03Indeed, it's only under President Trump's leadership, during his first term and now,
06:09that we've been able to restore America's greatness after years of suffering
06:13under the so-called bipartisan consensus,
06:16which is really just a euphemism for disastrous foreign policy.
06:22Out with utopian idealism,
06:26in with hard-nosed realism.
06:28To be specific, Ronald Reagan taught us the value of focused, powerful leadership,
06:34but his so-called disciples didn't heed that lesson.
06:38Since the end of the Cold War, a generation of self-proclaimed neo-Reaganites
06:43have touted Reagan's name, but didn't govern like him.
06:48All the bluster, none of the clarity.
06:50That's especially true in the military realm.
06:53This generation of self-proclaimed neo-Reaganites abandoned Reagan's actual wise policies
07:00in favor of unchecked neoconservatism and economic globalism.
07:06In economics, they dismantled our industrial base, shipping it overseas.
07:11At the same time, in diplomacy and defense,
07:13they swore off the clear-eyed, flexible realism of Reagan, Nixon, and Eisenhower.
07:18Instead, they set about trying to make America the policeman, the protector,
07:23the arbiter of the whole world.
07:25Democracy for all, they say.
07:28Even in the Pesh River Valley.
07:31Even when people don't want it, can't do it.
07:34They turned American allies into dependents.
07:38All but encouraging these nations across Europe and around the world
07:41to free-ride while we subsidize their defense with U.S. taxpayer dollars.
07:46These self-described neo-Reaganites sought global military hegemony
07:53under the auspices of peace through strength.
07:57Instead, we got rudderless wars in the Middle East, land war in Europe,
08:00and the economic rise of China.
08:03After presiding over such a poor performance,
08:08it's remarkable that these people still think they're qualified to speak in public,
08:12let alone moralize to the rest of us.
08:16Some of them have even been awarded for it on this very stage.
08:23But President Trump knows better.
08:25He knows what it means to restore peace through strength on an enduring basis.
08:30To put our nation's interests first,
08:33and the American people first,
08:36in a way that is practical, applicable, and common sense.
08:41That leaves, importantly, America better,
08:44but also leaves our allies better off.
08:48It's the vision that he ran on and led on in his first term,
08:51and he's building on it now in his second.
08:53It's a vision not the quasi-imperialist delusions
08:58that led us to so many disasters in the recent decades
09:01that will actually bring us back to the true legacy of Ronald Reagan.
09:08Out with utopian idealism, in with hard-nosed realism.
09:13Just look at the facts.
09:15Like President Reagan,
09:16President Trump is dedicated to both sides of the peace through strength coin.
09:20Not just using that phrase as a thin veil for warmongering.
09:25In less than a year,
09:26President Trump has secured eight major peace deals,
09:29including a historic end to the war in Gaza.
09:31And he's not finished yet.
09:34Even as we speak under the President's leadership,
09:37we are working tirelessly to end the tragic war in Ukraine.
09:40A war that never would have started in the first place if he had been President.
09:45The world sees an entirely different America today.
09:49Today, these historic opportunities for peace are not happening by chance.
09:55It's President Trump's vision and determination.
09:59Like President Reagan,
10:02President Trump is willing to talk to rivals.
10:05From Mikhail Gorbachev to Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s
10:08to Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping today.
10:10This is born of strength.
10:15Not weakness.
10:16It is born of clarity, of purpose.
10:19Folks in Washington like to criticize President Trump for doing so,
10:21but those critics forget that this is exactly what Ronald Reagan did.
10:27And America was better off for it.
10:30Like President Reagan,
10:32President Trump also knows how important it is to negotiate from a position of strength,
10:37especially military strength.
10:40And at the newly renamed Department of War,
10:43thanks to President Trump's leadership and to Congress,
10:47we received a historic boost in funding last year.
10:50And believe that is only just the beginning.
10:54Make no mistake about it,
10:57President Trump is hell-bent on maintaining and accelerating
11:00the most powerful military the world has ever seen.
11:04The most powerful, the most lethal, and American-made.
11:10The arsenal of freedom.
11:13We're also restoring the warrior ethos back to basics,
11:16readiness, accountability, standards, discipline, lethality.
11:20I'm not sure if you saw,
11:22but I recently gave a speech on that topic to a few generals in Quantico.
11:29The War Department is the sword and the shield of peace through strength.
11:33We are the strength department.
11:36And we stand ready to wield that sword as President Trump directs.
11:40The opposite of peace through strength is war through weakness.
11:48Wokeness, weakness, and war.
11:51All specialties of Joe Biden and Lloyd Austin.
11:55The debacle in Afghanistan, a stain on our country,
11:59and a sin committed against the troops.
12:01The weakness that unleashed Islamist war against Israel on October 7th.
12:06And that same weakness invited war in Ukraine.
12:10And Vladimir Putin saw the open door and he took it.
12:14Spy balloons flying over our country and sect F's going AWOL for a week.
12:20Wokeness, weakness, war.
12:25You know, I was recently tempted when the discussion went out about hitting drug boats
12:31to use the phrase righteous strike.
12:36But then my team counseled me against it and said,
12:39Sir, that's the phrase that was used by Mark Milley
12:42when the family, when a family of Afghans was struck
12:47as a response to what happened at Abbey Gate.
12:49They called it for two straight days a righteous strike.
12:52When they would have known within hours exactly what they struck.
12:56Weakness, wokeness, war.
13:03It's a new day.
13:05With Operation Midnight Hammer, the world saw, after decades of hemming and hawing,
13:10the decisive effect of American military strength
13:12in obliterating the Iranian nuclear program.
13:15President Trump said they can't have a nuclear bomb.
13:18And he meant it.
13:19Others have said it.
13:20President Trump did it.
13:21This operation was a textbook example of the Weinberger Doctrine in action.
13:28Decisive, focused, applied in a focused, clear-eyed way
13:31that advanced our nation's interests while avoiding another protracted war.
13:38Same goes for our limited but lethal actions against the Houthis in Yemen.
13:43Joe Biden tolerated the targeting of U.S. shipping.
13:47President Trump restored freedom of navigation.
13:49Another foundational and core national interest.
13:53Somewhere, Thomas Jefferson is smiling.
13:58And right now, the world is seeing the strength of American resolve
14:01and stemming the flow of lethal drugs to our country.
14:04Here, again, we've been focused, and here we've been clear.
14:07If you're working for a designated terrorist organization
14:10and you bring drugs to this country in a boat,
14:14we will find you and we will sink you.
14:16Let there be no doubt about it.
14:20President Trump can and will take decisive military action
14:23as he sees fit to defend our nation's interests.
14:26Let no country on earth doubt that for a moment.
14:31Like President Reagan, President Trump knows how to do so
14:34in a way that is tied to a clear purpose
14:35with a decisive and credible theory of military victory.
14:38Just as the lessons of Vietnam informed Ronald Reagan and his Weinberger doctrine,
14:44so too, the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan guide President Trump and his secretary today.
14:53For years, a bipartisan consensus of neoconservatives and liberal internationalists
14:59led us from one disaster to another.
15:01They sent our nation's sons and daughters to war after rudderless war,
15:07even as they allowed our allies to grow weaker
15:10and our potential rivals stronger.
15:14From the very beginning, nearly a decade ago,
15:17President Trump called this out for what it is.
15:22Stupid.
15:24An America-last foreign policy.
15:27And they fought him for it.
15:29They tried to jail him for it.
15:31And they failed.
15:33Well, their time is over.
15:35Their America-last bipartisan consensus is done.
15:39It is finished.
15:40Under President Trump's leadership,
15:42after decades of disastrous decisions by this nation's
15:46self-appointed so-called foreign policy elite,
15:50we're once again putting American interests first.
15:53First, we're prioritizing our nation's security, freedom, and prosperity.
15:58Our citizens.
16:00As laid out by President Trump,
16:02we're doing it in a way that leaves not only our nation better off,
16:06but also the world.
16:09Out with utopian realism in,
16:12or out with utopian idealism, excuse me,
16:15in with hard-nosed realism.
16:17The President's approach is one of that flexible but practical realism,
16:24common sense, if you will,
16:25that looks at the world with a clear-eyed perspective,
16:29essential for serving America's real interests.
16:32The approach is informed by strategic rationality
16:34and cost-benefit assessments.
16:37We will define our vital interests in ways that are reasonable
16:40and that make sense to ordinary Americans.
16:42This is the approach and mindset that shapes the Department's focus.
16:48As a result, the War Department will not be distracted by
16:51democracy-building, interventionism, undefined wars,
16:55regime change, climate change, woke, moralizing,
16:59and feckless nation-building.
17:02We will instead put our nation's practical, concrete interests first.
17:08We will deter war.
17:10We will advance our interests.
17:12We will defend our people.
17:15Peace is our goal.
17:18And in service of that objective,
17:19we will always be ready to fight and win decisively if called upon.
17:24As part of this mission,
17:25we are asking American taxpayers to fund the world's greatest military.
17:30We're asking mothers and fathers across America
17:33to trust us with their most precious resource,
17:37their sons and daughters.
17:38And we will honor their trust and their sacrifice.
17:43The historic recruiting and retention numbers of President Trump's first year show who the American people trust.
17:51This means we will not send America's best to advance foolhardy or reckless adventures halfway around the world.
17:58It also means not asking them to pick up the tab for allies who should fund their own defense.
18:03Instead, and above all, it means that we only ask our warriors to fight for things that make America and Americans safe, free, and prosperous.
18:16Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
18:20Nothing more and nothing less.
18:23Again, this is common sense.
18:27And that's what President Trump's war department is all about.
18:31This common sense approach means prioritizing four key lines of effort at the Department of War.
18:36First, defending the U.S. homeland and our hemisphere.
18:40Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation.
18:44Third, increased burden sharing for U.S. allies and partners.
18:49And fourth, supercharging the U.S. defense industrial base.
18:55As we apply President Trump's approach of flexible realism,
19:00the first two lines of effort are the primary operational focus of the Joint Force,
19:04for the simple reason that these missions matter the most for safety, freedom, and prosperity of Americans.
19:09At the same time, however, other threats persist around the world, including in Europe and the Middle East.
19:16We cannot ignore them, nor should we.
19:19That's why our approach also prioritizes burden sharing and burden shifting.
19:23Indeed, for the first time since Reagan's era,
19:25allied and partner burden sharing is no longer an afterthought or a nice-to-have.
19:31Today is a core element of our national defense.
19:34And finally, the fourth line of effort, maybe the most important,
19:40supercharging America's defense industrial base underwrites everything else.
19:47Last month, I gave another speech in Washington, this time to defense industry leaders,
19:52to announce a department-wide, not reform,
19:56a transformation of requirements, acquisitions, and foreign military sales.
20:00Our objective is simple, if monumental.
20:05Transform the entire acquisition system to rapidly accelerate the fielding of capabilities
20:09and focus on results.
20:13The bottom line is a historic, generational, and transformational changes that we will implement
20:20and will move us from the current prime contractor-dominated system,
20:23defined by limited competition, vendor lock, cost-plus contracts, stress budgets,
20:29and frustrating protests,
20:31to a future powered by dynamic vendor space that accelerates production
20:36by combining investment at a commercial pace
20:39with the uniquely American ability to scale and scale quickly,
20:44all at the speed of urgency.
20:46That speech stands on its own.
20:51So I'll spend the balance of my time here talking about the other three lines of effort,
20:55the first of which are defending the U.S. homeland and hemisphere.
20:59The Biden administration was more concerned about Ukraine's borders than our own.
21:04They tried to make it controversial to say that border security is national security.
21:08But that is, of course, absurd.
21:11Border security is national security, and we are prioritizing it accordingly.
21:15Since January 20th, at the direction of President Trump,
21:20the Department of War has made it a top priority to defend our nation's borders,
21:24to get 100% operational control of that border.
21:28We did so by surging forces,
21:30where our troops partner with DHS and CBP to seal the border.
21:36Under Joe Biden, tens of millions of illegals,
21:40and we have no idea where the hell they came from or where the hell they are.
21:45Float across our border.
21:48Not to mention lethal narcotics responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
21:53Today, the number of illegals crossing into our country is zero.
21:59We are saving lives and communities, and we are keeping it that way.
22:03We are also proud to support our law enforcement partners as they conduct mass deportations
22:09of dangerous illegals who have no business being in our country.
22:15We will secure the border in part by organizing, training, and equipping units
22:19specifically for border defense missions,
22:22including operations in the land, maritime, and air domains,
22:25alongside our interagency partners.
22:27We're also leaning on our Mexican counterparts to do more.
22:30They have made progress, and we'll need to see more, and quickly.
22:36And so far in this administration, nobody has built more new border wall
22:40than the Department of War.
22:42But our borders shouldn't be the first line of defense for the American homeland.
22:47They should be the last line of defense.
22:50And that's why we're prioritizing our fight against cartels throughout the Western Hemisphere.
22:56You can just look at the news.
22:59Not all of the news.
23:01The days in which these narco-terrorists, designated terror organizations,
23:08operate freely in our hemisphere are over.
23:11These narco-terrorists are the al-Qaeda of our hemisphere,
23:14and we are hunting them with the same sophistication and precision that we hunted al-Qaeda.
23:20We are tracking them.
23:22We are killing them.
23:23And we will keep killing them so long as they are poisoning our people with narcotics
23:27so lethal that they're tantamount to chemical weapons.
23:31And we're not doing this on our own.
23:34Throughout our hemisphere, our allies and partners recognize that these narco-terrorists
23:38threaten them as well.
23:40So we're working together, sometimes overtly, sometimes not.
23:44And we'll keep doing so for the sake of a safer, secure, and more stable hemisphere for all of us.
23:50But make no mistake, where a country cannot or will not do its part,
23:55then we at the Department of War will always be ready to take decisive action.
23:59In this hemisphere, in our hemisphere, there is no safe haven for narco-terrorists.
24:07Securing the border does not mean we're losing sight of other critical homeland defense missions.
24:11On the contrary, we're doubling down.
24:14One of the first executive orders signed by President Trump was for the creation of Golden Dome for America,
24:19a revolutionary approach to defend our nation from advanced aerial threats.
24:24And we're accelerating efforts on that right now.
24:28And Golden Dome will produce tangible protection for this country inside the time frame of this administration and beyond.
24:35President Reagan promised SDI, strategic defense initiative.
24:40President Trump's doing the same thing.
24:41Now the tech has caught up, and we can actually build the Golden Dome for America.
24:46A game-changer.
24:48At the same time, we're also rapidly strengthening our nation's ability to deter and defend against cyber attacks on Department of War and dual-use targets,
24:56including through the most comprehensive overhaul of U.S. cyber command since it was started 15 years ago.
25:02Nor have we lost sight of the threat of global jihadism.
25:06As with narco-terrorists, working alongside our partners in the IC and other agencies, as well as partners abroad,
25:13we will continue to hunt and kill Islamist terrorists with the intent and ability to strike our homeland.
25:19All of this, of course, rests upon the power of our nation's nuclear deterrent,
25:25which is the foundation of our nation's defense.
25:29Nothing else matters if we don't get this right, and so we will.
25:32As President Trump has said, we will modernize our nation's nuclear triad.
25:37We will develop additional options to support deterrence and escalation management.
25:42And we will never allow this nation to be left vulnerable to nuclear blackmail,
25:46even in a world where we face two other major nuclear armed powers.
25:50And we will test nuclear weapons and nuclear delivery systems on an equal basis as others.
25:57Finally, the Department's activities throughout the Western Hemisphere aren't just about killing narco-terrorists.
26:04They're also about deterring and defending our nation's incidents against other threats in the Hemisphere.
26:10To that end, the Department will always provide the President with credible options when needed.
26:17That includes guaranteeing U.S. military and commercial access to key terrain,
26:23like the Panama Canal, the Caribbean, the Gulf of America, the Arctic, and Greenland.
26:28In all instances, we stand ready to work in good faith with our neighbors,
26:33but they must do their part to defend shared interests.
26:37Where they do not, the War Department stands ready to take focused and to fight decisive action that advances U.S. interests.
26:44This is the Trump corollary to the Monroe Doctrine,
26:50recently codified so clearly in the National Security Strategy.
26:54After years of neglect, the United States will restore U.S. military dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
27:00We will use it to protect our homeland and access to key terrain throughout the region.
27:06We will also deny adversaries' ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities in our hemisphere.
27:11Past administrations perpetuated the belief that the Monroe Doctrine had expired.
27:17They were wrong.
27:19The Monroe Doctrine is in effect, and it is stronger than ever under the Trump corollary,
27:25a common-sense restoration of our power and prerogatives in this hemisphere,
27:31consistent with U.S. interests.
27:33The second line of effort for the War Department is deterrence against China,
27:39through strength, not through confrontation.
27:43Under President Trump's leadership, relations between the United States and China
27:47are better and stronger than they've been in many years.
27:50President Trump and this administration seek a stable peace, fair trade, and respectful relations with China.
27:56In November, President Trump and President Xi reached a major breakthrough in trade,
28:02putting both nations on a strong economic pathway.
28:06Reciprocal state visits in 2026 provide the opportunity for even more progress.
28:13The War Department is committed to the same approach,
28:16opening a wider range of military-to-military communications with the People's Liberation Army,
28:22aimed at deconfliction and de-escalation.
28:24We laid the groundwork for this with our counterparts months ago at ASEAN in Malaysia,
28:29and we'll continue that work.
28:32This line of effort is based on flexible realism, not naivete,
28:38an approach aimed not at domination, but rather at a balance of power,
28:42a balance of power that will enable all of us, all countries,
28:46to enjoy a decent peace in an Indo-Pacific where trade flows openly and fairly,
28:50where we can all prosper and all interests are respected.
28:54That's the world that we seek in the Indo-Pacific,
28:59and that is what our approach is designed to produce.
29:02We will be strong, but not unnecessarily confrontational.
29:08To quote another great Republican president,
29:10we will speak softly and carry a big stick.
29:14As I said at Shangri-La earlier this year,
29:17we're not trying to strangle China's growth,
29:19we're not trying to dominate or humiliate them,
29:21nor are we trying to change the status quo over Taiwan.
29:24Our interests in the Indo-Pacific are significant,
29:29but also scoped and reasonable.
29:33This includes the ability for us, along with allies,
29:36to be postured strongly enough in the Indo-Pacific
29:38to balance China's growing power.
29:41This means ensuring none of our allies are vulnerable
29:44to sustained, successful military aggression.
29:48This is what we mean by deterrence in the Indo-Pacific,
29:51not dominating China, but rather ensuring
29:55they do not have the ability to dominate us or our allies.
30:00It's common sense.
30:01In this vein, our role at the Department of War is essential.
30:06It's our job to make sure Beijing sees
30:08unquestionable U.S. military strength
30:10that, if necessary, can back up our national interests.
30:15Even as we make clear our peaceful intentions,
30:18we insist that, as a Pacific nation ourselves,
30:22China respect our longstanding interests
30:24in the Indo-Pacific.
30:26And not just insist,
30:28but maintain the manifest strength to underwrite it.
30:33This involves respecting the historic military buildup
30:37they are undertaking.
30:39Our department maintains a clear-eyed appreciation
30:42of how rapid, formidable, and holistic
30:45the military buildup has been.
30:47We take these capabilities seriously.
30:50It would be silly and, frankly, disrespectful not to.
30:54This approach requires focus,
30:57prioritization, and clarity of purpose.
31:00That's why we will ensure our military can,
31:03if God forbid necessary,
31:05project sustained capabilities
31:07along the First Island chain
31:08and throughout the Indo-Pacific.
31:09That means being so strong
31:11that aggression is not even considered,
31:13and that peace is preferred and preserved.
31:17This is deterrence by denial.
31:21It is our job to ensure that President Trump
31:23is always able to negotiate from a position of strength
31:27in order to sustain peace in the Indo-Pacific.
31:30This is not a pivot for tomorrow.
31:34It is a reality for today.
31:37And finally, our third line of effort
31:39is increasing burden-sharing with U.S. allies around the world.
31:43Here again, many self-ascribed neo-Reaganites
31:46seem to have lost the plot.
31:48According to them,
31:50only the United States
31:52has the ability to provide for defense and deterrence
31:55in Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific.
31:58According to them,
31:58if the United States doesn't do it, nobody will.
32:02In fact, according to some,
32:04America is actually better off
32:05subsidizing these allies' defenses,
32:07even if they're perfectly capable
32:10of doing more for themselves
32:11and our collective defense.
32:13That is, of course, patently ridiculous,
32:17not to mention insulting to our allies.
32:20It's actually vitally important
32:22for America's allies and partners
32:23to step up and do their part
32:25for our collective defense.
32:27This isn't just a matter of doing right
32:29by Americans who are rightfully frustrated
32:31by years of allied free-riding.
32:34This is pragmatic.
32:36As we rightly prioritize our homeland hemisphere
32:38in the Indo-Pacific,
32:40threats persist in other regions,
32:41and our allies need to step up
32:43and step up for real.
32:47Our allies in Europe face Russia.
32:49Iran has been set back
32:50by the president and Israel's actions,
32:52but remains a threat in the Middle East,
32:55and, of course, North Korea looms
32:56on the Korean Peninsula.
32:59We must also prepare
33:01for the possibility of simultaneous threats
33:03in different regions.
33:05That doesn't mean we think
33:06such simultaneous action is likely
33:08or even necessarily inevitable,
33:10but it's something
33:11the Department of War
33:12must be prepared for.
33:15And the best way to prepare for this
33:16is not by pretending
33:17we can do everything
33:18or be everywhere,
33:20effectively handing a provision slip
33:22for our allies'
33:23laggardly defense efforts.
33:26This neo-Reaganite attitude
33:28led us to fritter away
33:29our soldiers' lives,
33:31our national resources,
33:32and our citizens' support
33:34in rudderless wars.
33:37Our approach is fundamentally different,
33:39and in keeping with the noble tradition
33:41of President Reagan
33:42as well as Nixon and Eisenhower,
33:44we will actually, for real,
33:47get our allies and partners
33:48to step up and do their part.
33:50We will no longer tolerate free-riding.
33:54President Trump has shown the way
33:55with his historic leadership
33:56that yielded the commitments
33:58at NATO's Hague Summit.
33:59There, NATO committed to spend
34:015% of GDP on defense,
34:053.5% on core military,
34:07and 1.5% on security-related investments,
34:10and pledged to take
34:12primary responsibility
34:13for Europe's conventional defense.
34:17Things most folks sitting here
34:19just five years ago
34:20would have thought
34:21completely impossible.
34:22We're now using this template
34:25to press our allies
34:26around the world
34:27to meet this new global standard
34:28the President has set.
34:30And it's working.
34:32First, there was Europe and Canada,
34:34and just last month,
34:35South Korea committed
34:35to spend 3.5% of GDP
34:37on core military spending
34:39and assumed the leading role
34:41in the ROC's conventional defense.
34:43We are optimistic
34:45that under other Indo-Pacific allies
34:48we'll follow suit.
34:50In a few years,
34:52thanks to President Trump's
34:53visionary leadership,
34:55we will have our allies,
34:56which include
34:57some of the wealthiest
34:58and most productive countries
35:00in the world,
35:02once again fielding
35:03combat-credible militaries
35:04and boasting revived
35:06defense industrial industries.
35:07This will form
35:10a powerful,
35:11shared,
35:12defensive shield
35:13with well-armed allies
35:15around the world
35:16ready to defend themselves,
35:18their interests,
35:18and our collective interests.
35:21Real partnerships
35:22and alliances
35:23based on hard power,
35:27not just flags
35:28and fancy conferences
35:29based on theories
35:29and hot rhetoric.
35:31Our allies
35:32are not children.
35:34They're nations
35:35capable of doing
35:36far more for themselves
35:37than they have.
35:38It's time they stand up
35:39and they are.
35:41In fact,
35:41many of them are nations
35:42who have proud
35:43and powerful martial traditions
35:44of their own
35:45and we should treat them that way.
35:47We can and should
35:48and must expect them
35:49to do their part
35:50exactly as President Trump has.
35:54Model allies
35:55that step up
35:56like Israel,
35:57South Korea,
35:58Poland,
35:58increasingly Germany,
35:59the Baltics,
36:00and others
36:00will receive
36:01our special favor.
36:04Allies that do not,
36:05allies that still fail
36:07to do their part
36:08for collective defense
36:09will face consequences.
36:11President Trump,
36:13makes sense to me,
36:15likes helping countries
36:16that help themselves
36:17and we feel the same way.
36:20That's the nature
36:21of partnerships
36:22rather than dependencies.
36:24It's what we owe
36:25our friends
36:26and most importantly
36:28what we owe
36:29the American people.
36:30This is a period
36:34of great consequence
36:35for our great republic.
36:38Our forefathers
36:39fought and won
36:39the Cold War
36:40ushering in
36:41a unipolar moment
36:42during which
36:44America stood alone.
36:46It was a time
36:47of tremendous opportunity
36:48well earned
36:49after a century
36:50marked by
36:50two world wars
36:52and a Cold War
36:52always under
36:54a nuclear shadow.
36:56Well, as you know,
36:57that unipolar moment
36:58is over
36:59and we have
37:00an opportunity
37:00to define
37:01what comes next.
37:04Under President Trump's
37:05leadership,
37:06that's exactly
37:07what we're doing.
37:08The Department of War
37:09at the President's
37:10direction
37:11is laser focused
37:12on advancing
37:14America first,
37:15peace through strength,
37:17common sense
37:18efforts.
37:19We're reviving
37:20the warrior ethos.
37:21We are rebuilding
37:22our great military
37:23and every day
37:25our warriors
37:26are reestablishing
37:27the deterrence
37:28that Joe Biden
37:29so foolishly
37:30gave away.
37:32We owe safety,
37:34freedom,
37:34and prosperity
37:35to the American people
37:36and we will deliver.
37:39We will achieve
37:40peace through strength
37:41which is what
37:41the American people
37:42voted for
37:43and what President Trump
37:45demands.
37:48And in doing this
37:49we appeal to
37:50Almighty God
37:51just as our
37:53forefathers did.
37:54George Washington,
37:56the founder
37:57of the War Department
37:58appealed to
37:59God's providence
38:00during every step
38:02of our improbable
38:03revolution
38:04on prayer,
38:07on bended knee,
38:08on the battlefield.
38:10Ronald Reagan
38:11did the same,
38:12appealing to heaven
38:13as the world
38:15hung in the balance.
38:16We do the same today
38:18with Jesus Christ
38:20as our guide.
38:20May he grant us
38:22the wisdom
38:23to see what is right
38:24and the courage
38:26to do it.
38:29May God bless
38:30our warriors
38:30and may God bless
38:31our great republic.
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