Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Highlights Trump’s ‘Peace Through Strength’ Strategy During Talk In Singapore

Forbes Breaking News

During Friday’s dialogue in Singapore, Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth discussed Trump's peace through strength foreign policy strategy.

Transcript

00:00The President of the United States has traveled to the region in March, and it's great that

00:12he is back for the Shakira Dialogue to speak about U.S. efficiency and priorities.

00:17For the Pacific, Mr. Secretary, we're truly honored to have you here at the 22nd ISS Shakira

00:23Dialogue.

00:24The podium is yours.

00:30Well, good morning.

00:35It's great to be in Singapore.

00:38Thank you very much for the warm welcome.

00:41We're going to talk to other defense leaders from across the Indo-Pacific and the world.

00:48And I want to thank IISS for hosting us this morning.

00:52As was mentioned, I'm certainly proud to be back in the Indo-Pacific and Secretary of Defense.

00:59And I'm going to keep coming back and back and back again.

01:04You're stuck with me.

01:06But it's not just me.

01:08Americans have been since the earliest days of our republic.

01:19We will continue to be in Indo-Pacific for generations to come.

01:27And under President Trump's leadership, the United States is committed to achieving peace

01:31through strength.

01:32That starts with Detroit aggression around the world and here in the Indo-Pacific, here in

01:41our priority theater, here with you and our partners.

01:46The United States stands ready to work with any country that is willing to step up and preserve

01:53the global and regional peace that we want.

01:56We want to talk about our shared purpose, our shared commitment to peace, our shared dedication

02:05with free and open Indo-Pacific.

02:08So this morning, I'd like to share a question for the Indo-Pacific.

02:14You see, my job is to create and maintain decision space for President Trump.

02:20Not to purport to make decisions on his behalf.

02:27Great military leaders from the United States military that our chairman of the United States

02:34is McCain.

02:37Understand how to take a global look, globally integrate American interests and American power

02:42regionally and internationally.

02:45And of course, we're joined by our Indo-Pacific commander, Admiral Sam Papar, of America's

02:50Biden general in Pacific.

02:52It is our job, the three of us and the entire Defense Department, to keep our military strong

03:00and create options.

03:02President Trump was elected to apply America first on the world stage.

03:07You know, getting a chance to watch him firsthand in the Oval Office and around the world, the

03:11world is incredibly fortunate to have an American president with the combination of being a peace seeker

03:19and a strong leader.

03:21President Trump has the unique ability to make possible things that seem impossible.

03:28Moving the Overton window.

03:30He's the ultimate deal maker.

03:34President Trump gave me a peace through strength.

03:41To accomplish this mission, our overriding objectives have been equally clear.

03:47Rebuild our military and reestablish the terms.

03:52And it starts with a warrior ethos.

03:55All of us in this profession of arms understand that humans are far more important than hardware.

04:02So we're focused on lethality, veritocracy, accountability, standards, readiness, and warfighting.

04:10We respect human nature, hard training, and the lessons of history.

04:17Our combat formations will be trained and skilled.

04:21Our standards will be high and unwavering.

04:23If you can do the job, you'll be in our formation.

04:25If you can't, you are not.

04:27Color-blind, gender-neutral, merit-based.

04:32It's as simple as that.

04:34That is destroying the warrior ethos and our troops in America are responding to it.

04:39Morale, recruiting, retention, readiness, training capabilities.

04:43All rapidly increasing thanks to President Trump's back-to-basics approach.

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