BREAKING NEWS: Secretary of Defense Hegseth Announces Major Reforms To DoD Promotion System

On Sunday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced reforms to the promotion system at the Pentagon.

Transcript

00:00President Trump was sworn in six months ago, and under his leadership, the Department of Defense

00:04began moving on three main initiatives. We've talked about them, restoring the warrior ethos,

00:08rebuilding the military, and reestablishing deterrence. The results so far, distractions

00:13like DEI, CRT, social justice, politically correct stuff, gone. Focus on standards that are high,

00:20gender neutral, equal, and unwavering. We've got unprecedented recruitment numbers and bad actors

00:25like Iran and the Houthis understand that when President Trump talks, he means what he says.

00:29That's just a small part of the list. Our reforms have only just begun. America's sons and daughters

00:34who serve in our military deserve the best leaders commanding them, which is why we need to reform

00:40the promotion system at DOD, how we get those leaders. We're proud that Brigadier General Anthony

00:47Tata has just been confirmed as our Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. His

00:53predecessor, Jay Hurst, signed a memo tasking the services to support reforms that I've asked my

00:59friend, Stu Scheller, you know him, to recommend changes by looking at the entirety of the selection

01:04and retention process for our military's officer corps. And that includes training and professional

01:10military education, officer valuations, promotions, and command selections. And Stu, thanks for doing

01:17this for us, man. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. How we reform the force and identify talent, I think,

01:23is one of the most important things we can do, sir. So I believe this initiative is something that is

01:29going to lead us to victory in the next war. And to you, sir, I appreciate the honor of serving in

01:34your administration, but I'm not going to rest. I'm not going to stay quiet. And I'm going to keep

01:39fighting until we get this right, because people, ideas, things in that order. People are our most

01:44important asset. So having the ability to go after and identify talent and bring them to the top,

01:48there's nothing more important that we can do. No doubt. You had the courage to speak up when no

01:52one else would. And we need to have officers who understand where their compass is. They're not

01:58risk averse. They're not playing the game. They're not simply checking the box to get to the next

02:02level, which creates all the wrong incentives. We're reviewing the whole thing because we're here

02:06to make institutional change that brings warfighters to the top. And this is a historic opportunity

02:12under President Trump, who gives us the shield to do these kinds of things in the department

02:16so that we preserve it for generations to come. Because both Stu and I think about the possibility

02:21of our kids serving one day. And we want to ensure that we have the best of the best leading

02:27them. We have to get this right. And with Stu leading it, we're going to get it done. We will.