The Pentagon cut off a webcast of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s first town hall with troops and department employees Friday as soon as questions began, and shortly after Hegseth promised to be transparent with service members and the public.
Hegseth delivered about 15 minutes of opening remarks, which touched on issues such as grooming standards, readiness, border security and the administration’s desire to root out diversity, equity and inclusion programs from the military, before opening the floor to questions.
The first person to respond, who identified himself as an official in the Air Force’s strategic deterrence and nuclear integration section, asked whether the administration planned to be more assertive in the “gray zone” — short of actual warfare — to deter China and Russia.
“That’s a good question,” Hegseth said before the feed cut out, leaving only music playing.
A Defense Department spokesperson confirmed to Defense News shortly afterward that the broadcast’s halt was not an accident or technical glitch.
“That was predetermined,” the spokesperson said.
The broadcast ended less than two minutes after Hegseth pledged to be open with service members and the public.
“I appreciate the service so many of you give,” Hegseth said. “I know so many people watching. It’s the honor of a lifetime to come alongside you. No one will work harder. No one’s going to be more — attempt to be more transparent with the American people and with you.”
When asked a follow-up question about why the department stopped broadcasting when questions began, the Pentagon’s press office said, “The [defense secretary’s] opening remarks were televised to allow a larger audience. The Q&A portion was open to in-person participants only.”
It does not appear the Pentagon broadcast any portion of town halls held by Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin.
However, the Pentagon did not indicate in its Friday morning email announcing Hegseth’s town hall that the questioning portion would not be broadcast. The webpage with the town hall feed originally indicated the broadcast was scheduled to run for about an hour and a half.
In his opening remarks, Hegseth said President Donald Trump asked him “to not maintain the status quo,” and said under his leadership, the military is “going to take unconventional approaches.”
“We’re going to move fast, think outside the box, be disruptive on purpose [and] to create a sense of urgency that I want to make sure exists inside this department,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth said one of his top priorities is “restoring the warrior ethos,” before harshly criticizing the Pentagon’s previous focus on improving diversity in the ranks.
“I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is, ‘Our diversity is our strength,’” Hegseth said. “I think our strength is our unity. Our strength is our shared purpose, regardless of our background, regardless of how we grew up, regardless of our gender, regardless of our race. In this department, we will treat everyone equally, we will treat everyone with respect and we will judge you as an individual by your merit and by your commitment to the team and the mission.”
The Trump administration views diversity, equity and inclusion programs — referred to as DEI — as efforts to divide the military instead of uniting it, Hegseth said.
But the Pentagon’s initial efforts to comply with the administration’s DEI orders have been rocky. The Air Force temporarily pulled a basic training class, which contained videos on the Black World War II pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen and pioneering female pilots, as it reviewed the class materials. That class was reinstated a few days later, with videos on the Tuskegee Airmen and Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, intact.
During Friday’s town hall, Hegseth also promised to rebuild the military, the nation’s defense industrial base and the Pentagon’s acquisition process.
Hegseth portrayed himself as someone who has no personal investment or interest in particular defense systems and is “agnostic” on what service members most need to fight and win wars, suggesting that even expensive, major programs could be reconsidered.
“There’s a lot of programs around here that we’ve spent a lot of money on, that when you actually war game it, don’t have the impact you want it to,” Hegseth said. “I’m here to take a lot of arrows, and I’m prepared to do so.”
Hegseth pledged to ensure the Pentagon could pass a clean audit by the end of the Trump administration — something it has failed to do since implementing annual audits in 2018.
“The American taxpayers deserve that,” Hegseth said. “They deserve to know where their $850 billion dollars go, how it’s spent, and make sure it’s spent wisely. … Every dollar of waste we find, or redundancy, is a dollar we can invest somewhere else.”
Hegseth also said the U.S. military will focus on reestablishing deterrence to dissuade potential adversaries from acting. He pointed to the disastrous 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israeli civilians as events that created a “perception of American weakness.”
“We’re going to have accountability for … what occurred in Afghanistan, for what happened on October 7, the war that was unleashed in Ukraine,” Hegseth said. “Chaos happens when the perception of American strength is not complete, and so we aim to re-establish that deterrence.”
That includes securing the United States’ southern border with Mexico against crossings from people entering the country illegally, he said, and referred to such crossings as “an invasion of our own.”
“I’m sure many [people entering the country illegally] want to seek a better life,” Hegseth said. “I understand that. But we also don’t know who millions of them are, what their intentions are, why they’re here. That creates a very real national security threat to the country.”
Hegseth also said the Trump administration’s “America First” strategy includes pushing allies such as NATO nations to contribute more to their own national defense and serving as “combat multipliers” to enhance U.S. military capabilities.
Hegseth also said the military will renew its focus on “basic stuff” like sharpening troops’ grooming, uniform, training and fitness standards.
When the military doesn’t enforce seemingly small matters such as grooming standards, Hegseth said, it sends the message that those standards don’t matter and opens the door to bigger lapses.
Hegseth compared it to the “broken windows” theory of policing, which argues that ignoring petty crimes like vandalism sends a message that more serious crimes will not be enforced.
“I’m not saying if you violate grooming standards, you’re a criminal,” Hegseth said. “The analogy is incomplete. But if you violate the small stuff and you allow it to happen, it creates a culture where the big stuff, you’re not held accountable for.”
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
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