Pete Hegseth

Recipient of four-state governors' demand for classified briefing

On December 22, 2025, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum paused all major offshore wind construction on the East Coast: Vineyard Wind, Revolution Wind, Sunrise Wind, Empire Wind, and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind. These five projects, representing $28 billion in investment and enough power for millions of homes, halted on orders from Washington citing radar interference and national security risks near military installations.

Updated 32 minutes ago

Directed Department of War to prepare action in Nigeria

On Christmas night 2025, American warplanes struck ISIS-linked camps in northwest Nigeria, killing militants in the first direct U.S. combat action there. President Tinubu approved the operation after months of Trump pressure, targeting Lakurawa/ISSP elements in Sokoto State, but Jabo residents reported civilian panic from a missile hitting farmland. By mid-February 2026, U.S. Africa Command deployed around 200 military personnel, with the initial 100 troops arriving February 17 at Bauchi Airfield to train and support Nigerian counterterrorism forces.

Updated 33 minutes ago

Authorized federalization of Illinois and Texas National Guard units

The Supreme Court told President Trump he can't send National Guard troops to Illinois. The 6-3 decision on December 23 marks the first time the modern court has blocked a president from federalizing state Guard units over a governor's objections. Trump claimed protests at an ICE facility in suburban Chicago constituted a rebellion, and the court wasn't buying it.

Updated 1 hour ago

Ordered Operation Hawkeye Strike in retaliation for Palmyra attack

A lone ISIS gunman killed two Iowa National Guardsmen and a civilian interpreter in Palmyra, Syria, on December 13, 2025—the first American combat deaths since Bashar al-Assad fled the country a year earlier. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded with Operation Hawkeye Strike.

Updated 1 hour ago

Co-announced Golden Fleet initiative

Trump just announced the United States will build battleships again. The USS Defiant (BBG-1)—lead ship of the Trump-class—will be the largest American surface combatant since World War II at 35,000 tons, armed with nuclear cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons, rail guns, and lasers. Construction starts in 2030, and the Navy wants 20 to 25 ships at over $10 billion each.

Updated 14 hours ago

Leading Operation Hawkeye Strike

On December 13, 2025, a Syrian security officer allegedly affiliated with ISIS opened fire on US troops near Palmyra, killing two Iowa National Guard members (Staff Sgts. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar and William Nathaniel Howard) and interpreter Ayad Mansoor Sakat. The US responded six days later with Operation Hawkeye Strike: 100 precision munitions against 70 ISIS targets in central Syria via fighter jets, attack helicopters, and artillery, plus Jordanian F-16s, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called 'a declaration of vengeance.'

Updated 14 hours ago

Public face of the retaliation message; frames strikes as vengeance, not escalation.

In the first post-strike readout of

Updated Yesterday

Named defendant through the Defense Department in the D.C. lawsuit

The troops were supposed to start leaving Washington. Instead, the D.C. Circuit hit pause and let President Trump's National Guard deployment keep rolling while judges decide who really holds the keys to security in the nation's capital.

Updated Yesterday

Linked to command-and-control tightening as SOUTHCOM leadership turned over amid reported dissatisfaction with responsiveness during the Venezuela-linked escalation.

Trump's Venezuela "blockade" threat is now backed by policy. Washington has added new Venezuela-linked sanctions and also targeted Iran's shadow-fleet network. Together, these expand the pool of already-sanctioned vessels that the U.S. Navy could board if they try to trade with Venezuela.

Updated Yesterday

Briefed all members of Congress and reaffirmed the Pentagon will not publicly release the full, unedited Sept. 2 strike video; now facing NDAA-driven compliance pressure to provide footage and authorizing orders to armed-services committees

What began as a made-for-video "counterdrug" campaign is now a full-blown oversight fight. The U.S. military has publicly acknowledged additional lethal actions that pushed reported deaths past 100 across roughly 28 known strikes since Sept. 2.

Updated Yesterday

Implementing and defending military-led border enforcement

Donald Trump has quietly turned long stretches of the southern border into de facto military bases. Under a new system of National Defense Areas, soldiers can stop migrants, hold them, and help prosecutors charge them as trespassers on military land.

Updated 5 days ago

Refuses to release boat‑strike video publicly despite bipartisan pressure; faces potential travel‑budget restrictions under new NDAA.

President Trump signed a nearly $901 billion defense bill into law on December 18, 2025, cementing the 65th consecutive year Congress has passed a National Defense Authorization Act. It delivers troops a 3.8% pay raise and locks in $800 million for Ukraine weapons over two years.

Updated 6 days ago

Facing heightened congressional oversight tied to NDAA conditions; said the Pentagon would not publicly release a top-secret unedited strike video while continuing briefings to lawmakers.

Congress passed the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act in December 2025, authorizing a record $901 billion in national security spending. The House approved the final compromise 312–112 on December 10, and Trump signed it December 18 without an Oval Office ceremony.

Updated 6 days ago

Overseeing U.S. military contingency planning for possible action in Nigeria

Since March 2025, jihadist attacks, mass kidnappings, and farmer-herder violence have swept across northern and central Nigeria. A February 4, 2026, jihadist massacre in Kwara State alone killed over 160 people. Major incidents include a US-Nigeria airstrike on December 25, 2025, targeting Islamic State militants; Boko Haram and ISWAP attacks killing dozens of soldiers in January 2026; and partial rescues amid ongoing banditry.

Updated 6 days ago

Chief executor and defender of militarized hemispheric and anti‑cartel operations

On December 5, 2025, the Trump administration released a 33-page National Security Strategy declaring a Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. The document formally revives the 19th-century idea of the Western Hemisphere as a U.S. sphere of influence and promises to reassert American preeminence across the Americas.

Updated 6 days ago

Public face of the US escort operation

An Iranian drone slipped through UAE air defenses on Monday and ignited a fire at the Fujairah Petroleum Industries Zone, the bunkering hub through which much of the Gulf's refined fuel passes. Three foreign workers were injured, an Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) refinery shut down, and the country's Ministry of Education sent every school and university to remote learning through Friday. On Tuesday the air defenses fired again as a second wave of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones came in.

Updated May 5

Approved Army-Navy laser consolidation

The U.S. military spent four decades chasing a laser that could shoot down a cruise missile. On April 28, 2026, the Pentagon detailed its latest attempt: the Joint Laser Weapon System, a containerized 150-kilowatt beam—scalable toward 500 kilowatts—that the Army and Navy will share, mounting it on trucks, ships, or anywhere a 20-foot container can sit.

Updated Apr 30

Six articles of impeachment introduced by House Democrats (~April 15); warned Iran 'locked and loaded' on energy strikes April 16; IRGC 'digging out missile launchers' acknowledgment contradicts prior 'functionally destroyed' claim

President Trump on April 19 threatened to destroy Iran's bridges and power plants — warning the 'whole country is going to get blown up' if Tehran fails to sign a deal — while simultaneously confirming a US delegation was heading to Islamabad for a second round of negotiations before the April 21 ceasefire expiry. Trump also disclosed he had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping not to supply weapons to Iran. The escalating rhetoric came as Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) formally closed the Strait of Hormuz again on April 18–19, citing the continued US naval blockade of Iranian ports, less than 48 hours after Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had declared the waterway 'completely open.' The IRGC fired on at least two India-flagged vessels — the Sanmar Herald and Jag Arnav — whose crews cited the Foreign Ministry's clearance only to be ordered away under fire. India summoned Iran's ambassador in protest. The US blockade has now turned back 23 ships and is estimated to be costing Iran roughly $435 million per day.

Updated Apr 19

Refusing to reaffirm US commitment to NATO collective defense

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) survived its most serious existential threat in decades after NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte's personal diplomacy with President Trump at the White House on April 8, 2026, yielded a conditional agreement to keep the US in the alliance. Trump, who had called NATO a 'paper tiger' and said withdrawal was 'beyond reconsideration' just one week earlier, agreed to remain a member after Rutte extracted commitments from allied nations to accelerate defense spending timelines and pledge military support for future US operations. The breakthrough came one day after a US-Iran ceasefire brokered by Pakistan, which had triggered the alliance crisis when several NATO members refused to provide airspace and base access for American strikes on Iranian targets.

Updated Apr 9

Confirmed heaviest strikes of war on April 7; B-1B bombers deployed to Europe for Iran campaign

Operation Epic Fury, launched jointly by the United States and Israel on February 28, 2026, reached day 39 with the heaviest strikes yet on Iran, confirming over 9,000 targets hit, more than 130 naval vessels destroyed, and at least 55 senior regime leaders killed—including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on March 1, IRGC Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri on March 26, and on April 6, IRGC intelligence chief Majid Khademi and Quds Force Unit 840 head Yazdan Mir in US-Israeli airstrikes on Tehran. Key escalations include Iran's March 18 missile strikes on Israel and Gulf states, Qatar's expulsion of Iranian attachés after the March 19 Ras Laffan attack, the Israeli airstrike killing IRGC spokesman General Ali Mohammad Naeini on March 20, CENTCOM's March 21 update confirming 8,000 targets hit and air superiority, Iran's March 24 missile barrages on Tel Aviv, March 27 Israeli strikes on Iran's central naval arms production site and multiple ballistic missile factories in the Tehran area, Iran's April 2 launch of four missile salvos at Israel including cluster warheads, April 3's downing of a US F-15E Strike Eagle—the first American combat aircraft lost—and April 5's successful rescue of both crew members by US special operations forces after a two-day evasion and extraction operation.

Updated Apr 7

Leading Pentagon briefings on Iran campaign

Iran's nuclear infrastructure has become the primary target of an intensifying US-Israeli air campaign that began February 28 and has now entered its sixth week. The Natanz uranium enrichment complex has been struck four times; on April 4, 2026, US and Israeli forces expanded the campaign to strike the Bushehr nuclear power plant and the Mahshahr petrochemical hub in southwestern Iran, killing at least one security guard and wounding five workers. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned that strikes on civilian nuclear power plants cross 'the reddest line' of nuclear safety, raising the risk of a radiological catastrophe. Meanwhile, Iran has demonstrated growing military capability: on April 4, Iranian air defenses downed two US warplanes, marking the first confirmed loss of American aircraft in the conflict.

Updated Apr 4

Overseeing US military operations in the Iran war

For the fourth time since late February, a ballistic missile fired from Iran crossed into Turkish airspace before NATO defenses destroyed it. The March 31 interception over eastern Turkey followed previous shootdowns on March 4, 9, and 13 — a pattern spanning one month that has turned a NATO ally's skies into an unwanted proving ground for the alliance's missile shield. Turkey summoned Iran's ambassador again and hardened its rhetoric, stating 'all necessary measures are being taken decisively' against threats to its territory.

Updated Mar 31

Leading US military response under Operation Epic Fury

A missile struck the helipad inside the United States Embassy compound in Baghdad on March 14, destroying part of the Counter-Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar (C-RAM) air defense system, its radar, and satellite communications—leaving the largest US embassy in the world more vulnerable amid hundreds of attacks by Iran-aligned militias since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began February 28. No full evacuation has occurred despite the vulnerability, with militia operations continuing at high tempo.

Updated Mar 29

Overseeing military operations; dismissed Article 5 speculation

For 23 days since February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel have conducted bombing campaigns against Iran under Operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion, prompting Iranian retaliation against US bases and strikes on NATO-linked sites including French bases in Abu Dhabi, RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, and a missile over Turkey. France authorized US support aircraft at Istres air base on March 5 with strict limits, but on March 16 European NATO allies rejected President Trump's demands for military assistance to reopen the Iranian-blocked Strait of Hormuz, prompting Trump to blast the alliance as making a 'very foolish mistake' and declare the US needs no one's help.

Updated Mar 22

Oversees operations with $200B funding request; vows force increases

The War Powers Resolution has been on the books for 53 years, designed to prevent a president waging a major war without Congress voting to authorize it. On March 5, with American troops engaged in combat against Iran and at least six service members dead, the Senate voted 47-53 to reject a resolution requiring presidential approval from Congress before continuing military operations, followed hours later by the House rejecting its parallel measure H. Con. Res. 38.

Updated Mar 19

Directed unprecedented supply chain risk designation against U.S. AI firm

Anthropic's Claude became the first commercial AI model deployed on classified U.S. military networks in late 2024. Over sixteen months later, the Department of Defense formally designated Anthropic a "supply chain risk"—a label historically reserved for foreign adversaries—after the company refused to permit Claude's use for mass surveillance of Americans or fully autonomous weapons. The unprecedented action followed failed negotiations and President Trump's directive to cease federal use of Anthropic tech, forcing contractors to cut ties.

Updated Mar 10

Overseeing military operations and coalition structure

The United States has not built a new military coalition in the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War. On March 7, President Trump gathered leaders from 12 Latin American nations at his Doral resort in Miami to launch the 'Shield of the Americas,' a framework for coordinated military and intelligence operations against drug cartels, and announced the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition, a pledge from 17 countries to use lethal military force against transnational criminal organizations.

Updated Mar 7

Leading Pentagon briefings on Operation Epic Fury

For four decades, the United States and Iran avoided direct, large-scale war. That changed on February 28, 2026, when the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, military infrastructure, and leadership compounds, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The assault followed collapsed indirect nuclear talks mediated by Oman. Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks on US bases in the Gulf, oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and the US Embassy in Riyadh.

Updated Mar 4

Overseeing Pentagon AI procurement and Anthropic phaseout

For decades, the United States military chose its weapons contractors and the contractors complied. Artificial intelligence changed that equation. On March 3, OpenAI and the Department of Defense amended a freshly signed AI contract to explicitly ban the use of the technology for domestic surveillance of American citizens—a concession the Pentagon had refused to grant Anthropic just days earlier, triggering that company's blacklisting from all federal agencies.

Updated Mar 3

Overseeing Operation Epic Fury

The last time the United States sank Iranian warships was April 18, 1988. Thirty-eight years later, American forces destroyed nine Iranian naval vessels in a single day and demolished the country's naval headquarters at Chabahar, on the Gulf of Oman. The strikes came after Iran attempted to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, the 21-mile-wide passage through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply flows, broadcasting radio warnings that no commercial ship would be allowed to pass.

Updated Mar 1

Named to lead the file identification effort

For nearly eight decades, the United States government has investigated reports of unidentified objects in its airspace while keeping most of its findings classified. On February 19, 2026, President Donald Trump directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other federal agency heads to begin identifying and releasing government files related to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and extraterrestrial life — the broadest presidential directive on UFO transparency ever issued.

Updated Feb 20

Overseeing acquisition system transformation

For three decades, the Pentagon told defense contractors to consolidate. Now it's paying $1 billion to help one spin off—and the strategy is cascading across the entire defense industrial base. The Defense Department announced in January 2026 it will take an equity stake in L3Harris's solid rocket motor business, which will become a separate publicly traded company in the second half of 2026. It's the first time the Pentagon has directly invested in a defense supplier rather than simply buying its products. By early February, the model had already proven its power: Congress passed an $838.7 billion FY2026 defense budget with $2.9 billion earmarked specifically for munitions and industrial capacity expansion, and Raytheon announced five landmark framework agreements to triple Tomahawk production and double AMRAAM output over seven years.

Updated Feb 5

Leading Pentagon drone transformation

The Pentagon spent $398 million on small drones in 2022. Four years later, as Ukraine demonstrated that $400 drones could destroy $10 million tanks, Congress authorized $1.7 billion—a fourfold increase. Now the Department of Defense has launched its most ambitious small-drone initiative ever: a $1.1 billion program to field more than 300,000 one-way attack drones by 2028, with the first 30,000 expected by mid-2026.

Updated Feb 4

Overseeing force expansion and technology initiatives; facing legal challenges over treatment of retired officers

On January 1, 2026, every U.S. service member got a 3.8% pay raise—bringing an E-1's monthly check to $2,407. It's the third consecutive above-inflation increase Congress has delivered, part of a scramble to fix a system where junior troops qualified for food stamps and all branches except the Marines missed recruitment targets in 2023. The Army hit just 77% of its goal that year. Then Congress opened the spigot: 4.6% in 2023, 5.2% in 2024, and a historic 14.5% for junior enlisted in 2025. The strategy worked: fiscal 2025 delivered the strongest recruiting performance in 15 years, with all branches averaging 103% of goals and fiscal 2026 starting equally strong.

Updated Jan 30

Implementing Trump's defense buildup and contractor restrictions

Trump wants to spend $1.5 trillion on defense in 2027—a jaw-dropping 66% jump from this year's $901 billion. One day he banned defense contractors from stock buybacks until they deliver weapons on time. The next day he promised them a gold rush. Defense stocks whipsawed, then surged: Northrop up 8.3%, Lockheed 7.9%.

Updated Jan 13

Confirmed 51-50 on January 24, 2025 (VP Vance broke tie)

Trump's second-term cabinet confirmations became the most contentious in modern history. The Senate confirmed all 22 nominees requiring confirmation, but only after unprecedented battles: Vice President Vance broke a 50-50 tie to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Matt Gaetz withdrew as attorney general pick after sex trafficking allegations surfaced, and most nominees faced near party-line votes after zero received voice votes or unanimous consent.

Updated Jan 7

Under congressional investigation for alleged 'kill all' order on September 2 strike

The CIA just struck Venezuelan soil. On December 30, President Trump confirmed the first known U.S. land attack inside Venezuela—a drone strike on a coastal dock allegedly used by the Tren de Aragua gang to load drug boats. No one was there when the missiles hit. Meanwhile, in the Pacific that same day, a U.S. strike on another boat killed two more people, bringing total deaths to at least 107 since September.

Updated Dec 30, 2025