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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said he and President Donald Trump want to “bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense.”
“He, like me, wants the Pentagon laser focused on warfighting, meritocracy, standards and readiness,” he said during his confirmation hearing earlier this month, later adding that “[u]For the present administration, politics should have no part in military affairs.
Higgsett was confirmed by the Senate on Friday evening, but only with Vice President J.D. Vance needed to cast the deciding vote by the narrowest of margins, a 51-50 margin.
It is not unusual for military leadership to change priorities and execute the mission set before it by the commander in chief. But so far at the Pentagon, the new administration is prioritizing one of Trump’s key promises — to send troops and military aircraft to the U.S. border with Mexico, despite the high number of illegal crossings there in recent months and years. Immigration has been eliminated by moving to the border.
Trump’s campaign has also focused on the culture wars, with the elimination of directives and efforts on diversity, equity and inclusion, and a major symbolic move in retaliation against General Mark Milley. . Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whom he has since accused of acts of “treason”. Within hours of Trump’s inauguration, Millie’s portrait was removed from a shared staff hallway lined with portraits of her predecessor.
But the immediate priority is clearly made clear. The Defense Department has been scrambling to get supplies and troops to the border for the entire week after Trump declared a national emergency there. “Far from combat,” however, the first 1,500 active duty troops deployed to the border “support better detection and surveillance efforts and the repair and replacement of physical barriers,” the U.S. Northern Command said in a statement. will.”
A defense official said Trump’s team seemed more willing to implement his agenda at breakneck speed this time around, and the border deployment was a prime example. Administration officials seem to have largely learned their lessons from Trump’s first term, and while there were still some hiatus due to bureaucracy and processes within the Pentagon, they have largely learned from his second and third terms. They have thought extensively to help move thought through order effects. Faster than before, a defense official said.
According to CNN, thousands of additional active-duty troops are expected to be deployed in the coming weeks and months, building on the initial tranche of 1,500 soldiers and Marines who arrived this week. A US military official said on Wednesday that the department will have to make decisions about where to draw from them domestically and globally.
A second wave of troops is already being planned. Soldiers from the storied 82nd Airborne Division, which trains to respond quickly to global threats if needed, and the 10th Mountain Division are planning to potentially deploy to the border. The 82nd Air Force is usually reserved for crises around the world.
In addition to ground forces, four U.S. military aircraft—two C-17s and two C-130s—are expected to be used for the evacuation flights. White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt posted on X on Friday that flights had already begun, sharing photos of people in handcuffs aboard US military aircraft.
A shift in preferences toward more political messaging is increasing even the average military unit’s social media activity.
On Wednesday, an internal email from the head of Pentagon social media directed the military to block all social media posts “except for border posts.” The directive was quickly walked back by the Pentagon’s public affairs office, which told teams to continue posting as normal until further official guidance is issued.
The additional guidance came Friday afternoon, issuing a 10-day moratorium on nearly all social media postings for official Defense Department accounts, unless it relates to the border, on Friday, Joe Kasper said. According to a memo signed by the Chief of Staff of the Secretary of Defense.
“This suspension does not apply to social media communications related to DOD’s current operations defending our southern border — in fact, that is the department’s top priority,” Casper said in the memo.
The pause goes into effect Saturday and does not include posts regarding “normal installation base operations and activities,” which include DOD school activities and recruiting letters. But that policy prompted the Trump administration to put the Pentagon on the border. US military units around the world post on social media with operational updates, or highlight personnel in the ranks. US Central Command, for example, regularly uses social media as a platform for press releases about missions against ISIS in the Middle East, the Iranian-backed Houthis and their shipping in the Red Sea. Updates on the attacks, and meetings between US military leaders. and partners in the region.
More social media guidance is expected to be issued “early next month,” Casper said Friday.
On the policy front, the Trump administration has wasted no time in ordering the shutdown and freeze of DEI-related activities and offices.
A memo signed by the acting secretary of the Army on Wednesday, citing a directive from the Office of Personnel Management, ordered the Department of the Army to downplay all media appearances on diversity, equity, inclusion and access. Take (DEIA) Offices by 5 PM on Thursday”. The memo also ordered the immediate cancellation of any “DIA-related training.
Asked about any policy changes, a Defense Department official said the Pentagon would “implement and implement all directives set forth in executive orders issued by the president, ensuring That they will be carried out with the utmost professionalism, efficiency and alignment with national security objectives.”
