Trump and Hegseth declare end of 'politically correct' leadership in US military

US President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared on Tuesday an end to "woke" culture in the military before hundreds of the country's top military officials summoned to Virginia from around the world at the last minute.

Hegseth announced new directives for troops that include "gender-neutral" or "male-level" standards for physical fitness, while Trump bragged about US nuclear capabilities and criticised the military leaders' previous commander-in-chief Joe Biden.

"We must be so strong that no nation will dare challenge us, so powerful that no enemy will dare threaten us," Trump said. "And so capable that no adversary can even think about beating us."

Hegseth's address at the US Marine Corps base in Quantico near Washington focused mainly on his own long-standing talking points, which painted a picture of a military hamstrung by "woke" policies.

He said military leaders should "do the honourable thing and resign" if they do not like his new approach.

US admirals and generals from conflict zones in the Middle East and elsewhere were summoned for a lecture on race and gender in the military.

The event highlighted how the country's culture wars have emerged as a leading agenda item for Hegseth's Pentagon, even amid broad global national security concerns.

Hegseth's speech came as the country faces a potential government shutdown this week and as the defence secretary, who has hammered home a focus on lethality, has taken several unusual and unexplained actions, including ordering cuts to the number of general officers and firings of other top military leaders.

Loosening of rules and protections

During his nearly hour-long speech, Hegseth said the US military has promoted too many leaders for the wrong reasons based on race, gender quotas and "historic firsts".

"The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone's-feelings leadership ends right now at every level," Hegseth said.

He said he is loosening disciplinary rules and weakening hazing protections, putting a heavy focus on removing many of the mechanisms the military had put in place after numerous scandals and investigations.

Hegseth said he was ordering a review of "the department’s definitions of so-called toxic leadership, bullying and hazing to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second-guessing."

He called for "changes to the retention of adverse information on personnel records that will allow leaders with forgivable, earnest, or minor infractions to not be encumbered by those infractions in perpetuity".

"People make honest mistakes, and our mistakes should not define an entire career," Hegseth said. "Otherwise, we only try not to make mistakes."

Bullying and toxic leadership have been the suspected and confirmed cause behind numerous military suicides over the past several years. Among those was the suicide of Brandon Caserta, a young sailor who was bullied into killing himself in 2018.

A Navy investigation found that Caserta's supervisor's "noted belligerence, vulgarity and brash leadership was likely a significant contributing factor in (the sailor)'s decision to end his own life".

'The warrior ethos'

Hegseth also slammed physical fitness and grooming standards, environmental policies and transgender troops while talking up his and Trump's focus on "the warrior ethos" and "peace through strength".

Hegseth said the department has been told from previous administrations that "our diversity is our strength," which he called an "insane fallacy".

"They had to put out dizzying DEI and LGBTQ+ statements. They were told females and males are the same thing, or that males who think they’re females is totally normal," he said, adding the use of electric tanks and the COVID vaccine requirements to the list as mistaken policies.

Hegseth said this is not about preventing women from serving.

"But when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral," he said.

"If women can make it, excellent, if not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it. That is not the intent, but it could be the result."