Oct 2, 2026 · 26 min · 14 segments
The Defense Secretary's speech to the troops includes a welcome focus on drone warfare, but he also picks cultural fights that drown out his larger message. Plus, Donald Trump gathers tech leaders to…
Kyle PetersonHostNow, for almost two years, you've heard me talk over and over and over.
about three core priorities, reviving the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military, and reestablishing deterrence.
And I'm proud to stand on this stage and report that the warrior ethos has been revived.
Our military is being rebuilt, and American deterrence is back.
Kate, how do you grade those priorities from Pete Hegseth and the Trump administration's management of the Pentagon, particularly on rebuilding the military? I thought President Trump says he already did that in the first term.
Well, look, I think Hegseth there outlined good guiding priorities.
I think as we go through his speech, we can grade them sort of individually.
But start with something that he announced on Wednesday, which was he wants to establish a new four-star command for autonomous weapons and drones.
This is an example of a good substantive priority for the Pentagon.
Hegseth was also really exactly right when he said that what we've learned in Ukraine is not that we need this kind of drone or that kind of drone, but we need to be able to adapt on the battlefield.
the life cycle of a drone, you know, it's a couple weeks before the Russians have developed a countermeasure, Ukrainians have to adapt.
And so the question for the U.S. military isn't really, you know, what do we purchase now? It's how do we create this environment where we have our, you know, software and engineering minds really in the front and able to help adapt on the battlefield.
They want to set up this four-star command and have it be inoperative by October of 2027, which is fast in the world of military affairs.
The Senate included a similar concept in its defense authorization this year.
What about the warrior ethos, something that Pete Hegseth has talked a lot about? It's true that news stories seem to suggest a rebound in enlistment in the services.
And I think the Trump administration did have a mandate to restore the military to a meritocracy and to protect that.
That's a very popular concept with the public who wants to think that officers are getting promoted based on their merits and not their race, sex or other features of their identity.
Now, at the same time, I think there is some loss of confidence among the public in this particular project.
I think Hegseth's firing of various general officers, sometimes justified, sometimes not explained, has left the public wondering why.
Now, for almost two years, you've heard me talk over and over and over.
about three core priorities, reviving the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military, and reestablishing deterrence.
And I'm proud to stand on this stage and report that the warrior ethos has been revived.
Our military is being rebuilt, and American deterrence is back.
Kate, how do you grade those priorities from Pete Hegseth and the Trump administration's management of the Pentagon, particularly on rebuilding the military? I thought President Trump says he already did that in the first term.
Well, look, I think Hegseth there outlined good guiding priorities.
I think as we go through his speech, we can grade them sort of individually.
But start with something that he announced on Wednesday, which was he wants to establish a new four-star command for autonomous weapons and drones.
This is an example of a good substantive priority for the Pentagon.
Hegseth was also really exactly right when he said that what we've learned in Ukraine is not that we need this kind of drone or that kind of drone, but we need to be able to adapt on the battlefield.
the life cycle of a drone, you know, it's a couple weeks before the Russians have developed a countermeasure, Ukrainians have to adapt.
And so the question for the U.S. military isn't really, you know, what do we purchase now? It's how do we create this environment where we have our, you know, software and engineering minds really in the front and able to help adapt on the battlefield.
They want to set up this four-star command and have it be inoperative by October of 2027, which is fast in the world of military affairs.
The Senate included a similar concept in its defense authorization this year.
What about the warrior ethos, something that Pete Hegseth has talked a lot about? It's true that news stories seem to suggest a rebound in enlistment in the services.
And I think the Trump administration did have a mandate to restore the military to a meritocracy and to protect that.
That's a very popular concept with the public who wants to think that officers are getting promoted based on their merits and not their race, sex or other features of their identity.
Now, at the same time, I think there is some loss of confidence among the public in this particular project.
I think Hegseth's firing of various general officers, sometimes justified, sometimes not explained, has left the public wondering why.
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