Hegseth vows to rebuild military deterrence so enemies ‘don’t want to f— with us’

COLUMBUS, Ga. — During a trip to Fort Benning on Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the department is working on re-establishing deterrence, “so that when the enemy sees an American, they don’t want to f— with us.”

The comments came after Hegseth spoke at an Officer Candidate School (OCS) graduation ceremony, where candidates were commissioned as second lieutenants in the Army or ensigns in the Navy.

Following the ceremony, he made remarks at the Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course luncheon — sharing stories about his children wanting Army Ranger shirts, and noting the proudest moment of his life would be saluting them if they earned it.

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Hegseth also touched on military priorities under the Trump administration, noting the Department of Defense’s focus is rebuilding the military to ensure it has the best possible equipment from the warfighter perspective, across all services. 

“And then reestablishing deterrence, so that when the enemy sees an American, they don’t want to f— with us,” Hegseth said. “Because they know they’ll get the business end of the best warrior on the planet. We’re reestablishing that. Whether it’s midnight hammer, or freedom of navigation, or narco-traffickers that are poisoning the American people.”

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He said the world knows that when President Donald Trump speaks, he means business, adding that the graduates are the faces of that deterrence. 

“It’s you that we remember, and we think of, when we make decisions,” Hegseth said. “It’s the job of policymakers and leaders in our positions to look down and say, ‘We’ve asked you to do tough things, we’re going to have your back when you do it.’ We’re going untie your hands and make sure you can unleash hell in Yemen. Absolute violence of action. 

“We’re going to push decision-making authority down to you, the platoon level, the company level, the battalion unit level, as much as possible.”

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During the trip, the secretary also teased that the Defense Department may have a new name on Friday, which Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Emma Colton were first to confirm.

Trump will sign an executive order allowing the department to use the “Department of War” as a secondary title, along with phrases like “secretary of war” for Hegseth.

The order also directs Hegseth to propose legislative and executive actions to make the name change permanent.

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Emma Colton contributed to this report.