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Hegseth Confirms He wants $200B to Restock America’s Bombs, Missiles Post-Iran War: ‘It takes money to kill bad guys’

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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth appeared to confirm Thursday that the Trump administration is contemplating asking Congress to approve $200 billion in supplemental defense funding amid the war in Iran.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon had asked the White House to make the $200 billion request to lawmakers in order to replenish America’s munitions stockpile, though it was not clear when or whether the Trump administration would decide to do so.

“As far as the $200 billion, I think that number could move, obviously,” Hegseth told reporters. “It takes money to kill bad guys. So we’re going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we’re properly funded for what’s being done.”

The amount requested is believed to be far beyond what the US has actually expended so far in its sweeping bombing campaign to cripple the Iranian regime, indicating a wider goal of beefing up America’s defense industrial base amid fears that the ability to rapidly produce weapons domestically has degraded over time.

“An investment like this is meant to say, ‘Hey, we’ll replace anything that was spent.’ And now … we’re reviving our defense industrial base and rebuilding the arsenal of freedom,” Hegseth added. (Read more from “Hegseth confirms he wants $200B to restock America’s bombs, missiles post-Iran war: ‘It takes money to kill bad guys’” HERE)

Drones Hovering above Rubio and Hegseth’s Homes Leave Military Officials Baffled

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A series of “unidentified” drones have been spotted hovering over the Washington D.C. military base where Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth live, prompting the U.S. government to consider relocating them.

The military is closely monitoring potential threats to senior government figures amid the Trump administration’s war on Iran, but according to a Washington Post report, the origin of the drones that have breached the airspace above Fort Lesley J. McNair remains a mystery.

The newspaper spoke to three people briefed on the matter, who, on condition of anonymity, said multiple sightings occurred on a single night within the past 10 days, prompting an immediate security review and a White House meeting on how to respond.

The incidents come at a moment of heightened alert as the U.S. and Israel continue striking Iran and the drone activity over McNair coincides with a broader tightening of security across the U.S. military.

Several domestic bases have raised their force‑protection levels to “Charlie,” a designation used when commanders have intelligence indicating a possible attack. Joint Base McGuire‑Dix‑Lakehurst in New Jersey and MacDill Air Force Base in Florida – home to U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations against Iran – were both escalated to Charlie this week. (Read more from “Drones Hovering above Rubio and Hegseth’s Homes Leave Military Officials Baffled” HERE)

Hegseth: America’s Military Is ‘Already Surpassing’ Last Year’s Recruiting Figures

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The U.S. military is “already surpassing” the recruiting numbers it saw during last year’s recruiting surge, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth disclosed on Monday.

The revelation came during a swearing-in ceremony for new recruits conducted in front of military recruiting stations in Newport News, Virginia. Hegseth officiated the oath for incoming members of the armed services, including new members of the Virginia National Guard.

While acknowledging the Biden-era recruiting crisis, Hegseth noted that the recruiting environment is “exceedingly different today than it was just a year ago following the election of President Trump and the changes we’re making at the War Department.” The secretary went on to reveal that “for this year that we’re entering into,” the military is “already surpassing” last year’s figures.

“We’re setting new records at the War Department of historic recruitment of men and women wanting to join the ranks, and you’re a part of that. So, congratulations,” Hegseth said.

The secretary did not provide specific numbers during his remarks. (Read more from “Hegseth: America’s Military Is ‘Already Surpassing’ Last Year’s Recruiting Figures” HERE)

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Hegseth Orders Review Of Discharge Characterizations For Troops Booted Over Biden’s Covid Shot Mandate

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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum ordering a reevaluation of discharge characterizations for service members removed from service for foregoing the Biden-era Covid shot mandate, the Pentagon revealed Tuesday.

Signed on Dec. 6, the new directive instructs the War Department to undertake a “proactive review of personnel records, to identify individuals who were involuntarily discharged solely for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine and facilitate appropriate discharge upgrades.” As The Federalist previously reported, more than 8,700 troops were effectively forced out of the military for opting not to get the experimental jab.

In his memo, Hegseth acknowledged the Pentagon’s ongoing efforts to reinstate members “who were involuntarily discharged or voluntarily left Military Service” as to avoid the “unfair, overbroad, and unnecessary” mandate. He further noted that “It is unconscionable that thousands of former Service members who held true to their personal and religious convictions were not just separated, but separated with General (Under Honorable Conditions), rather than Honorable, discharge characterizations.”

“While many have applied for and received relief from our Military Department review boards, I believe the onus is on us to make this right,” Hegseth wrote.

In addition to instructing the Pentagon to conduct the aforementioned review of personnel records, Hegseth has ordered the Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata to “provide implementing policy and guidance and direct staffing requirements to the Secretaries of the Military Departments.” Under this edict, Tata “will issue directive guidance in this area, coordinated with the Secretaries of the Military Departments, outside the standard Department process … and with the authority to direct appropriate staffing and to amend this memorandum as required,” according to the memo. (Read more from “Hegseth Orders Review Of Discharge Characterizations For Troops Booted Over Biden’s Covid Shot Mandate” HERE)

U.S. Won’t Release Full, Unedited Boat Strike Video to Public, Hegseth Says

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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday there are no plans to release the full unedited video of September 2 strikes on a suspected drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean that fueled concerns about the Trump administration’s plans for Venezuela.

Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio conducted briefings on Tuesday for every member of the Senate, responding to lawmakers’ demands for more information about a 3-1/2-month-long campaign of more than 20 strikes against boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that have killed more than 80 people.

On Monday, the U.S. military struck three vessels in the Pacific, killing eight people.

“In keeping with long-standing Department of War policy, Department of Defense policy, of course, we’re not going to release a top-secret full unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters at Capitol Hill.

The two cabinet secretaries held a similar briefing for the full House of Representatives.

Concerns about the strikes increased after it became public that the commander overseeing the operation ordered a second strike that killed two survivors on September 2. (Read more from “U.S. Won’t Release Full, Unedited Boat Strike Video to Public, Hegseth Says” HERE)

US Military Kills 2 Suspected Narco-Terrorists in 16th Military Drone Strike: Hegseth

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Two suspected drug smugglers on a vessel were killed during a U.S. military drone strike, War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday.

The “lethal kinetic strike” was ordered by President Donald Trump and conducted in international waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), Hegseth said.

The strike is the 16th since Trump began targeting drug smuggling boats suspected of transporting illegal drugs into the United States.

At least 66 suspected narco-terrorists have been killed in the strikes and three survived.

“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth wrote on X.

(Read more from “US Military Kills 2 Suspected Narco-Terrorists in 16th Military Drone Strike: Hegseth” HERE)

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Top Trump Officials Are Moving Onto Military Bases

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Top members of Donald Trump’s White House are reportedly living in homes typically reserved for top military brass in Washington, D.C. as they pull back from neighborhoods where their presences were often targeted for protests by the many Democrats who make the Capital region their homes.

Stephen Miller and Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently joined a growing list of Trump Cabinet secretaries and advisers who’ve chosen to live in reserved military housing, with Rubio moving onto “Generals Row” in Fort McNair and Miller also living in the area after abandoning his digs in Arlington, The Atlantic reported.

They join Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who moved into military housing earlier this year, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is alone among his compatriots in finding some precedent for his decision to move onto Generals Row alongside Rubio.

White House and administration officials gave security concerns as the reasons for the arrangements; one other senior White House official, whose identity was not named by The Atlantic, is also in a similar arrangement due to “security concerns related to a specific foreign threat,” said officials.

While legal, the arrangements put a strain on the short supply of such housing in the District of Columbia and could ruffle some feathers among the nation’s top commanders at a time when relations between political appointees and the brass is already strained. Hegseth is largely to thank for that division after he summoned commanders to Virginia for a speech about “warrior ethos” and aesthetics that was reportedly not well-received. (Read more from “Top Trump Officials Are Moving Onto Military Bases” HERE)

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Pete Hegseth Doesn’t Dispute Plans to Have ‘Crowd Control’ Troops in Every State Ahead of 2026 Midterms

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth didn’t deny reported plans to have National Guard ‘response force’ in every state ahead of the 2026 midterms.

During a conference on Thursday (23 October), a reporter asked Hegseth about  a memo circulating on social media detailing, “the establishment of a National Guard response force that will be trained in crowd control and civil unrest  deployed in all 50 states by April of 2026”.

(Read more from “Pete Hegseth Doesn’t Dispute Plans to Have ‘Crowd Control’ Troops in Every State Ahead of 2026 Midterms” HERE)

Trump’s War Against Suspected Narco-Terrorists at Sea Expands to Pacific Ocean

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In a dramatic escalation of the Trump administration’s maritime war on narco-terrorism, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the first lethal military strike outside the Caribbean Sea — targeting and destroying a drug-smuggling vessel off Colombia’s Pacific coast.

Hegseth announced the eighth military strike against a narco-terrorist drug smuggling vessel on Wednesday. The military strike that destroyed the boat and killed two on board is the first to be conducted outside the Caribbean Sea area of operations.

In a social media post on X, Hegseth indicated the strike occurred on Tuesday in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of Colombia. Hegseth said the strike that marks a broadening of President Donald Trump’s military campaign against narco-terrorist cartels at sea, saying, “Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.”

According to Hegseth, the eighth kinetic military strike targeted a vessel that was known to military intelligence as being involved in illicit narcotics smuggling and was transiting a known narco-trafficking maritime transit route. Hegseth added, “There were two narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. Both terrorists were killed, and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.”

Hegseth’s announcement contained an ominous warning to narco-terrorists that the kinetic military strikes will continue. (Read more from “Trump’s War Against Suspected Narco-Terrorists at Sea Expands to Pacific Ocean” HERE)

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Hegseth Fires Navy Chief Of Staff

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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth fired Navy Chief of Staff Jon Harrison on Friday, the Department of War said.

Harrison was appointed in January to lead as the Navy’s chief of staff, working alongside Navy Secretary John Phelan to implement organizational changes under Hegseth’s new leadership. A War Department official confirmed Harrison’s removal to the Daily Caller News Foundation, thanking the former chief of staff for his service.

“He will no longer serve as Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Navy,” the statement read. “We are grateful for his service to the Department.”

According to two defense officials and a former defense official, sources told Politico that Harrison’s firing was “sudden,” coming after he and Phelan worked to implement sweeping changes in policy and budgeting offices.

The removal comes just days after retired Navy Captain and former Republican Senate candidate in Virginia Hung Cao was confirmed as Undersecretary of the Navy on Wednesday. (Read more from “Hegseth Fires Navy Chief Of Staff” HERE)

Editor’s Note: It appears that Harrison, a Trump appointee with no prior military experience who took the role in January 2025, ran into trouble with Hung Cao, a Navy veteran, who had just been confirmed by the Senate as the new Under Secretary of the Navy earlier last week. An anonymous Pentagon official described the firing as a response to Harrison’s efforts to curb the new undersecretary’s influence.

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