Hegseth addresses Army convention amid leadership shake-up: 5 takeaways

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed a major Army convention Wednesday amid a leadership shake-up in the military’s largest branch , discussing the Pentagon’s approach to autonomous systems and calling for Congress to pass a massive defense budget.

Speaking for more than an hour, he defended his 20 percent cut to general officers at the Pentagon and once again called on Congress to pass President Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget.

Iran war protesters interrupted Hegseth several times during his remarks to the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) in Washington, D.C., as he listed off the department’s efforts to purchase more drones and other systems.

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, who is Hegseth’s preferred pick for Army Secretary , introduced the panel of top service officials.

Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink and Derrick Anderson, the assistant secretary of Defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict — who was floated by some officials as a potential candidate to be the next Army secretary — appeared alongside Hegseth, where they also touched on acquisition reform and cutting red tape within the Pentagon.

Here are five takeaways from the discussion:

Hegseth explains need for Autonomous Warfare Command

Hegseth shared the need to form a combatant command, called Autonomous Warfare Command, that will focus on developing drones and robotics. He argued the organization, which will be led by a four-star general, should have been established years ago.

“We’re going to use rank to drive change with the right people in those positions, but not just legacy formations and commands, which have gathered over time and haven’t led to battlefield efficacy. In this case, we need this kind of authority yesterday,” the Defense secretary told Owen West, director of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit who moderated the panel.

West leads Project Agincourt, the department’s program to develop the new command.

“Should have been established a long time ago,” Hegseth said. “I say this, and I don’t mean it flippantly, I actually don’t know what the previous administration did for four years in this job.”

Hegseth unveiled the plan to stand up the new command in a wide-ranging speech last month to active-duty service members at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia.

The Pentagon is looking to have the command, which will require congressional approval, operational by early October next year. The department moved the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager under Project Agincourt.

“Frankly, initially, we didn’t have it as a four-star combatant command, and then we iterated on what that might look like, held another series of meetings, and realized no, this is where it needs to land,” Hegseth said. “So it’s been a civil-mil collaboration from the start, which is why I believe not only will we get it done by the deadline, but I think we’ll get it done sooner.”

Protesters interrupt Hegseth more than once

Demonstrators kept interrupting the panel discussion, denouncing Hegseth as a “coward” and “war criminal” as they protested the U.S. war against Iran.

“Children in Gaza are starving,” a woman shouted. “He is a war criminal.”

“She thinks highly of me,” Hegseth joked.

Moments later, one of the protesters said the Defense secretary said he is not a “warrior.”

“It appears we have a bit of a tactic,” the Pentagon chief said.

Two minutes later, a demonstrator yelled, “How many children are killed in Gaza?” before getting drowned out by attendees who shouted, “USA! USA!”

Six protesters were removed by security and the Metropolitan Police Department, according to the AUSA, with some continuing to shout on their way out.

“The First Amendment right to protest is fundamental. However, everyone who registers to attend the Annual Meeting and enters the convention center does so after agreeing to abide by a code of conduct, so the protestors’ outbursts were certainly not appropriate during today’s forum,” the AUSA told The Hill in a statement Wednesday.

Hegseth defended his plan to cut 20 percent of the number of admirals and generals within the department, arguing they are “rank-heavy” and out of touch with warfighters on the ground.

“With more layers and more rank comes more distance between the warfighter and the decisionmaker, and not necessarily better outcomes. In fact, there’s an inverse relationship between success on the battlefield [and] the number of four- and three-star generals since World War II,” the Pentagon chief said.

The shake-up will affect positions across the Army, Navy and the Air Force a year after Hegseth oversaw a 10 percent reduction of general officers. Since taking charge at the Pentagon, Hegseth, a former Army National Guard major, has fired or pushed out more than two dozen senior military officers across the service branches.

Some defense-focused senators gave a cold shoulder to Hegseth’s plan, and some key Republican senators have said they were blindsided by his announcement late last month.

“While the media will call it a purge, they spin everything negatively, of course. We’ve been quite precise about understanding where those cuts need to come from and ensuring we’re not taken from tail, not from tooth,” Hegseth said Wednesday.

Hegseth again pushed Congress to greenlight Trump’s record-setting $1.5 trillion defense budget request, calling it a “one-time generational investment” that would allow the Pentagon to reflect the president’s national security priorities.

“Investments now are going to matter, and they’re going to ripple not just for years but for decades across our joint force,” the Defense secretary said, mentioning the administration’s effort to pass $350 billion through the partisan process of reconciliation.

But the room to authorize the many defense programs through reconciliation is getting tighter with the November midterms in less than three weeks away and control of Congress on the line.

The Pentagon chief said the reconciliation bill includes around $50 billion in autonomous and robotic systems that would go toward the Defense Autonomous Working Group, Project Agincourt and the Autonomous Warfare Command.

The $1.5 trillion budget ask is facing an uncertain path in Congress, with some Republicans and Democrats expressing skepticism over the Trump administration’s spending plans and Democrats’ staunch opposition to the war with Iran.

Pentagon officials have ramped up their efforts to brief lawmakers on the budget request in recent weeks, but some lawmakers worry the closed-door offensive came too late.

Hegseth called congressional passage of the defense budget the Pentagon’s “No.1 priority” and said the department is working with the White House to make it happen “regardless of what happens” during the midterms.

“We’re running fast immediately with the committees to ensure that that reconciliation bill, at a minimum of [$]350 [billion], potentially more, ultimately fills up what this department needs in order for the president to ensure that we reestablish deterrence and rebuild the military around the world,” he said.

Cao, the acting Navy Secretary, said the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group deployed on Oct. 8 with a “medium-sized” uncrewed surface vessel.

Cao said it is the first carrier strike group to ever deploy with a “large-sized” uncrewed surface vessel.

“This is a force multiplier,” he said. “Imagine having more guns out there.”

The USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier is set to relieve the USS George Washington, which has been operating in the U.S. Central Command region.