Hundreds of top military officials from all branches of the armed forces gathered in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday morning to hear U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump discuss creating a new culture in the armed forces.
Hegseth didn’t hold back on his criticism of the current military leadership.
“It’s tiring to look out at combat formations or really any formation and see fat troops,” said Hegseth. “Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon.”
President Trump also addressed the gathering, saying not only is there an effort to reshape the military culture but also possibly use the military for domestic purposes.
This may include dealing with protests and violence across the U.S as training for conflicts overseas.
“San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, are very unsafe places, and we’re going to straighten them out one by one,” said Trump. “And this is going to be a major port for some of the people in this room…. It’s a war from within. I told Pete we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”
The particular comment made military members uncomfortable, with several telling reporters anonymously ‘That isn’t the purpose of the U.S military’.
Hegseth later added that leadership reform has been long overdue.
“For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniform leaders for the wrong reasons,” said Hegseth.
Democrats called the meeting an “expensive” and “dangerous” lack of leadership coming from the White House and the Pentagon.
