War Secretary Pete Hegseth used a Pentagon press briefing to underscore a hard-line doctrine of peace through strength, pushing back on questions that framed U.S. military action as a kind of personal thrill or moral contradiction.
During the briefing, a reporter from TMZs new Washington, D.C., bureau pressed Hegseth on his emotional state when authorizing airstrikes, according to the Daily Caller. The reporter asked whether he experiences an adrenaline rush, fear, or even a sense of power when he orders bombing campaigns, saying, I have heard you talk a lot about bombing people in places, and when you give these orders to carry out this extreme level of violence, whats going through your mind and your body? Do you have an adrenaline rush? Are you scared? Do you feel like youre on a power trip?
Hegseth dismissed the framing with a pointed aside. Thats a very TMZ question, he said, before stressing that his focus is not on personal feelings but on mission success and the safety of American troops.
He emphasized that his priority is ensuring U.S. forces are fully equipped and authorized to defeat hostile actors decisively. My only thought process is to ensure our warfighters have everything they need to be successful, defeat, and destroy the enemy, and they come home, Hegseth said, adding, I want them to feel empowered to have every authority they need within our rules and our law to bring maximum violence to the enemy, because war is violent.
War requires doing difficult things, he continued, making clear that in his view moral responsibility lies in protecting American lives first. But I want our people to feel empowered, so its our guys that come home and their guys that do not.
Another TMZ reporter then shifted to symbolism, asking whether Hegseth would consider rebranding his agency. You changed the Department of Defense to the Department of War. Would you consider changing the name again to the Department of Peace, since thats what were all after? the reporter asked.
Hegseth said he welcomed the question but rejected the premise that soft language produces stability. Its a great question, actually, he replied. You go from defense to war because you want to be proactive about peace through strength When you fight a war the right way, the idea is on the other side you bring about peace.
He then argued that the American military, often maligned by the left, is in fact the chief stabilizing force on the planet. Hegseth said the one institution that should be honored every year is the U.S. armed forces, declaring, We are the guarantor of the safety and security, not just of our country, but of a lot of people in this world.
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