Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has made clear that the Department of Defense is still on a geopolitical track, particularly in the Pacific, mentioning in a media interview recent phone calls and meetings he’s had with leaders in Australia, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan. He said the focus there is maintaining a strategic advantage over China, reported Defense One. “We want the future of the world to be free,” he said.
“We’re confronting threats in real time, restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military, reestablishing deterrence.”
Hegseth also stated a commitment to returning to long-term planning, as in the planning efforts of the Cold War. Autocracies like China and Russia have at least one advantage the United States does not, he claimed on Feb. 7 in a Pentagon town hall: They can make plans far into the future to change the global balance of power in their favor.
