Remarks by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at Rocket Lab in Los Angeles

SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: How are we doing today Patriots?

Well, it is a, what a great location to wrap up the first week of what we are calling the Arsenal of Freedom tour and this company you right here, are front and center as a part of ensuring that we build an Arsenal of Freedom that America needs and America deserves.

Well from visiting the shipyards of Newport News, where we were earlier this week on Monday, where they're building our next generation of submarines, to witnessing the future of innovation right here at Rocket Lab in California, one thing is for certain, America is prepared to build again. American manufacturing is back.

But this is not for show. This is for victory, a lasting victory that will secure the freedom for me, for you, for my kids, for your kids, for our grandkids. That's what it's about, peace through strength.

Let me tell you this, I had a chance to tour this facility just moments ago. What impressive scale and precision on the on the projects being engineered here, the sort of groundbreaking initiatives that make up the front lines of American industry. What I know, and what you know, is that the greatness of American manufacturing is not simply wished into existence, nor does it appear out of thin air. What exists between these walls here on earth and in the depths of outer space, they are forged, forged by the labor, the expertise and the sheer willpower of each one of you standing here. That is ultimately the entire purpose of the Arsenal of Freedom tour

To be able to look into the eyes of patriots who quite literally build our nation's firepower and to thank you for the work that you do. From the top of the Office of the Secretary of War to all the uniformed members who wear camouflage on our behalf. They can't do their job. I can't do my job without the job that you do. You see, I think it's fair to say that most suited-up swamp creatures, maybe that's what I am now, a suited-up swamp creature. But most in Washington D.C. could never imagine a day in your shoes. See, they're the experts who like to sit back and collect a paycheck and talk about the labor that built this great country. Think tanks and white papers. They produce nothing. They build nothing. But you, you innovate, you iterate, you risk, you test, you build. You're the masters of, say, American carbon fiber, the builders are the very tools that guarantee our treasured freedoms. It is precisely the strength of our arsenal and our industries that will keep us free.

I along with the entire War Department, are profoundly grateful for the work that you do day in and day out. And I'm here on behalf of President Trump, who is equally proud and does everything in his power to support you.

I'm here on behalf of a president who has, from his first day in office, operated on three core principles of pure, unadulterated common sense. First, that a leader's primary duty is to put America and Americans first. Second, that the surest and only real path to peace is through strength. And at the War Department, that is our department. We are the strength department. You are part of that strength department. And third, a nation that cannot build for itself, a nation that cannot create its own tools, its own defenses, its own 3-D printers, its own future is a nation that is in managed decline. And for too long, elites on both sides of the aisle in both parties sat idly by and accepted this backward status quo.

But not President Trump, he recognized that decline is in fact, a choice, a choice that we must fundamentally reject in every sense of the word. And in doing so, he has unleashed a great American revival, a reawakening of our industrial spirit and a national confidence. A new I would call it. And he calls it a golden age for America that all of you here are a big part of building.

And as his Secretary of War, my mission is to ignite that revival. The mission has three core components, three pillars that we've stood on from day one. First is we're reviving the warrior ethos within our fighting force, reminding warriors and everyone involved, our sole purpose is to be the most lethal fighting force on the planet, full stop. We're eliminating all the distractions. No more DEI, no more dudes in dresses, no more social engineering. We're done with political correctness. We just want to be correct. Our sole focus remains standards, accountability, readiness, training, discipline and lethality. We're going back to basics as a department as a whole.

Second, we're rebuilding our military. We must and we are ensuring that the best equipment and leadership are in the hands of our war fighters, and that our war fighters are never in a fair fight. You've seen the historic trillion-dollar investment in fiscal year 2026 and if you follow him on Truth, you saw that just a couple of days ago. President Trump announced that in fiscal year 27 his goal is to invest $1.5 trillion in America's defense industrial base. A historic investment, the largest investment in national defense our country or the world has ever seen, reminding you how invested he is in American manufacturing, how invested he is in American strength. And it's our job at the War Department to ensure that every dime of that is used wisely, that we find the savings where we can. We find the duplicative programs, we find the bloat, the waste, the fraud, anything that isn't focused on war fighting, and we rip it out, and then we transfer that to programs that work. To companies that work. So that we can scale at speed the capabilities that our war fighters need. I also don't, not sure if you saw but there was an executive order that came out just a couple of days ago as well, where the President announced that big companies that are fat and happy on the vine in Washington, at the Pentagon, we're used to just getting contracts automatically. That status quo is gone as well.

More on that in a moment. But third, we are also reestablishing deterrence, deterrence that is so absolute and so unquestioned that America's enemies shall not, should not, will not want to test us. Under a previous administration, the world questioned American strength, whether it was the debacle in Afghanistan, the invasion of Ukraine, or the war unleashed in Israel by Hamas on October 7, all of which would have never happened under President Trump. That era of doubt and smeared American reputation is over. Deterrence is back, and the world is taking notice. A few examples, when the Houthis attacked our ships in the previous administration, they just sort of dealt with it as the new status quo. We responded with 50 days of unrelenting bombing, and our ships now sail freely and unprovoked. It turns out they did cry uncle, were prepared to cry uncle when they were met with the strength of the United States military. Since Thomas Jefferson, our ships have sailed freely on the high seas. That will remain the case. That is deterrence in action.

When Iran pursued nuclear capabilities, our beautiful B-2s flew 37 hours across the world to drop 14 precision munitions exactly where they were supposed to land, all at the same time without Iran seeing us until we were out of the country. That is deterrence in action when Narco terrorists, drug cartels, the Al-Qaeda of our hemisphere, I'm sure all of you, everybody's been touched by drug overdoses and the onslaught of drugs in our country, the poisoning of the American people. President Trump said, no more when those Narco terrorists send drugs to our shores to poison Americans, we no longer play the catch and release game, the cat and mouse game. We sink their boats. That is deterrence in action. When our southern border was overwhelmed by an anarchist invasion, an invasion of millions of people, we have no idea who they are, coming illegally. We secured it. For seven months, zero crossings of the US, Mexico border, absolute sovereignty that is deterrence in action. And when American justice was required in Venezuela, nearly 200 of our best went into downtown Caracas, secured and indicted targets in their most heavily fortified military base and returned without a single U.S. casualty. That is deterrence in action.

Because of President Trump's leadership, the world once again sees American power, American strength and American resolve. And you here are at the core of building it. Everything we do is aimed at those three complimentary and overlapping goals. That's why, just before Christmas, I had the privilege of joining President Trum and the Secretary of the Navy for a historic announcement of the new Golden Fleet, a generational commitment (inaudible) but a fleet today, as you know, is blind without its eyes in the sky. Dominance in the seas, on land and in the air, starts right here. The future of the battlefield starts right here, with dominance in space.

I mean, I don't know it's common sense in today's 21st Century Battlefield, if we do not dominate that domain, the domain of space, we will not dominate the battlefield of the future, full stop. And I need that in the back of your mind every day as you're building that Arsenal of Freedom for us. The capabilities you're building are precisely the ones that we will rely on, and that will or will not provide the decisive advantage should there be, should an adversary be foolish enough in the future to want to challenge us. What you're building here will be that difference.

But for far too long, a bipartisan elite consensus in Washington wanted us to believe that history was over. They outsourced our jobs, our factories and our future for hollow promises of a so-called global economy, for globalism. Well, unlike past administrations, this administration actually believes in the American worker, in American industry, and we will not allow our industrial base to rust. You see, before President Trump, we were busy policing the world. Nation building in deserts or debating pronouns in the Pentagon while our rivals were building their own satellites and rockets. They didn't shy away from ambition to control space and through it, their attempts to control regions and the world, not anymore, Not on our watch.

Under President Trump, we recognize that we are in a historic struggle and that we're committed to coming out, there's no other option than to come out on top. That's why we're proudly calling ourselves the Department of War. Not because we seek war, far from it, but we know, but because we know that in order to keep the peace, you must be prepared to utterly and decisively win in conflict. Peace through strength is a real thing in a modern, contested world. If your enemy thinks you have the willingness and the capability to defeat them anywhere in the world, anytime on your terms…that's how you deter the conflict to begin with. Because peace is ultimately the goal of our president and ultimately our goal.

Now I'm looking out at one of the coolest factory floors I've ever seen. But the reality is that our American warriors, you, it's ultimately not just about platforms and factories. It's about people, people right here in front of me, and our American warriors, who are second to none. The best in the world and the best of our country. No matter the circumstance, our warriors exemplify the sheer guts and grit, gallantry and glory needed to sustain this nation of ours every single day. And while Our American warriors are at the tip of the spear, you, all of you are what sharpens them. You are the foundation of our defense industrial base. The foundation of great American manufacturers who we trust to usher in that new golden age of peace through strength.

Under President Trump, the United States is deadly serious about commanding the ultimate high ground of space. A larger, more modern and more capable constellation of American satellites, launched by American rockets from American soil, built by American engineers and workers will provide an undeniable deterrent. But it takes the men and women on this floor, the technicians, the machinists, the engineers, each of you, every skilled hand of Rocket Lab. You are the engine of the new Arsenal of Freedom. You are the ones who will ensure that our adversaries understand a simple and absolute truth that America can and will, if necessary, project its will anywhere, anytime, without question. Our war fighters (inaudible) but it requires the tools. And it's clear that you have truly mastered the art of the small, the fast and the responsive, not just the small, but also the big. The exact opposite of what you would receive from paper pushing bureaucrats in the Pentagon and legacy prime contractors.

It's no wonder why your Electron rocket has been such a success. It has and will give our war fighters a critical advantage and something they need no shortage of, which is tactical flexibility. You see, ultimately, I don't care what name is on the side of a missile or what name is on the side of a rocket, what company builds it, where it came from, except that it's made in America. I don't. I just want the best, and I want to ensure that the competition that exists is fair and it's flat. It's based on cost, it's based on capability, it's based on scaling. It's based on flexibility, open architecture, innovation. The companies that can do those things in today's Pentagon will be the companies that win, which should be motivating for every CEO and every worker in every company that is in this business, because the field is wide open. And that's exactly how it should be. See. Washington plays games with lobbyists and accountants and bureaucrats. It plays games to block out new contestants, new competitors. So that's the whole point, a circular process that enriches and benefits the same people.

And I have nothing against prime contractors. There are amazing companies that have provided amazing capabilities, ships and fighters and tankers and subs and surface ships, you name it. Tanks from huge companies that make great things, and I want them to continue to make those great things. But the expectation is that they will continue to make them competing with every other company in the country to ensure they're delivered under budget and on time. Because right now, too often, we're waiting for exquisite systems that are incredible, but I'm going to get it in 2033 when the fight is over. We need them today. We need them tomorrow. We need speed. We need urgency. That's what the Arsenal of Freedom is all about. Rip out the red tape, rip out the bureaucracy. Increase the speed of testing, speed of iteration, the speed of competition. And ensure that we've got predictability on long lead times and you have a sense of what the demand signal looks like, so that you can compete, and every company that wants into the space can compete. Flexibility…flexibility, speed and deterrence.

You see more than 60 years ago, President Kennedy declared our nation's intent to go to the Moon, something many of you know far more than I do. He famously said, we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and the best of our skills. This is the spirit that you are in the process of reviving right here at Rocket Lab. You've chosen this mission precisely because it's hard, but through your toil comes genuine meanings. Look around. I spent a lot of time in offices with desks and paper and computers. Look around. The work you're doing here is real. It's tangible. You can feel the power and the energy radiate throughout this facility. Every satellite you build, every rocket launched, gives our war fighters the edge they need to win and then come home in victory and come home safely.

Say, on that mission in Venezuela, there's a lot of things we can't talk about, and there's some basic portions of the mission that are out in the public, but a lot of the things we can't talk about were enabled by capabilities like companies like this, that provide decisive advantages for the United States of America. Most Americans won't know. Most adversaries have no idea. And the point is, we don't want them to. Strategic ambiguity is a very good thing. Our enemies need to be thinking, what capabilities do they have? Are they above us? Are they around us? Are they through us? Do we not see what they're able to do? And it leads them to say, in their mind, not today, not tomorrow. I don't want to challenge America today. I don't want to challenge them tomorrow, and I don't want to challenge them in the future. That's the point.

You see the signals you provide save a soldier's life, the intel that guides a precision strike that saves a soldier's life, it all starts right here. Please don't forget that you were a part of that direct line from your hands to the survival and success of our war fighters.

And that brings me to my promise and my challenge to each industry leader in this country. I've said it a little bit already, but it's worth emphasizing the days of rewarding, rewarding the comfortable old guard for failure are finished. We will provide larger, longer and more predictable contracts to companies like this one, companies that can actually deliver at pace and at scale. We will reward leaders who choose to invest in their workers who expand their capacity and who share our sense of urgency, we will reward those who choose to deploy their resources toward bolstering production, not stock buyback programs or dividends. The mission is quite simple, if you deliver for America, the government is going to have your back. If you don't, you should get in a different business. We are deadly serious about the Arsenal of Freedom. I hope you saw our acquisitions and requirements transformation speech from a couple of months, we're changing the entire way the Pentagon does business, in acquiring and requirements, taking things that took years, two to three to four years to feel down to months. The speed of the kind of innovation we're seeing on the battlefield right now in ongoing conflicts that are going to be required in ones we might have to fight. I mentioned the executive order the President signed putting pressure on other companies to invest just like this company is, and of course, the historic investment of $1.5 trillion going forward in the defense of our nation.

So ultimately, the point of me being here is to thank you sincerely, look you in the eye from where we sit, so that I can remember what I'm looking at right here today. Every day, in my seat, of what I'm doing. When it's easy to fall into the comfortable, the familiar, the easy process that's always existed and to remember our job is to flip the script. Our job is to change the game. Our job is to disrupt a status quo which is insufficient to ensuring we have the American manufacturing base that is required to be the world's superpower.

So thank you for delivering when it counts. We are counting on you. We're counting on your undeniable skill and patriotism. Be proud of what you are doing on the front lines forging our nation's industrial future. We have your back, and we know that you have ours as well, and together, we will restore our nation's strength and guarantee peace for generations to come. May God bless all of you your families, thank them for me. God bless our incredible troops and God bless our great Republic. Go forth and do great things. Thank you.