[This post first appeared at Common Dreams on October 17, 2025.]
Hegseth Can’t Handle the Truth
On September 30, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth pontificated before his captive audience of 800 admirals and generals whom he had summoned from locations around the globe. The media reports of the event focused on soundbites: new physical fitness requirements, grooming standards (“no more beardos” – but don’t tell Vice President J.D. Vance or the President’s son), eliminating “woke” policies, and other elements of his department’s new “warfighting culture.”
Observing that the military’s policy on “hazing, bullying, and harassment is overly broad,” Hegseth also said that the inspector general’s office “has been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues and poor performers in the driver’s seat.”
He dealt with that problem too.
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The Belly of the Beast 