STARBASE — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Starbase Monday evening to give a speech as part of his “The Arsenal of Freedom” tour, which kicked off at a shipyard in Newport News, Va., on Jan. 5.
The Department of Defense said the month-long, multi-state tour is meant to promote a top DOD priority of “rebuilding the military by engaging with the (defense industrial base) at various stops throughout the country.”
Hegseth’s stop in the Rio Grande Valley comes on the heels of a Jan. 9 announcement from the U.S. Space Force that SpaceX had been awarded a $739 million contract to launch U.S. military satellites.
He was accompanied by Sen. John Cornyn, who was also with Hegseth for the secretary’s speech at Fort Worth’s Lockheed Martin plant earlier Monday. A number of other dignitaries were on hand at Starbase, including other Pentagon top brass, though the audience was mainly composed of SpaceX employees.
Hegseth’s speech took place against the backdrop of a heavy security presence inside Starbase’s cavernous, million-square-foot Starfactory, with massive Starship components and SpaceX Raptor engines on display. Hegseth was introduced by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who in brief comments told the audience the goal of the company is essentially “to make Star Trek real.”
Coincidentally, “The Arsenal of Freedom” is also the name of a 1988 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode considered a critique of arms-dealing societies and automated weaponry.
Hegseth’s speech, heavily laced with defense industry jargon, largely centered on the need to remove bureaucratic obstacles in order to allow companies such as SpaceX and especially AI companies, including Musk’s xAI, to develop the technology faster.
The end goal, according to Hegseth, is to make the United States the leader in AI technology, all to the benefit of the country’s “21st century warfighter.”
Hegseth describes himself as “Secretary of War” and the department he leads as the “Department of War,” although statutorily the department is still called the Department of Defense. Changing the department’s name statutorily would require an act of Congress.
Hegseth also called for the private sector to play a greater role in how business is done at the DOD toward the overarching goal of substantially remaking the department’s workings and the U.S. military footprint in the world.
“I’d like to think we’ve already made dramatic progress in the Pentagon’s culture by reviving the warrior ethos and removing out quickly and transforming our acquisition ecosystem as well,” he told the audience. “But today is about how we supercharge innovation at the War Department for the era ahead.”
“Innovation is happening at a pace we can’t even foresee, and we need the entire enterprise, our enterprise, to embrace the urgency required for this moment.”
Hegseth said that since the end of the Cold War the defense industrial base in our country had become consolidated, making it difficult if not impossible for new creators of technical innovations “to win business at our department.”
“The result is a risk-averse culture that prevents us from providing our warfighters with the best resources that America has to offer. That ends today. Simply put, the United States must win the strategic competition for 21st century technological supremacy. Artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, quantum, hypersonics, and long-range drones.
“If you talk to Elon Musk long enough, he will tell you how important hypersonics and long-range drones are, and he’s 100% correct. Space capabilities, directed energy, and biotechnology are the new areas of global competition.”
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