United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made a stop in Rhode Island on Monday to speak to students and faculty at the Naval War College.

 

In his speech, Hegseth discussed steps being taken to overhaul military education nationwide in order to “restore a culture of accountability and warfighting excellence.” The changes include instituting “standardized end-of-course wargames and comprehensive exams,” better faculty accountability and oversight, and creating chair positions at all senior colleges filled by “high-performing O-5 and O-6 commanders fresh from operational deployments” so there are “warfighters in the classroom.”

 

He said the country’s military education system has become “dangerously civilianized.”

 

“The primary task of our senior service colleges like this one cannot be the passive transmission of credentials. It cannot be the curation of an insulated salon for intellectual leisure,” Hegseth remarked. “It must be teaching victory. The deliberate, uncompromising task of forging senior military leaders who are intellectually, ethically and operationally prepared to decisively deter, but if necessary, defeat our enemies in unforgiving combat.”

 

It was Hegseth’s first publicized event since the midterm elections, during which Democrats took control of both chambers of Congress.

 

It also came as Hegseth faces potential impeachment. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky moved Monday to force a vote to impeach Hegseth over the war in Iran, as well as his role in carrying out military actions in Venezuela and Yemen.

 

A significant number of Republican senators would need to vote against Hegseth in order to remove him from office.

 

President Donald Trump has stood behind his defense secretary, telling reporters Sunday night that he’s “guilty of two things: basically winning two wars.”

 

“I believe we saved the Middle East and Israel combined,” Trump said, “and it’s awfully hard to say, “Let’s impeach somebody who did that.'”

 

See more at wpri.com.