Pete Hegseth is the current U.S. secretary of defense, who in 2025 was also authorized to use the secondary title “Secretary of War.” He is a former Army National Guard infantry officer and Fox News host. Born in 1980 in Minneapolis, he graduated from Princeton University in politics and later earned a master’s in public policy from Harvard. He served as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard with deployments to Guantánamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan, earning two Bronze Star Medals and other awards. After active service, he led conservative veterans’ advocacy groups (Vets for Freedom, Concerned Veterans for America) and became a prominent media commentator before being confirmed in January 2025 as the 29th U.S. secretary of defense.
In current U.S. usage, “Secretary of War” is not a separate job; it is a secondary title that President Trump authorized in 2025 for the existing secretary of defense. Legally, Pete Hegseth is the 29th U.S. secretary of defense, and his powers and responsibilities come from that office, defined in 10 U.S.C. § 113. As secretary of defense, he is the principal defense policy advisor to the president and exercises authority, direction, and control over the Department of Defense, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and defense agencies. The 2025 executive order says “Secretary of War” and “Department of War” may be used in official communications and ceremonies, but it explicitly leaves all statutory references to the Department of Defense and secretary of defense in place until Congress changes the law.
Historically, the U.S. Department of War was the cabinet department that ran the Army from 1789 until 1947, when it was abolished and its functions were folded into the new National Military Establishment, later renamed the Department of Defense (DoD) in 1949. Today’s Army and Air Force departments, together with the Department of the Navy, all sit under DoD, not a separate War Department. In September 2025, President Trump issued an executive order allowing the existing DoD and the secretary of defense to use the secondary names “Department of War” and “Secretary of War” in public and ceremonial contexts, arguing this better reflected an aggressive “war-fighting” posture. However, the order states that, in law, the organization remains the Department of Defense and all statutory references to DoD and the secretary of defense continue to control unless Congress later enacts a formal renaming.
The “Arsenal of Freedom” tour is a month‑long, multi‑state campaign launched by Secretary of War/Defense Pete Hegseth in January 2026. According to the department’s own descriptions, its goals are to:
The Brownsville event was held at SpaceX’s Starbase facility because the Arsenal of Freedom tour is focused on the U.S. defense industrial base, including private space companies that support military and national security missions. Starbase, near Brownsville, is SpaceX’s main site for building and testing Starship launch vehicles and a major space‑industry employer in South Texas. The Department of War’s own materials and independent coverage say Hegseth’s Texas stops were meant to spotlight companies like Lockheed Martin and SpaceX that provide advanced aerospace and space capabilities for the U.S. military, and to meet their leadership and workforce on site.
Public information about this specific Brownsville/Starbase stop only says that Hegseth would speak to “defense industry leaders” at SpaceX. Coverage indicates he toured the facilities with SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk and addressed SpaceX leadership and employees, but no official, comprehensive list of attendees or additional speakers has been published. Beyond Musk and unnamed SpaceX executives, the identities of other “defense industry leaders” at the event are not publicly documented.
The advisory said the remarks would be livestreamed on War.gov, DVIDS, and Department of War social media. A full recording is available through DVIDS under the title “Hegseth Speaks During Arsenal of Freedom Stop at SpaceX Facility,” which hosts a 45‑minute video of his Brownsville speech. DVIDS also offers a closed‑caption file and downloadable transcript for that video once you create a free account.
The short advisory itself only announced the time, location, and livestream details and did not list any specific new policies, contracts, or procurement awards. Broader reporting on the Arsenal of Freedom tour says the Texas stops (Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth and SpaceX in Brownsville) were used to promote the administration’s push to speed up defense acquisition and strengthen the defense industrial base, but there is no evidence that this Brownsville event included the signing of particular contracts or formal procurement decisions; those would normally appear in separate Defense Department contract announcements.