By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-10-01 01:07:10 | Updated at 2026-10-01 02:45:40
2 hours ago
QUANTICO, Va.—Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced six new directives for the U.S. military while addressing about 600 service members at Marine Corps Base Quantico on Sept. 30.
Among the new plans, Hegseth announced the formation of an Autonomous Warfare Command, AUTOWARCOM.
He also announced a new project—to be led by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey—to study the future of warfare.
“We should have been thinking about Autonomous Warfare Command 10 years ago,” he said. “We need to be looking forward into the future to achieve technological and military dominance on the battlefield for decades to come.”
Hegseth laid out the new directives on the first anniversary of a gathering of U.S. generals and admirals at Quantico, during which he emphasized a series of cultural shifts within the military.
Rather than gathering general officers, those in attendance for this year’s address included enlisted squad and section leaders, and company-grade officers.
As he began his remarks, Hegseth also briefly alluded to a new order—which The Epoch Times previously reported—to cut the total number of general officer slots across the military.
Autonomous Warfare and Future Planning
The first of Hegseth’s six new policy directives focused on autonomous warfare.
He said he intends for the forthcoming AUTOWARCOM to be a command tasked with scaling autonomous and robotic capabilities across the armed forces.
Along the pathway to establishing a fully operational command, Hegseth announced a revamped Pentagon effort—dubbed “Project Agincourt”—to speed the adoption of autonomous systems.
“This model fuses operators with entrepreneurs in rapid adaptation cycles while distributing decisions and dollars closer to frontline units to combatant commands,” he said.
Project Agincourt would also develop new frameworks for military specialties suited toward autonomous warfare roles.
Along with more focus on autonomous warfare, Hegseth’s second directive entails an effort called “Project Meridian” to study the potential futures of warfare.
Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael will head the project, with the support of Musk, Gingrich, and Luckey.
Hegseth said the purpose of Project Meridian “is to creatively look to the future and identify the domains that we must conquer and capabilities we must master.”
New and Revamped Military Bases
Hegseth also announced making key U.S. military installations and other critical supplies and infrastructure more resilient to disruptions. This effort is known as Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy, Supply, and Survivability (FORTRESS) America.
“We are building long-overdue strategic reserves, deep enough to fight through disruption. We’re hardening every installation on American soil against cyber intrusion, sabotage, and drones,” he said.
The military has already taken steps to develop small nuclear reactors to generate power at military bases independent of local energy grids.
Hegseth’s fourth policy announcement is a major new military base in the United States.
He did not specify the purpose of the base, but called on governors across the country to bid for the project.
The secretary said the military is seeking “hundreds of thousands of acres, with organic power generation, modern air defenses, and cutting-edge technology.”
New Cadet Corps
Among the directives, Hegseth announced a plan to expand the military’s officer candidacy programs.
While many of the military’s future officers attend service academies such as the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, other officers commission after attending traditional four-year universities.
Six universities have obtained “senior military” status and established cadet corps to prepare students who plan to commission as officers after graduating.
As he spoke on Wednesday, Hegseth described plans to expand these cadet corps to other universities.
Louisiana State University (LSU), Liberty University, Tuskegee University, Mississippi State University, and Hillsdale College will represent the first five universities to establish new cadet corps.
Participation in one of these universities’ cadet corps confers priority treatment for officer commissioning opportunities.
“We’re grateful to these initial five institutions for stepping forward, and there are a number more that we plan to announce soon,” Hegseth said.
“The status quo of our officer pipeline is pretty good, but the future will be even better by embedding continuous military discipline and leadership development into new institutions.”
An Office of Religious Affairs
The final new policy Hegseth announced was the formation of an Office of Religious Affairs, under the purview of the Department of War, to address challenges affecting religious practice within the military.
As he laid out the announcement, Hegseth characterized a problem in which people with little to no expertise in religion have been allowed to shape the military’s policies.
He said this new Office of Religious Affairs will report directly to his office.
“No staff filters, no bureaucratic dilution, a direct line to the secretary,” he said.
