Overview

• At a Navy locker‑room event two days after the Quantico meeting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reprised lines about tougher standards, joked “no more beardos,” urged players to “fight like hell,” and referred to himself as Secretary of War.
• At Quantico, President Donald Trump proposed using U.S. cities as training grounds with a quick‑reaction force, while Hegseth ordered more frequent fitness tests and decried “fat generals and admirals.”
• The administration has highlighted domestic operations, with the White House announcing National Guard security support for federal facilities in Portland and officials pointing to Chicago and Memphis as next focal points.
• Retired Army Major General Randy E. Manner criticized the Quantico event as turning senior officers into “props,” reflecting broader concerns about politicizing an institution that prizes apolitical norms.
• The New Yorker reported that Trump recently ordered a torpedo strike on a boat departing Venezuela and that White House lawyers have asserted an “armed conflict” with the drug trade, claims that raise legal questions and have not been independently confirmed.