Overview

• President Trump addressed roughly 800 generals and admirals at Quantico, urging them to “prepare for war,” calling domestic unrest an “invasion from within,” and suggesting “dangerous cities” be used as training grounds.
• Within hours, the White House announced federal deployments to Portland to confront what it labeled “left‑wing violent terrorism,” a move Oregon officials opposed in court and in public statements.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued 10 directives eliminating DEI programs, imposing stricter grooming and fitness rules, applying the “highest male standard” to combat tests, defending recent firings, and promising cuts to four‑star billets.
• Legal experts pointed to limits on using troops for law enforcement and to a recent federal ruling that found the June Los Angeles deployment unlawful, highlighting risks to domestic operations.
• The administration paired the domestic shift with a harder external posture, including expanded Caribbean deployments linked to Venezuela and Trump’s claim of moving submarines closer to Russia, as regional tensions and costs of the Quantico gathering drew scrutiny.