{"id":69586,"date":"2025-02-08T19:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T19:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:17:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:17:42","slug":"deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Deterring China, slashing waste top Pentagon priorities, Hegseth says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Defense Secretary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2025\/02\/07\/pentagon-cuts-off-hegseth-town-hall-webcast-after-transparency-pledge\/\" target=\"_blank\">Pete Hegseth on Friday pledged<\/a> to demonstrate to China that the United States will continue supporting its allies in the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S., however, is not going to create unnecessary conflict with Beijing, Hegseth said in a question-and-answer session during a town hall with Defense Department personnel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re clear-eyed about the communist Chinese, the [People\u2019s Republic of China], but we\u2019re also not attempting to initiate conflict or create conflict where it otherwise doesn\u2019t need to exist,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to stand strong with our partners. And then President Trump, at his strategic level, is the one who\u2019s having the conversations to sort of ensure that we don\u2019t ever have a conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe don\u2019t want that, [the Chinese] don\u2019t want that,\u201d Hegseth continued. \u201cWe just have to remain strong in order to be in the best possible position.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon posted a transcript of the town hall Friday evening, after a livestream of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2025\/02\/07\/pentagon-cuts-off-hegseth-town-hall-webcast-after-transparency-pledge\/\" target=\"_blank\">event was cut off following Hegseth\u2019s<\/a> 15 minutes of opening remarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hegseth\u2019s comments about China came after an Air Force official asked him whether the Defense Department would be more assertive in the \u201cgray zone\u201d area \u2014&nbsp;short of war \u2014 to deter China and Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s gray zone activities that exist, some of which you can acknowledge, some of which you cannot,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cBut certainly, we want to send the signals to China that the [Indo-Pacific] area will be and continues to be contested.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response to a question about potential staff cuts at DOD, Hegseth also said that \u201cthere are thousands of additional \u2026 positions [across the Defense Department] that have been created over the last 20 years that don\u2019t necessarily translate to battlefield success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c[There are] additional staff, additional layers of bureaucracy [and] additional flag officer positions that we would be remiss if we did not review,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hegseth noted that the department operates in a \u201cbudget constrained environment,\u201d and highlighted the armored cavalry unit at Fort Bliss, which has had to cut a series of upcoming training assignments due to tight budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen you\u2019re living off of continuing resolutions and caps, and then you have contingency operations and things that change, suddenly you have shortfalls and now unit training falls by the wayside,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cFrom my perspective, that\u2019s completely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hegseth said that in addition to rooting out waste, fraud and abuse, the Pentagon needs to slash hierarchies and layers of bureaucracy that aren\u2019t serving the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That could also involve a reduction in the number of four-star generals and flag officers, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe won World War II with seven four-star generals,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cToday we have 44. Do all of those directly contribute to warfighting success? Maybe they do. I don\u2019t know, but it\u2019s worth reviewing to make sure they do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the town hall an official from the Pentagon\u2019s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office, which provides independent analysis on DOD programs, asked whether the military\u2019s acquisition process should focus on smaller capabilities that could be fielded more quickly, or larger-scale capabilities that can do more to deter adversaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn a perfect world, I would say both,\u201d Hegseth said, citing the effectiveness of low-cost drones in the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon can work with Silicon Valley and fast-moving new contractors that are able to rapidly field new systems, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the Pentagon needs to speed up its testing process so commanders can see how new systems work in the field, and then scale up production once it\u2019s clear how much practical use those new technologies have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, Hegseth noted one question that highlighted the challenges facing military families, such as frequent moves, was \u201c100% right.\u201d And he suggested that massive military programs may need to take a backseat to family concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Families\u2019 frustrations are \u201ca massive readiness and retention issue and a morale issue,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFunding one more multibillion-dollar system is not as important as funding the families and the capabilities of our human systems that make it all happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Certainly, we want to send the signals to China that the [Indo-Pacific] area will be and continues to be contested.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"4":{"categories":["your-air-force","news"],"primary_category":"your-air-force"},"5":{"categories":["your-army","news"],"primary_category":"your-army"},"6":{"categories":["your-marine-corps","news"],"primary_category":"your-marine-corps"},"7":{"categories":["your-navy","news"],"primary_category":"your-navy"}}},"categories":[7,160,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3412],"class_list":["post-69586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"AFKCDN5ZFFDZJFJT46BQSRSNRM","arc_canonical_url":"\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Deterring China, slashing waste top Pentagon priorities, Hegseth says - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;Certainly, we want to send the signals to China that the area will be and continues to be contested.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deterring China, slashing waste top Pentagon priorities, Hegseth says\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;Certainly, we want to send the signals to China that the area will be and continues to be contested.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-08T19:12:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T01:17:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephen Losey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephen Losey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/08\\\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/08\\\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"Deterring China, slashing waste top Pentagon priorities, Hegseth says\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2025-02-08T19:12:11+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T01:17:42+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/08\\\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 695,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/08\\\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Hegseth-town-hall.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Air Warfare\",\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/08\\\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/08\\\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/08\\\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Deterring China, slashing waste top Pentagon priorities, Hegseth says - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/08\\\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/08\\\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Hegseth-town-hall.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2025-02-08T19:12:11+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T01:17:42+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"\\\"Certainly, we want to send the signals to China that the area will be and continues to be contested.\u201d\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/08\\\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/08\\\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\\\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/08\\\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Hegseth-town-hall.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Hegseth-town-hall.jpg.jpg\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/08\\\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Air Warfare\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"air\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 3,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Deterring China, slashing waste top Pentagon priorities, Hegseth says\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"Defense News\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t            }\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t            \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Deterring China, slashing waste top Pentagon priorities, Hegseth says - Defense News","description":"\"Certainly, we want to send the signals to China that the area will be and continues to be contested.\u201d","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Deterring China, slashing waste top Pentagon priorities, Hegseth says","og_description":"\"Certainly, we want to send the signals to China that the area will be and continues to be contested.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/","og_site_name":"Defense News","article_published_time":"2025-02-08T19:12:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-08T01:17:42+00:00","author":"Stephen Losey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Stephen Losey","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"Deterring China, slashing waste top Pentagon priorities, Hegseth says","datePublished":"2025-02-08T19:12:11+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T01:17:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/"},"wordCount":695,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hegseth-town-hall.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["Air Warfare","Daily News Roundup","Newsletters"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/","name":"Deterring China, slashing waste top Pentagon priorities, Hegseth says - Defense News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hegseth-town-hall.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2025-02-08T19:12:11+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T01:17:42+00:00","description":"\"Certainly, we want to send the signals to China that the area will be and continues to be contested.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hegseth-town-hall.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hegseth-town-hall.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/02\/08\/deterring-china-slashing-waste-top-pentagon-priorities-hegseth-says\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Air Warfare","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/","ad_zone":"air"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Deterring China, slashing waste top Pentagon priorities, Hegseth says"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","name":"Defense News","description":"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization","name":"Defense News","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","caption":"Defense News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Defense News","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hegseth-town-hall.jpg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69586"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69591,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69586\/revisions\/69591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69586"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=69586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}