SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: I mean, the point of what we wanted to talk about today here in Oshkosh is emphasizing two things: that we're a very different department that's open for business across the country, it's not just the defense industrial base, it's major manufacturers around the country that we want to get in the defense game. When you can do commercial and you can do scale and you can do it well, we need you at the Department of War.
And secondly, to underscore how important the generational investment in our $1.5 trillion budget is, the President completely committed to it and we believe between now and even before the election, but also through a lame duck, that we will get every dime of that.
And we — the reason we've focused so much on it is this moment requires it, the nature of the threat around the world, the deferred maintenance previously — if you look under the hood, I don't know what the previous administration was actually doing. And so, we're having to reinvest and restart the economic engine, the defense industrial base, at speed, at scale.
Everything I talked about on that stage is real. It's a main effort. If we want to stay ahead of our adversaries, we've got to have companies like this one moving faster we've got to open the aperture for even more companies. So, thanks for coming out to Oshkosh as an example, and we'll be doing a lot more Arsenal of Freedom events. I'll take a few questions.
Q: I had a question on Iran. Just can you give us the lay of the land? What's our current posture right now with our overseas operations? And what do you hope this threat of economic sanctions will do to Iran?
SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: Well, it was great to see the Treasury Secretary today. We've been in full coordination with him on the Economic Fury and all the pressure that he can bring to bear. And we know that Iran can't handle it. Ultimately, their economy is in a spiral.
They also know that we control the Strait of Hormuz, that our blockade is ironclad and that oil is flowing through, ultimately, and you've seen some of the numbers Iran can't run anything through; we can. The world economy realizes that and so they made a big bet on controlling it and they can't. They don't — because of the devastating things our military did to their Navy and their ability to sense and see and radars and missiles.
They still have some capabilities, but it's nowhere near what it was at all. And so, we can protect the shipping going through the straits, allowing oil to flow. More economic pressure only ensures that Iran really has — the only choice they have is to come to the table and actually talk about their nuclear program, which is what the President has demanded.
Q: Is it fair to say kinetic strikes are on a pause right now?
SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: No. If we need to use kinetic strikes, we'll use them. If Iran is foolish enough to overplay their hand or mess with the American military, we'll do what we need to do. But economic pressure, we know, hurts them the most right now. And but by no means are we foreclosing using kinetic strikes anywhere in the Strait of Hormuz or around Iran.
Q: On Iran, with munitions purchases being a top priority for you, and the budget coming under pressure as Congress looks to do midterm elections and the balance of power may change, is it possible that you may choose to cut the amount of munitions purchases if you don't get the $1.5 billion? Or is that sacred?
SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: I don't think so; it's pretty sacred. And we've cut a lot of these deals, as you've seen, five- to seven-year deals with companies who are now already investing, have made down payments of their own money on new plants and manufacturing. So, this is not a nip around the margins of a few more weapons; this is a generational investment of 2X, 3X, 4X more munitions of the ones we know we're going to need and use.
Those investments will be made. And of course, the media has made a lot of false claims about a lot of things. We feel really good about where we are and about our ability to make sure we've got the munitions in the future.
Q: On Iran, and the Defense Casualty Analysis System added 60 wounded in action over the last week. What can you tell us about attacks on US forces?
SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: I can tell you that databases play catch up sometimes. We've been transparent about it the entire time.
Q: Do you have any message for the families of those that are on the carriers right now? I know you've seen a lot of the reporting, the soldiers, the sailors on the USS Lincoln. Are you worried about other ships?
SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: To the sailors and families of the Lincoln I say Godspeed on a historic mission. Congratulations, you're on your way home; you've done epic things to secure the American people. And I've had a chance to talk to — in fact, one of the one of the guys on the assembly lines, son is coming home, he's on the Lincoln right now.
And he affirmed what I've heard time and time again, which is they're really proud of what they've done. It's been a tough deployment. They haven't had as much port visits as anyone would like. It's been longer than most, but they've done incredible things in the harshest of environments against an enemy — a determined enemy that will change the course of history for American security.
So, I look forward to greeting them. I appreciate the good faith focus that's existed, but the media has done a lot of bad faith focus also trying to spin things or misrepresent things. The Lincoln has done incredible work, and we're very proud of them. Yes.
Q: The United States has two types of ATACMS weapons, unitary and cluster. The press reported that nearly all of the ATACMS weapons were used. Did the United States use both unitary and cluster?
SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: Why would I answer that? I mean, this is the kind of stupid question I would never answer. Like, why would I answer a question about whether we do or do not have certain types of munitions? I will tell you, we have 110 percent or I'd tell you we have one — I would never answer that question, and the press is foolish to want to press.
An American press is foolish to want to press an American War Department about where we may or may not be on classified, exquisite systems. I'll just tell you this — we had plenty when we needed it, and we have plenty now and we have plenty when we'll need them in the future, absolutely. Thank you very much. Appreciate you guys coming along. Thank you.
