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Hegseth to highlight rebuilding the ‘arsenal of freedom’ in speech at Reagan National Defense Forum
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is preparing to deliver a speech Saturday on rebuilding the “arsenal of freedom” at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.
Ahead of the keynote address, Hegseth shared a video on X touring facilities in California.
“The era of vendor-locked, prime-dominated, closed architecture, cost plus is over. We’re going to compete. We’re going to move fast. We’re going to do open architecture. We’re going to innovate. We’re going to scale. We’re going to do it at cost. Because this is a commitment to a mission,” Hegseth said in the video.
“Whether you’re a vet or not who served already, all of you are serving the Department of War, the American people and the arsenal of freedom,” Hegseth said. “I need you to understand that, yes, we’re here for the warfighters who are out there pulling triggers on the behalf of our nation right now. Everybody here’s touched someone who serves at some point. But they can’t succeed without you.”
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War Secretary Pete Hegseth listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
The secretary told those building the Department of War’s arsenal that American troops would not be able to do what’s required of them “in far-flung places, in dangerous moments, in the dead of night without the capabilities that you will underwrite for them.”
“So, this arsenal of freedom is built not just with men and women in camouflage. But it’s in folks in civilian clothes all across the country who are also putting in the work 24/7, to out-compete, out-innovate and out-manufacture our opponents,” Hegseth declared.
Hegseth’s speech is scheduled to begin around 2:50 p.m. ET, according to a Reagan National Defense Forum schedule. He will be joined at the event by other leaders from the U.S. military.
“We are rebuilding the Arsenal of Freedom,” Hegseth wrote on X alongside the video.
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War Secretary Pete Hegseth takes a question from a reporter during a news conference at the Pentagon June 22, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images )
The event is being held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.
“The Reagan National Defense Forum (RNDF) brings together leaders from across the political spectrum and key stakeholders in the defense community, including Members of Congress, current and former Administration officials, senior military leadership, industry executives, technology innovators, and thought leaders,” the Forum said on its website.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives for a news conference at the Pentagon June 22, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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“Their mission is to review and assess policies that strengthen America’s national defense in the context of the global threat environment.”
Notable speakers at the event so far on Saturday included Russell Vought, the director of the United States Office of Management and Budget; Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., who is the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee; Emil Michael, the U.S. under secretary of war for research and engineering; and Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Other than brush, overgrown grass, some birds singing in the distance, and perhaps a gust of wind coming in, there’s really not much going on in Honouliuli Gulch these days.
More than 80 years ago, it was a different story.
Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a hasty prisoner of war compound was built in this barren area of Oahu and named the Honouliuli Internment Camp.
Some of the Japanese Americans who were imprisoned here had another name for this place: “Jigoku dani,” or “Hell Valley.”
“There is a reason why the Japanese Americans nicknamed it Hell’s Valley. It’s a very rugged environment. It’s deep in the gulf to the valley,” said Christine Ogura, superintendent of the Honouliuli National Historic Site.
Now, for the first time, the public will be able to understand the “hell” internees experienced through guided tours into what is now known as the Honouliuli National Historic Site.
“You’re going to have an opportunity to actually walk original historic roads that people who were incarcerated there, their family members walked as well,” Ogura said. “Even though the camp was closed and we don’t have any original structures left, because when the military closed in 1946, they actually took everything down. But we do still have original, like the concrete slab foundation of the mess hall, where families were able to reunite with their mothers and their fathers during visitation.”
The internment camp opened in 1943 and was the largest and longest-used incarceration site in the islands. At its peak, Honouliuli held over 4,000 prisoners of war from Italy, Taiwan, Korea, Philippines and had the largest contingent made up of Japanese Americans.
For Superintendent Ogura, what happened here is personal since she is a second-generation American of Japanese ancestry.
“When I found out that this happened here and being Nisei myself and my parents are Issei, I reflected: had I been born a generation earlier it could have been me and my mom,” she said. “I think locally it’s an important history to conserve and perpetuate because it is important that our communities know that this happened locally.”
Tours at the Honouliuli National Historic Site will begin on July 18, and demand has been overwhelming with every tour fully booked and waitlists in the hundreds.
“I will say the response has been humbling when we released the dates. It booked up within 25 minutes and we currently have a waiting list of over 1,700 people,” Ogura said.
The park is working toward more availabilities for next year.
Officials are looking for volunteer docents to help expand tour capacity.
Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — A simmering dispute between Idaho’s top elections official and the U.S. Department of Justice escalated this month after federal officials warned Secretary of State Phil McGrane about possible prosecution tied to non-citizens voting in Idaho.
The Justice Department sent a letter earlier this month threatening McGrane with prosecution. The warning came amid a broader conflict between the Trump administration and McGrane, whom the administration has sued over his refusal to provide unredacted voter rolls to the federal government.
Idaho’s chief of civil litigation, James Craig, responded on July 10. In a letter first reported by the Idaho Statesman, Craig pushed back on the federal warning, writing, “Insinuations of criminal violations of the federal election laws are not well taken,” and asking the department to “stop threatening your friends in Idaho.”
Craig also requested that the lawsuit against McGrane be dismissed and criticized the Justice Department for sending its letter directly to McGrane rather than to the Idaho attorney general’s office.
The attorney general’s office said the state has already referred 15 cases of possible non-citizen election violations to the Justice Department but is not aware of any of them being prosecuted. Craig’s letter ends by asking the department to do so.
HEBGEN LAKE, Mont. — A man was rescued after nearly drowning while swimming in Rainbow Point, located 10 miles north of West Yellowstone.
The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office, along with Hebgen Basin Rural EMS personnel and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, responded to reports of a swimmer in distress.
Officials say bystanders saw a man become unresponsive while swimming roughly 100 yards off the shoreline.
They, along with a boating group, located the man, pulled him out of the water, and performed life-saving measures until first responders arrived.
The man was airlifted to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. Officials say he is in critical condition.
The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office released the following information:
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