Importance of American Special Operations Forces

United States military special forces are “essential to everything that President [Donald] Trump does in his leadership to put America first and establish peace through strength,” said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a speech to U.S. Special Operations Forces in Florida.

President Trump is dedicated to advancing the safety and security of the American people. “That first and foremost includes defending our homeland, our border, Golden Dome [anti-missile defense system], standing up to the Communist Chinese and, of course, increasing burden sharing with our allies and partners,” said Secretary Hegseth. He emphasized that “border security equals national security. And we're going to get 100 percent operational control of our southern border.”

Homeland defense is first and foremost a global mission, said Secretary Hegseth. “In the last six months, [Special Operations Forces, or SOF] has eliminated over 500 terrorists who threaten our homeland directly.” And alongside global partners, SOF has captured at least another 600 terrorists.

“America First does not mean America alone,” said Secretary Hegseth. “We shift our focus as we do to the Indo-Pacific, President Trump looks to our partners throughout the world to put their shoulder to the plow and take their share of the burden in their own defense. . . .”

Secretary Hegseth recalled President Trump’s charge to him as Secretary of Defense: “restore the warrior ethos in our military full stop. And that's been my first priority since day one. . . .”

“Everything starts and ends with warriors, from training to the battlefield. We are leaving wokeness and weakness behind. No more pronouns. No more climate change obsession. No more emergency vaccine mandates.”

Instead, said Secretary Hegseth, the U.S. military will focus on “lethality, meritocracy, accountability standards and readiness.” That's why since President Trump was elected, recruitment and retention numbers are up historically.

The goal is to put the best systems in the hands of U.S. warfighters in an effort to reestablish deterrence. “We're doing this by reviving our defense industrial base, reforming our acquisitions process and rapidly fielding emerging technologies,” said Secretary Hegseth.

“Under the leadership of President Trump,” said Secretary Hegseth, “the message to our adversaries has been undeniably clear — America is back.”

“Enemy aggression will be met swiftly and harshly, and we're beginning a new golden age of America and a golden age of national defense.”