‘I traveled 8K miles to hear this?’ Retired general rips into Hegseth’s ‘canned’ speech

A retired U.S. Army general strongly criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent speech to top military leaders, saying it was a waste of time and offered nothing new.

Hegseth had gathered generals and admirals from around the world at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, pulling them away from their assignments for what many expected to be an important announcement. But according to retired Brig. Gen. Steve Anderson, the speech turned out to be a generic, prepackaged talk that could have been given by anyone at any time.

Speaking on CNN, Anderson said he imagined many officers in the room were thinking, “I traveled 8,000 miles for this?” He warned that Hegseth seemed to be hinting at shifting focus away from U.S. alliances overseas, like NATO and partnerships with Japan and South Korea, and instead putting more emphasis on homeland security. Anderson said that would be a dangerous move, because those international alliances have helped keep global stability for nearly 80 years.

Anderson also mocked Hegseth’s comments about “changing the culture” of the military and focusing on accountability and responsibility. He said many of the seasoned generals in the room had lived through decades of sacrifice and combat, and didn’t need to be lectured by someone with far less experience.

The retired general then brought up what he called Hegseth’s own failures, pointing to the “Signalgate” scandal, where classified information was reportedly shared over an insecure communication line. Anderson argued that any other officer in that room would have been fired for something like that, and said Hegseth should have resigned over it.

In his view, the speech wasn’t really about strategy or leadership, but about politics. He predicted it would become more of a rally in support of Donald Trump rather than a serious meeting about national security. Anderson called it a sad and troubling moment, suggesting the military was being pressured to serve political interests instead of focusing on its true mission.