STARBASE, Texas (BTX Today – ConstanceAI) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday used a visit to SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Brownsville to call for sweeping changes in how the Pentagon develops and buys new technology, arguing the United States must move faster to keep an edge over global rivals.
Hegseth spoke after a tour of SpaceX’s rocket manufacturing site, where he praised the operation as a model for scaling production and accelerating innovation. “There’s nothing like this in America. There’s nothing like this in the world,” he said, calling the facility “a testament to the strength of American ingenuity and American invention.”
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk introduced Hegseth and visiting Pentagon leaders, describing Starbase as a city “built out of nothing” and noting the site sits along a public highway where visitors can see rocket hardware. Musk also framed SpaceX’s long-term mission in sci-fi terms, saying the company wants to make “Star Trek real” and turn science fiction into “science fact.”
Hegseth said the Pentagon’s traditional approach to developing weapons and fielding new capabilities is too slow for modern threats, describing the current system as “archaic” and weighed down by layers of committees that “coordinated but never decided.”
“Simply put, the United States must win the strategic competition for 21st century technological supremacy,” Hegseth said, listing artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, quantum technology, hypersonics, long-range drones, space capabilities, directed energy and biotechnology as key areas of competition.
He argued consolidation in the defense industrial base has contributed to a risk-averse culture and made it harder for new companies to do business with the Pentagon. “We can no longer afford to wait a decade for our legacy prime contractors to deliver the next perfect system,” he said, warning of delays and cost overruns.
Hegseth announced steps he said are aimed at streamlining decision-making and speeding adoption of emerging tools, including naming the undersecretary for research and engineering, Emil Michael, as the department’s single chief technology officer. Hegseth also said he was disestablishing several internal innovation councils and replacing them with a smaller “CTO action group” focused on decisions, accountability and faster delivery.
A major portion of the remarks focused on artificial intelligence. Hegseth said the Pentagon is expanding access to leading AI models across unclassified and classified networks and announced that Grok, the AI model from Musk’s xAI, would be added “later this month” to a Defense Department AI platform he referenced in his speech.
He also outlined what he called an “AI acceleration strategy,” emphasizing aggressive timelines, measurable outcomes and a willingness to learn from failure — a cultural shift, he said, from past Pentagon practices. “We will not win the future by sprinkling AI onto old tactics like digital pixie dust,” he said.
Hegseth called for removing what he described as bureaucratic “blockers,” and said barriers to data sharing, testing and contracting should be treated as operational risks. He also said “data hoarding is now a national security risk,” and described a process for cataloging and sharing data assets across the department to support AI development.
Hegseth’s speech included political and cultural attacks on past Pentagon approaches to “responsible AI,” saying it should mean “objectively truthful AI capabilities employed securely and within the laws governing the activities of the department.” He added: “Department of War AI will not be woke. It will work for us.”
Local reporting described the stop as part of a broader Pentagon tour focused on industrial capacity and innovation, placing a spotlight on South Texas as the region continues to grow as a hub for aerospace manufacturing and launch operations.
