Hegseth and US President Donald Trump had abruptly called military leaders from around the world to convene at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, near Washington, without publicly revealing the reason until this morning.

Hegseth’s address largely focused on his own long-used talking points that painted a picture of a military that has been hamstrung by “woke” policies and he said military leaders should “do the honorable thing and resign” if they don’t like his new approach.

Meetings between top military brass and civilian leaders are nothing new but the gathering had fuelled intense speculation about the summit’s purpose given the haste with which it was called and the mystery surrounding it.

Admirals and generals from conflict zones in the Middle East and elsewhere were summoned for a lecture on race and gender in the military, underscoring the extent to which the country’s culture wars have emerged as a front-and-centre agenda item for Hegseth’s Pentagon, even at a time of broad national security concerns across the globe.

During his nearly hour-long speech, Hegseth said the US military has promoted too many leaders for the wrong reasons based on race, gender quotas and “historic firsts.”

“The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now at every level,” Hegseth said.

He said he is loosening disciplinary rules and weakening hazing protections, while his speech had a heavy focus on removing many of the guardrails the military had put in place after numerous scandals and investigations.

Hegseth said he was ordering a review of “the department’s definitions of so-called toxic leadership, bullying and hazing to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing.”

He called for “changes to the retention of adverse information on personnel records that will allow leaders with forgivable, earnest, or minor infractions to not be encumbered by those infractions in perpetuity.”

“People make honest mistakes, and our mistakes should not define an entire career,” Hegseth said. “Otherwise, we only try not to make mistakes.”

Bullying and toxic leadership has had been the suspected and confirmed cause behind numerous military suicides over the past several years including the very dramatic suicide of Brandon Caserta, a young sailor who was bullied into killing himself in 2018.

A Navy investigation later found that Caserta’s supervisor’s “noted belligerence, vulgarity and brash leadership was likely a significant contributing factor in (the sailor)’s decision to end his own life.”

Hegseth used the platform to slam physical fitness and grooming standards, environmental policies and transgender troops while talking up his and Trump’s focus on “the warrior ethos” and “peace through strength.”

Hegseth said the department has been told from previous administrations that “our diversity is our strength,” which he called an “insane fallacy.”

“They had to put out dizzying DEI and LGBTQE+ statements. They were told females and males are the same thing, or that males who think they’re females is totally normal,” he said, adding the use of electric tanks and the COVID vaccine requirements to the list as mistaken policies.

Hegseth said this is is not about preventing women from serving.

“But when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral,” he said.

“If women can make it excellent, if not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it. That is not the intent, but it could be the result.”

Hegseth also told top military officers that he no longer wants to see “fat generals and admirals” or overweight troops in combat formations as he emphasised the need to stick to strict fitness standards for US service members around the world.

“It’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon leading commands around the country, in the world, it’s a bad look,” Hegseth said.

“It is bad, and it’s not who we are.”

Hegseth’s speech came as the country faces a potential government shutdown this week and as Hegseth, who has hammered home a focus on lethality and what he calls the “warrior ethos,” has taken several unusual and unexplained actions, including ordering cuts to the number of general officers and firings of other top military leaders.

News about the abruptly scheduled meeting broke on Thursday, and top Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed it but declined to release further details.

Trump didn’t seem to know about it when he was asked by reporters during an Oval Office appearance later that day. The Republican president said he’ll “be there if they want me, but why is that such a big deal?”

A White House official said Sunday that Trump also will speak at the gathering. The president told NBC News that he and Hegseth would be “talking about how well we’re doing militarily, talking about being in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things.”

Vice President JD Vance argued last week that the media had turned it into a “big story” and that it was “not particularly unusual that generals who report to” Hegseth are coming to speak with him.

Italian Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chair of NATO’s Military Committee, described the meeting as unusual and told reporters Saturday after a NATO meeting in Riga, Latvia, that “as far as my 49 years of service, I’ve never seen that before.”

The lack of detailed information has prompted many observers in Washington to speculate about the meeting’s focus. Whatever it is, Michael O’Hanlon, of the Brookings Institution, said he suspects there will be a dramatic element that may be “as important as any substantive element.”

“Just the sheer scale makes you wonder what kind of meaningful interaction can occur,” said O’Hanlon, Brookings’ director of research for foreign policy.

“And therefore it smacks more of theatrics or of trying to impose than of trying to exchange views.”