Hegseth pledges to end ‘politically correct’ leadership in US armed forces

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks to senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico (Andrew Harnik/Pool via AP)

Defence secretary Pete Hegseth summoned hundreds of US military officials to an in-person meeting on Tuesday to declare an end to “woke” culture in the military and announce new directives for troops that include “gender-neutral” or “male-level” standards for physical fitness.

Mr Hegseth and 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.