WASHINGTON (TNND) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth kicked off his first overseas trip Tuesday morning with a visit to Stuttgart, Germany.
Hegseth’s week-long foreign trip includes visits to Germany, Belgium and Poland to meet U.S. and Allied leaders. The Department of Defense says the trip will focus on “strengthening deterrence, supporting warfighters, and advancing America’s national security interests.”
Hegseth’s first stop included a visit to the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) headquarters, where he met with senior military leaders to receive an operations update.
He also met with U.S. service members stationed in the country, participating in a town hall with AFRICOM officials.
After Germany, Hegseth will head to Brussels, Belgium to attend the NATO Defense Ministerial and the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting.
This will be Hegseth’s first NATO Ministerial with Allied counterparts, the DoD says, where he plans to work with NATO Allies and partners to discuss boosting “Allied defense spending, increase European leadership and expand defense industrial base capacity on both sides of the Atlantic.”
The DoD reports Hegseth is expected to reinforce President Donald Trump’s commitment to a quick end to the war in Ukraine at the UDGC meeting.
Hegseth’s final stop will be Poland. There, he plans to meet with Polish leaders on bilateral defense cooperation and deterrence efforts on NATO’s eastern flank.
He also plans to visit U.S. troops stationed in Poland.
“Throughout this trip, Secretary Hegseth will emphasize the importance of strengthening alliances, increasing defense readiness, and ensuring that American warfighters remain the most lethal force in the world by demonstrating peace through strength,” the DoD wrote.
On Monday, Hegseth signed an order restoring the name of Fort Bragg after it was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023.