WASHINGTON (TNND) — Reporters from the entertainment network TMZ asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth two questions during a briefing about Operation Epic Fury.
Operation Epic Fury was the military operation the U.S. conducted on Iran earlier this year.
TMZ correspondents Jacob Wasserman and Charlie Cotton both asked Hegseth a question following the briefing.
“I’ve heard you talk a lot about bombing people and places, and when you give these orders to carry out this extreme level of violence, what’s going through your mind and your body?” Wasserman asked, according to The Hill newspaper. “Do you have, like, an adrenaline rush? Are you scared? Do you feel like you’re on a power trip? Just walk us through and paint us a picture of what it feels like mentally and physically.”
Hegseth said that the question was “very TMZ” and his goal is to defeat the enemy and make the soldiers feel empowered.
“I want them to feel empowered to have every authority they need, within our rules and within our law, to bring maximum violence to the enemy, because war is violent, war requires doing difficult things,” Hegseth said. “But I want our people to feel empowered so it’s our guys that come home and their guys do not.”
Cotton asked Hegseth about renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War.
Cotton said the department should be called the Department of Peace.
“Well, that’s the pursuit,” Hegseth responded. “It’s a great question, actually. You go from Defense to War because you want to be proactive about peace through strength. And, really –– I gave a speech in front of generals about what the ethos of the War Department is all about because I wanted to go through every echelon of this department.”