Pete Hegseth injected a touch of humor, referencing Star Trek, at an event named after a dystopian episode from the iconic sci-fi series. The occasion took place at SpaceX’s Starbase in Texas on Monday, where Hegseth was joined by Elon Musk. As part of his high-profile ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ tour, Hegseth aimed to highlight the Pentagon’s initiative towards developing non-woke artificial intelligence. Walking onto the stage to the tune of The White Stripes’ rock anthem ‘Seven Nation Army,’ Hegseth flashed a Vulcan salute and quipped, “Star Trek real” in Musk’s presence.

Elon Musk chuckled at Hegseth’s nod to pop culture. The lectern displayed the phrase ‘Arsenal of Freedom,’ echoing the title of a Star Trek episode about a civilization undone by its own weaponry. In his address, Hegseth discussed global arms races, the drawbacks of government bureaucracies, and the urgency for technological advancement. He emphasized, “Department of War AI will not be woke. We’re focused on developing battle-ready weapons and systems, not chatbots for an Ivy League faculty lounge.” The ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ campaign seeks to revolutionize the US military’s approach to weapon development, AI integration, and collaboration with Silicon Valley.

Musk also took the stage to clarify that his aspirations reach far beyond defense contracts, aspiring for interstellar travel. “We want to make Star Trek real,” Musk stated, envisioning an era of interplanetary exploration and voyages beyond our solar system. He welcomed Hegseth to SpaceX’s rocket manufacturing and launch headquarters. Hegseth’s visit to Starbase was a significant stop on his month-long tour, which the Defense Department describes as a strategy to revitalize the military by engaging with the defense industrial base and accelerating innovation. “You are the cornerstone of our defense industrial base – the backbone of great American manufacturers – who we trust to usher in a new golden age of peace through strength under President Trump,” Hegseth told the audience. Featured: The USS Enterprise from Star Trek.

He declared the United States ‘deadly serious’ about dominating space, calling for ‘a larger, more modern and more capable constellation of American satellites launched by American rockets from American soil, built by American engineers.’ The secretary framed his message as a sharp break from the past, criticizing what he described as years of bureaucratic inertia at the Pentagon. ‘Until President Trump took office, the Department of War’s process for fielding new capabilities had not kept up with the times,’ Hegseth said, lamenting ‘endless projects with no accountable owners’ and ‘high churn with little progress and few outputs.’ ‘That sounds about like the exact opposite of SpaceX,’ he added, calling the contrast ‘a dangerous game with potentially fatal consequences.’

The most pointed lines of the speech came as Hegseth took aim at what he called a ‘risk-averse culture’ inside the defense industry and vowed to upend it. ‘This is about building an innovation pipeline that cuts through the overgrown bureaucratic underbrush and clears away the debris Elon-style – preferably with a chainsaw,’ Hegseth said. As part of that effort, he confirmed that the Defense Department plans to integrate Musk’s Grok AI platform into Pentagon systems, alongside Google’s Gemini model, deploying them across both classified and unclassified networks. 

Hegseth said he has directed that ‘all appropriate data’ be shared across every service and component so it can be ‘fully leveraged for warfighting capability development and operational advantage.’ ‘We must ensure that America’s military AI dominates,’ he said, warning that adversaries could exploit the same technology if the US hesitates. Hegseth also took aim at what he labeled ‘woke’ artificial intelligence, signaling that the Pentagon under his leadership will push past previous efforts to limit military AI use. ‘We can no longer afford to wait a decade for our legacy prime contractors to deliver a perfect system,’ he said. ‘Winning requires a new playbook.’ 

Hegseth said his vision for military AI systems means that they operate ‘without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications,’ before adding that the Pentagon’s ‘AI will not be woke.’ Musk developed and pitched Grok as an alternative to what he called ‘woke AI’ interactions from rival chatbots like Google´s Gemini or OpenAI´s ChatGPT. In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several antisemitic posts.

SpaceX has become one of the government’s most important defense partners, authorized to launch sensitive national security satellite sand holding billions of dollars in contracts with NASA and the US military. Starbase itself serves as the primary production and launch site for Starship, Musk’s massive next-generation rocket designed to carry cargo, and eventually people, to the moon, Mars and beyond. The Biden administration enacted a frameworkin late 2024 that directed national security agencies to expand their use of the most advanced AI systems but prohibited certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if those prohibitions are still in place under the Trump administration.

During his speech, Hegseth spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, saying, ‘We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose.’ He noted that the Pentagon possesses ‘combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations.’ ‘AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we´re going to make sure that it´s there,’ Hegseth said.