U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the Pentagon will have a new Office of Religious Affairs that “will report straight to the top.”
Hegseth made the announcement at Marine Corps Base Quantico during his second annual State of the Force address, in which he launched several technology and cultural initiatives.
The secretary said state-of-the-art technology, new bases and recruitment partnerships with colleges outside the Ivy League “are still incomplete without the most essential component of our republic: faith.”
A Christian, Hegseth frequently mentions his faith, and he is photographed in official Pentagon imagery leading prayer sessions with troops.
He said previously that the spiritual health of service members is “equally important” as their physical health.
The Office of Religious Affairs will have “a direct line to the secretary,” Hegseth said. He added that the Pentagon has “a sacred duty” to give troops “first-class religious support.”
He criticized previous administrations for, he said, focusing too little on the topic.
“Political correctness and secular humanism got a vote. Chaplains did not. Budgets were cut. Resourcing and manpower needs were ignored. Base chapels fell apart,” Hegseth stated. “Decisions about faith and religion were made by secular careerists in cubicles and lawyers running around with red tape.”
JNS reported earlier this year that Jewish service members have said that they encounter problems with the Pentagon, including when they seek religious accommodations.
