MARCH 12, 2026 – Secretary of War Pete Hegseth called on the joint forces service secretaries to work through their general counsels to conduct a “ruthless, no-excuses review” of the War Department’s assorted legal support functions and operations.
Addressing the public via a video on social media, Hegseth said despite all the progress related to the priorities of restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military and reestablishing deterrence that the Pentagon has made in the past year, the department’s legal support remains in need of a “hard reset.”
“For too long — over 20 years — legal shops across the services have grown bloated, duplicative, they’ve muddied lines of authority and pulled critical judge advocates away from what matters most: advising commanders in the fight, on operations [and] in deployed environments where seconds and minutes count,” Hegseth said at the video’s outset.
Calling all of the above “unacceptable,” Hegseth said the U.S. will not be able to meet challenges posed by our global adversaries unless our military commanders receive sound legal advice.
“In a great power competition, or with any threat that we face, commanders need agile, independent, dead-on legal advice that enables decisive action, not endless process or turf wars,” Hegseth said.
He added that judge advocates general need to focus on several aspects of warfighting, including military justice, operational law, the Law of Armed Conflict, deployed contracting, intelligence law, and cyberspace.
“Everything that sharpens the edge in large-scale combat,” Hegseth said.
Stating that military lawyers are at times stuck doing civilian work that would be better suited to general counsels, Hegseth directed the service secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force to have the following legal areas addressed:
- Cutting duplication and bureaucracy;
- Clarifying legal roles and reporting without moral ambiguity;
- The alignment of functions so military legal stays “laser-focused” on warfighting and readiness; and
- Letting civilian lawyers handle nonoperational assignments, including acquisition, civilian personnel, intellectual property, real estate, environmental topics on military installations, and litigation outside of military channels.
“We laid out our recommended split — military matters to JAGs [and staff judge advocates], civilian to [general counsels] — with room for limited shared areas like standards of conduct or [Freedom of Information Act and] privacy if it makes sense for the services. But the priority is maximum support to the warfighter,” Hegseth emphasized.
He also said the above actions include reviewing not only the active service components but also the Reserve and National Guard components.
“Are we using Reserve, civilian talent smartly? Is [the National] Guard’s legal education prepping folks for the full spectrum of operations? Everything gets measured against one standard: does it make us more lethal in competition, in crisis or in combat?” Hegseth said.
He added that reports are due to the War Department’s General Counsel within 45 days and that these reports should delineate functions; review component distribution and education; and recommend fixes to eliminate redundancies and to boost efficiency.
“And then, implement fast, full changes within six months,” Hegseth directed, adding that rating chains should reflect a preservation of independence, with JAGs and general counsels staying statutory, and regulatory bosses staying “in their lanes.”
He added that independence doesn’t mean “silos or waste,” but rather that it means delivering value to the warfighter.
“Bottom line: sharpen our legal edge to sharpen our warfighting edge. No more distractions [and] no more shortages in the fight because of misplaced priorities,” Hegseth said, adding that warfighters deserve legal teams as lethal and focused as they are.
“Let’s get it done; for them, and for the country,” he concluded.
By Matthew Olay
Pentagon News