The mandate will require students aspiring to roles as senior military leaders to prove their acumen using Artificial Intelligence in war games rather than write lengthy written dissertations, and end emeritus status and eliminate lifetime tenure for newly hired civilian faculty.

It will also decrease the number of civilians employed who have no military experience. Hegseth has instructed military colleges to “realign the civilian-faculty ratio” in their workforces to “ensure that the majority of full-time faculty possess direct military experience and defense experience,” while civilians who are considered “purely technical subject-matter experts shall be limited.”

“We speak endlessly of producing critical thinkers, strategic enterprise leaders, and officers with an appreciation of complex global security environments,” said Hegseth in a speech about the directives to students and faculty at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island today.  

Hegseth said the primary focus of military education should be to teach students how to achieve victory, pointing out that the words “win” and “defeat” are absent from service colleges’ mission statements, and the word “victory” appears only once.

“This is the language of civilian bureaucracy, not military command,” he said.

He asserted that the United States is undergoing “the most far-reaching strategic recalibration of our national security posture since the end of the Second World War,” which he described as “deeper and more profound than the fall of the Soviet Union.”

He spoke out against what he called a “stubborn undercurrent of passive-aggressive institutional resistance” within the Naval War College and academics who hope to “wait out President Trump’s term in office.”

“Hear me clearly: they’re wrong, and they’re dead wrong,” he said.  

Addressing the faculty, Hegseth urged them to drive their students into “the crucible of realistic operational thought” and stressed that victory should be the only goal of all coursework.

“Prepare them for war for lethality, for the life and death struggles that they one day may face,” he said.

Addressing the students, he also declared that the United States must not accept a stalemate in a war.

“The American people do not entrust their blood, their treasure, or their sons and daughters in our armed forces to lose or to fight to a draw,” he said. “They expect, they demand, they deserve nothing less than victory.” 

III Marine Expeditionary Force Commander Lt. Gen. Benjamin T. Watson updated the liberty guidance in a Thursday statement after meeting with representatives from the Okinawa Area Coordinating Committee. The new restrictions will take effect once the current Period of Reflection ends Sunday and will cease Dec. 7.

The mandate continues the midnight to 5 a.m. curfew for service members in the grades of E-1 through E-4, but no longer requires those in E-5 and above to be subject to the curfew. All service members are forbidden from purchasing or consuming alcohol outside their primary residence after midnight, per the announcement.

“Commanders retain the ability to establish more restrictive liberty policies within their respective commands when conditions warrant and are encouraged to clearly communicate those decisions to the force,” the directive reads.

The new order was based on analysis, feedback from joint and interagency leaders and in agreement with U.S. Forces Japan, which previously executed a two-day operational pause for all military personnel to conduct a Period of Training to engage service members with standards, discipline and troops’ responsibilities as members of the Okinawa community.

The operational pause came directly after the arrest of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force headquartered at Camp Courtney in Okinawa, for the suspected robbery and murder of Anna Yagi, a 39-year-old Naha resident. 

Japanese prosecutors recently indicted Ballard, alleging that he strangled Yagi with a phone cord at a hotel in the city and then stole her backpack with her wallet and other belongings inside.

An investigation of the body found that Yagi died from suffocation. Hotel security footage shows a person with hair and tattoos resembling Ballard’s entering a hotel room with a woman and leaving with items.

Directly after the Period of Training, personnel transitioned to the Period of Reflection slated to end Sunday, which set new curfews and enhanced supervision and installations’ gates.

Late last month, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, imposed a junior enlisted alcohol ban and a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.

Some establishments on the island have been found to serve alcohol to military personnel during curfew hours and allow them to stay past their curfew in violation of the Period of Reflection, causing a temporary Emergency Off-Limits Order for one bar in Okinawa.

The Okinawa Area Coordinator will share results of the broader analysis and recommendations from the Period of Reflection to U.S. Forces Japan for consideration in the next couple of weeks, the recent release says.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass shared the order on social media, reinforcing that “shared values of trust, responsible behavior and mutual respect” built the U.S. alliance with Japan. 

“The measures announced today by III Marine Expeditionary Force in Japan reaffirm our unwavering commitment to these fundamental principles,” Glass wrote.

The local murder and subsequent arrest and indictment of Ballard raised concerns among Okinawa residents over the large American troop presence on the island, with officials lodging what Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi described as a “strong protest” against the U.S. while demanding full cooperation with local authorities in the investigation. 

In a Nov. 4 letter to Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Ranking Member Ro Khanna, D-Calif., requested a briefing by Nov. 20 on the service’s resourcing and personnel decisions for the institute, known as CASI. CASI falls under Air University, which oversees the Air Force’s officer and enlisted schools.

“Under-resourcing CASI’s mission could risk undermining the ability of military leaders and civilian policymakers to understand the PRC’s aerospace strategy and capabilities and, by extension, deter Beijing from using them in a military conflict,” the lawmakers wrote. “Any potential loss of such expertise is particularly worrisome given the PRC’s continued efforts to rapidly modernize its aerospace forces while expanding its aggressive activities in the Indo-Pacific region.”

The letter, posted by the select committee, said that without CASI’s in-house experts, the Air Force and other agencies would presumably have to turn to costly outside contractors. It also said understanding the capabilities of China’s People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, is critical for deterring conflict and, citing CASI’s charter, for “improving [the U.S.] ability to be successful in strategic competition.”

CASI Director Brendan Mulvaney told Defense News Friday that official comment on the institute now must come through public affairs at Air Education and Training Command, which runs Air University, or from Air University itself. 

Speaking as a private citizen, Mulvaney said he did not know about the committee’s plans but was “extremely pleased to see that Congressional Leadership acted in a fully bipartisan manner, showing strong support,” even during the midterm election season. “I am gratified that the accomplishments and contributions made by CASI are highly valued across the aisle and across the government,” he said.

Two CASI civilians have already left, Mulvaney said, and their now-defunded positions cannot be refilled.

An Air Force spokesperson told Defense News that the service “will respond directly to the committee.” The spokesperson did not answer questions about the Air Force’s plans for CASI or whether vacated positions would be refilled. It is unclear whether any additional military personnel have been assigned to the institute since Oct. 1.

The lawmakers’ letter to Meink follows the Air Force’s decision, confirmed in September, that civilian positions would no longer be assigned to CASI as part of an ongoing civilian restructure within Air Education and Training Command. 

An Air Force spokesperson told Defense News at the time that “the CASI mission continues, with the organization leveraging assigned military service members to accomplish its objectives.” 

Mulvaney described the move differently in September, saying that eliminating all of the institute’s civilian positions was “effectively ending CASI.” No military positions are affected, he said, noting the institute has two master sergeant positions and a deputy position that has remained unfilled for over a year.

Asked how the civilian cuts would affect CASI’s research, Mulvaney said, “All of the research has always been done by the civilian personnel.”

The cut “had nothing to do with CASI’s mission,” Mulvaney said in September, but stemmed from the fact that the institute does not produce professional military education graduates, Air University’s primary mission.

Asked whether another organization would take on CASI’s China aerospace research, Mulvaney said, “Nothing has been identified.”

In a Sept. 22 statement, later removed from Air University’s website, Mulvaney said Air University had “decided to close” CASI and that all of its civilian positions would go into unfunded status Oct. 1. Employees would keep working and getting paid in “surplus” status while they looked for new jobs, he said, adding, “I will do my best to make sure they all land someplace that will truly appreciate their talents.”

Mulvaney said, “CASI has commitments that it has made and will honor, to the best of our ability, through at least March of 2027.” Once the civilians leave, he said, “CASI will close.”

CASI was established in 2017, formally chartered June 15, 2021, and tasked with studying “everything that flies” in China. CASI’s research is unclassified by design, drawing on publicly available Chinese-language sources. It also runs a free three-day PLA Fundamentals course, most recently in August, according to the lawmakers’ letter.

The biennial CASI Conference, held in May at National Defense University, drew more than 250 attendees and featured the release of the fifth edition of CASI’s “PLA Aerospace Power” primer. In 2025, nearly 80,000 people visited CASI’s website and downloaded more than 50,000 reports, according to the institute.

Mulvaney has said the CASI cuts do not affect the Navy’s China Maritime Studies Institute, the Army War College’s China Landpower Studies Center or the Marine Corps War College’s China Warfighting Initiative.

The department published a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement that will assess “potential social, economic, and environmental effects” of training and operations at Saipan International Airport, Tinian International Airport, Tinian North Field and Rota International Airport. The islands are part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated U.S. territory. 

The proposed training and exercises will support the Air Force’s Agile Combat Operations concept, which emphasizes dispersal of forces across airfields and the ability to maneuver between them while sustaining operations under a range of conditions, with the goal of thwarting an adversary’s ability to shut down those operations by targeting a single base. ACE, as it’s known, has developed largely in response to the Chinese military’s growing reach and expanding missile arsenal. 

The notice said the four airfields provide “a unique opportunity” to support ACE, with infrastructure that varies from “fully developed commercial airfields to expeditionary operating locations.” The three islands are within a few dozen nautical miles of each other, which would allow for training that reflects the complexity of distributed operations while reducing transit time between them. They are less than 100 nautical miles north of the major military bases on Guam, another U.S. territory, which would support the staging and deployment of forces for those exercises. 

The three airfields “collectively provide a training environment that enables [the Air Force] to exercise distributed operations, test and employ tailorable force packages, strengthen sustainment and maneuver capabilities, and enhance operational resilience,” the notice reads. 

The environmental impact statement will evaluate the potential effects of the proposed activities, which include small, medium and large trainings and exercises held several times a year for a few weeks at a time and consisting of up to 1,200 fixed-wing and 320 rotary-wing operations, like takeoffs and landings, annually at each airfield. It will also assess an alternative scenario with up to 1,400 fixed-wing and 384 rotary-wing operations per airfield annually and a “No Action Alternative.” 

The trainings and exercises would be supported by up to 550,000 gallons of fuel at each airfield, up to 1,000 personnel per airfield, the temporary installation of expeditionary infrastructure, the handling of munitions like chaff and flares, as well as support services and pre-and post-training and exercise activities. 

The proposed activity comes after several years of work to upgrade the airfields in question, especially the airfields on Tinian, which were built and heavily used during WWII. North Field was inactive after the war and was largely covered with vegetation when the rehabilitation effort began in late 2023. The Air Force also upgraded port and roadway infrastructure, fuel pipelines and airfield surfaces, and utilities to facilitate expanded operations on Tinian. 

The airfield rehabilitation efforts have created some questions among Air Force leaders about resourcing and funding, particularly as the war with Iran has placed new demands on the force. Island residents also have misgivings about the projects. While some welcome the investment that the construction and military operations will bring, others have doubts that the increased activity will really benefit the islands’ populations and that the Pentagon will be transparent about its activity and responsive to local concerns. 

The Department of the Air Force will hold public meetings this month on Saipan, Tinian and Rota to get feedback on the proposal, with written comments due by Nov. 29. The department plans to produce a draft environmental impact statement for public comment in fall 2027 and a final version in mid-2028. 

Exorbitant damage brought on by a deluge of Iranian drones and missiles in the wake of the Feb. 28 launch of Operation Epic Fury has — expeditiously — rendered those installations anything but.

Damage estimates have since ballooned, vulnerable assets forced to relocate and families evacuated from longtime regional hubs such as NSA Bahrain left in limbo, with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle telling sailors as recently as Aug. 31, “We’re not getting back in there any time soon.”

In all, the U.S. military has spent more than $47 billion on the war, according to a recent Pentagon estimate. That sum included $6 billion to replace military equipment and more than $29 billion to replenish costly munitions. The U.S. Navy’s ongoing naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz — and the fuel, munitions and supplies to support it — will only push that number higher. In the U.S., impacts of the conflict are estimated to have cost an average of $2,000 per household.

Any fiscal damage pales next to the 23 U.S. dead and 866 wounded since Feb. 28. Two more U.S. airmen died last week in “non-hostile” incidents.

And still yet to be released are the Pentagon’s findings into the Feb. 28 missile strike on the Minab School in Iran, a shocking miscalculation that killed over 150 people, approximately 120 of them children. Bloomberg on Oct. 15 reported that the Pentagon planned to hold its internal investigation until after midterms, despite various independent investigations already pointing to U.S. involvement in the strike.

Taken together, public perception of the campaign has become such that on Wednesday, U.S. Vice President JD Vance openly blamed the war for what became a historic midterm annihilation suffered by the Republican Party.

“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote in a lengthy social media post after Democrats took control of the U.S. House and Senate. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. But everyone knows why we lost.”

It is against this backdrop that one of the architects of the Iran war strategy, U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper, appeared as the first-ever guest on “Inside CENTCOM,” a lifestyle podcast that debuted Thursday brimming with such vital discussion topics as Cooper’s proclivity for french fries, basketball free-throw shooting and sun-soaked beaches.

In a nation already under siege by an average of one military or veteran podcast for every five human ears, what’s one more?

“I’ll be asking the questions you want to know,” Fleet Master Chief Lateef Compton, CENTCOM’s senior enlisted leader, states on a set replete with a neon sign bearing the pod name.

“You like french fries. Most people don’t know this, but … when we were stationed together years ago, my lunch would come, and I would always have french fries,” Compton recalled. “You would see my french fries … and you would at least take one or two. … I don’t think you ever knew that I knew you took my french fries. Is that your favorite food? French Fries.”

“We should let the world know: For years, I’ve been eating your french fries,” Cooper responds. “The secret is now out. I never met a french fry I didn’t like.”

The duo tackled additional topics like the importance of daily workouts, memories of service on past ships, an affinity for San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice, playing basketball while at sea and the virtues of exercising patience.

Sailors currently exercising patience, meanwhile, are those aboard the Arleigh-Burke class destroyer USS Spruance, which recently set a post-World War II record for a U.S. Navy destroyer deployment. As of Nov. 5, Spruance and its crew have been deployed for 349 days. The warship does not yet have a definitive return date.

“We are hearing they’re supposed to come home sometime next month,” Marie Bailey, whose husband serves aboard Spruance, told Military Times in late October. “But we’ve been hearing about ‘next month’ for several months.”

Also exercising patience are sailors aboard the deployed destroyers USS John Finn, USS Mustin and USS Rafael Peralta, each of which had expected return dates pushed from 2026 into 2027, with some expected to stretch over 14 months, according to Defense One.

“There’s [deployed sailors’] cars that were left on base that have been stickered to be towed and then to be junked,” a spouse of a John Finn sailor told the outlet. “So there’s sailors that are going to come back and have no cars.”

These record-setting deployments continue in the wake of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln’s return, which arrived home on Oct. 8 after a 322-day deployment that raised concerns over deteriorating mental health, with multiple sailors reportedly attempting to jump overboard at sea.

Recently reunited Lincoln families are exercising further patience while navigating a permanent change of station, with the hulking vessel changing its home port from San Diego to Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton, Washington.

While long planned, the extended deployment left many family members in limbo and scrambling to get affairs in order once a return date was finally set.

Despite myriad concerns among sailors and families about extended deployments, strained operational tempo and mental health struggles, such questions did not make it into the show.

The Royal International Air Tattoo will move from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England, to MOD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire after four decades at its longtime home, organizers announced Wednesday.

Following discussions with the Royal Air Force and the U.S. Air Force, organizers canceled the 2026 air show in late May, calling it a difficult decision that was prompted by “uncertainty” over access to RAF Fairford given the base’s involvement with the war in Iran. 

The U.S. Air Force housed a dozen B-1B Lancers at RAF Fairford during Operation Epic Fury to use in strikes against Iranian missile sites that were attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

But following the suspected terrorist plot targeting the base, the U.S. promptly removed all bombers from the installation and returned them back to their home stations.

British officials said there are “strong indications” that Iran was involved in the late September suspected plot targeting the base, but Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denied the accusation on social media. Five men were initially arrested and released on bail. Two men were rearrested and charged under the U.K. National Security Act.

Although the organizers did not cite the plot at RAF Fairford as the reason for the move, they described the relocation essential for the air show’s long-term future.

“The decision to move RIAT to Boscombe Down is about much more than a new location,” RAF Charitable Trust Chief Executive Gavin Gager said in the announcement. “It is about securing the future of the world’s greatest military airshow and the charitable impact it generates for future generations.”

The air show usually attracts more than 150,000 spectators. Its first show at MOD Boscombe Down is scheduled for July 16 to 18.

MOD Boscombe Down is a British military airfield used for aircraft testing and evaluation. It hosts two air squadrons and six units.

The two airmen are listed under the “non-hostile” category in the Pentagon’s recently updated Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS, meaning their deaths are not related to direct combat operations. One of the deaths was illness- or injury-related, and the other is listed as “pending,” according to the DCAS.

One airman was an active-duty service member, an Air Force spokesperson told Military Times, while the other was in the Air National Guard.

Although typical Department of Defense policy dictates that the names of deceased service members be released to the public 24 hours after next of kin notifications, the Air Force has yet to announce their identities. The spokesperson declined to comment on why their names have been withheld thus far and if the service has been in contact with their families.

Both airmen were white men and mid- to senior-enlisted personnel in E5 to E9 grades, according to DCAS. One was between 31 and 35, while the other was over 35.

One of the airmen passed away in the U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility, which spans from Northeast Africa across the Middle East to Central and South Asia, the spokesperson said.

The other airman died in the United States; however, the spokesperson declined to comment on where the second airman was operating out of and how they were transported to the U.S.

CENTCOM referred Military Times to the Air Force when asked for comment.

The airman whose death is listed as “pending” is under investigation currently, the spokesperson said, but did not specify by which department.

Another service member whose death was listed as “pending” in DCAS was an Army captain who suffered a medical incident while aboard a military flight on the way to Saudi Arabia in late September.

DCAS lists both of the airmen’s deaths under the Overseas Operations category, instead of Operation Epic Fury, with a Pentagon official telling Military Times it is because the U.S. deems Epic Fury as concluded. The Overseas Operations lists the start date as July 7, aligned with the continued U.S. pressure campaign against Iran.

Officials have been tight-lipped on the exact date Epic Fury was considered terminated, but a defense official previously specified May 5 to Military Times.

The Pentagon’s classification of the operation as an Overseas Operation category faced criticism from Democratic members of Congress, who accused Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth of trying to hide the casualties.

The Overseas Operation category now includes eight service members: four listed as hostile and four as non-hostile. Combining the two categories together makes for a total of 23 service members who have lost their lives since the war in Iran began on Feb. 28, with the Epic Fury category listing 15. 

In total, 866 service members have been wounded in action since the war’s beginning across both categories. That includes 417 under Operation Epic Fury and 449 in Overseas Operations, according to DCAS.

In a Wednesday letter to his Democratic colleagues, the Washington representative called for more public testimony from senior defense officials and the restoration of a dedicated oversight subcommittee, listing strikes in the Caribbean and the U.S.’s war with Iran — the latter of which he called “illegal” — among his top concerns. Smith also questioned the need for a defense budget exceeding $1 trillion, arguing that Congress must reassert its authority over military policy under what he described as a “runaway Executive Branch.”

Smith, who won re-election in his district on Tuesday, currently serves as the committee’s ranking member. It’s chaired by Alabama Republican Rep. Mike Rogers.

Democrats took control of the House and Senate in this week’s midterm elections, and new committee chairs will be elected for the next legislative session. Smith previously chaired the committee from 2019 to 2023.

Smith blasted the Trump administration’s approach to national security, contending that its reliance on military force and unilateral action — he described the administration’s view as one that believes “might makes right” – has destabilized the globe and alienated the U.S. He called for a strategy that prioritizes partnerships, military deterrence and avoids expensive conflicts.

Smith also called for a shift in Pentagon spending priorities, advocating for more investment in low-cost munitions, uncrewed systems and drone and missile defenses. The war with Iran has used up to two-thirds of U.S.’s missile interceptor stock, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis, in a drastic depletion that could take at least five years to restore. The U.S. has burned through expensive interceptors, which can cost millions of dollars per missile, to counter adversarial drones built at a fraction of the cost.

While acknowledging the need for advanced weapons systems, Smith said the Pentagon must strike a better balance between expensive platforms and cheaper, expendable capabilities.

He also criticized Trump’s proposal for a fleet of battleships.

“We need an appropriate mix of high-end survivable systems and lower-cost attritable capabilities, not a fleet of nuclear-powered battleships as proposed by the President,” he wrote.

Smith also raised concerns about how the Pentagon awards contracts and divvies out financial support to private companies, calling for closer examination of whether those awards serve taxpayers or are influenced by favoritism. While acknowledging Congress’s efforts to streamline the Pentagon’s notoriously bureaucratic acquisition process, Smith also argued that lawmakers still needed to know how defense dollars are spent, particularly as the military invests in new weapons systems.

Despite his criticism of the Trump administration, Smith insisted that he remained committed to passing the annual National Defense Authorization Act, though he acknowledged that working with Republicans would be “extraordinarily difficult.” The NDAA, an annual law that sets military policies and funding levels, remains unfinished this year after Senate Democrats blocked a procedural vote in July amid disagreements over the war in Iran and provisions involving Israel.

“Put bluntly, the Air Force has spent decades building exquisite kill chains while too often housing the airmen who sustain them in tents, trailers, and flat-walled structures that were never designed for the threat environment now arriving overhead,” admitted the Air Force’s Small Business Innovation Research solicitation, which will close in January 2027.

Concrete printing, in which printers deposit layers of material to form structures, is gaining traction in commercial construction. The Air Force already used 3D printing to rebuild hurricane-damaged Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, in 2023, while a Maryland Air National Guard civil engineer squadron is developing its own mobile concrete printer.

But the new SBIR, which is a direct-to-Phase II project, suggests the Air Force wants 3D construction capability imminently. The goal is to enable “military engineers to rapidly print protective structures using automated or semi-automated construction workflows, reduced skilled labor, and locally available cementitious materials where feasible,” the Air Force said.

While 3D concrete printers exist, the Air Force is concerned that the technology is not yet ready to build structures that can survive bombardment by missiles and drones. Hundreds of U.S. military buildings across eight Middle Eastern countries were damaged by Iranian attacks, according to a September 2026 report by the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General.

The problem is that “the existing state of the art has not yet fully addressed the combined problem that matters most for combat survivability: printable expeditionary materials, field-executable operator workflows, and structure geometry deliberately optimized to mitigate blast-wave behavior and fragmentation effects,” said the SBIR.

The project will evaluate cement-like materials for qualities such as strength, adhesion and the availability of local components. It will develop new construction geometries “that improve survivability beyond conventional flat-wall construction, including shapes intended to reduce blast reflection, limit pressure amplification, interrupt fragmentation paths, and improve internal occupant protection.”

Ultimately, the Air Force wants a mobile concrete printer that can quickly and consistently erect structures while being operated “in austere conditions by lightly trained military personnel.”

The Air Force foresees “substantial” dual-use applications for the mobile concrete printers, such as critical infrastructure and humanitarian relief. However, the SBIR also notes that commercialization will likely require numerous approvals in areas such as building codes.

The aim is to “transition the capability from ‘we can print something interesting’ to ‘a civil engineer unit can deploy, set up, print, inspect, and use protective infrastructure fast enough to matter,'” the service said.

“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote in a lengthy social media post Wednesday morning after Democrats won control of the U.S. House and Senate during Tuesday’s elections. His comments came after President Donald Trump on Tuesday night told The New York Times that going to war with Iran was a “very wise decision,” and that Republicans largely lost because he was not in the race.

Though votes were still being tallied as of Wednesday afternoon, Democrats had secured enough victories for a majority in Congress, flipping Senate seats in historically red states like South Carolina, Texas and Kansas.

“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so,” Vance continued on X. “But everyone knows why we lost,” he added, calling for “honest conversation” about the country’s next steps.

Public support for the Trump administration’s war with Iran sank in July, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, which found that just one in three Americans supported the conflict. The poll also found that four in ten Republicans — and 69% of Americans — did not think Trump had “clearly explained the goals of U.S. military involvement in Iran.”

The U.S. military has spent more than $47 billion on its war with Iran, Reuters reported last month, a number more than 25% higher than the Defense Department’s July estimate. That estimate included $6 billion to replace military equipment lost during the war, such as aircraft and drones, and more than $29 billion to replace costly munitions.

The war has depleted up to two-thirds of the Pentagon’s missile-defense interceptors since July 2025, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis, leaving the U.S. military with fewer available for future conflicts. The analysis found that rebuilding those stores could take at least five years.

Trump has reportedly been polling his advisors on whether he should fire Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CBS reported Wednesday afternoon. Hegseth has been the subject of increasing scrutiny over the Pentagon’s handling of the war, with some lawmakers previously calling for him to be impeached.

Hegseth has blamed the war’s mounting costs on former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and prior Pentagon leadership.

“The amount of neglect, the amount of stale thinking and bureaucracy was staggering when we took over,” Hegseth told senators during a July hearing to request additional emergency funding — $67.1 billion — for the Iran war and other department expenses, such as the National Guard deployments to the U.S. southern border and Washington, D.C.

The U.S. launched its war against Iran on Feb. 28, and since then, more than 860 troops have been wounded and at least 23 have been killed, according to the Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System.