That includes replenishing munitions, which have been expended by the thousands since strikes began Feb. 28. 

“Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth said during a Pentagon press briefing. “So we're going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we're properly funded for what's been done, for what we may have to do in the future, ensure that our ammunition is—everything's refilled.”

Among the weapons that need replacing are 5,000-pound penetrator bombs dropped on underground facilities that housed Iranian cruise missiles, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during his remarks. 

There have also been “precision strikes against more than 90 targets on Kharg Island, which included all of their military-only infrastructure, which included air defenses, naval base, mine storage and deployment facilities,” Caine said.

Hegseth began his fifth briefing of the war with a different tone: for the first time, he led by mentioning U.S. troops killed in action.

“What I heard through tears, through hugs, through strength and through unbreakable resolve was the same from family after family: they said, ‘Finish this. Honor their sacrifice. Do not waver. Do not stop until the job is done,’ ” he said of Thursday’s dignified transfer of six airmen killed in the March 2 crash of their KC-135 Stratotanker.

Hegseth then turned his attention sharply to the media, calling them “dishonest and anti-Trump,” accusing “our press” of reporting on AI-generated video falsely purporting to show the aftermath of a drone strike on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln. But the White House already acknowledged Monday that credulous coverage of that video came from foreign outlets.

They “will stop at nothing, we know this at this point, to downplay progress, amplify every cost and call into question every step,” Hegseth said of the American media. 

“To the patriotic members of the press, nobody can deliver perfection in wartime. This building knows that more than anyone,” he said. “But report the reality: we're winning decisively and on our terms.”

He then turned his ire to U.S. allies who have refused to send forces to the Persian Gulf—for example, European leaders who have noted that Trump launched the war without consulting them, after threatening to seize European-controlled territory, and without apparent consideration for the ways it might bolster Russia’s war on European soil.

“The world, the Middle East, our ungrateful allies in Europe, even segments of our own press, should be saying one thing to President Trump: ‘Thank you,” the defense secretary said. 

Asked how the U.S. intended to fully denuclearize Iran without a protracted conflict, Hegseth dodged, reiterating talking points about a “conventional umbrella” of non-nuclear weapons meant to defend Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon, as well as delays in the negotiating of a new nuclear deal. 

When asked whether Israel’s targeting of Iranian oil facilities was counter to U.S. objectives to focus on military targets, the secretary dodged again. 

“We have allies pursuing objectives as well, and the truth speaks for itself,” he said. “We can hold anything at issue, anything—the United States military controls the fate of that country. Iran has the ability to make the right choices.”

In its 2026 Worldwide Threat Assessment, released on Wednesday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence calls AI a “defining technology for the 21st century,” notes that it is being used in combat, and identifies China as “the most capable competitor” to the United States. The assessment, released on Wednesday as intelligence leaders testified to lawmakers, offers a rare window into how they interpret the global threat landscape. 

The new version of the annual report treats AI far more prominently than in 2024 and 2025. It gives AI a larger role in the report—but one that resists easy categorization. Unlike enduring threats from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and terrorist groups, AI is treated less as a discrete actor or capability and more as a cross-cutting force shaping each of them.

The 2024 report, for instance, describes AI as “moving into its industrial age,” noting its potential for economic benefit and disruption, but also the hypothetical development of new “chemical weapons” and materials that could make China’s or Russia’s military more competitive. It also notes that authoritarian regimes might use AI to generate fake content and as a tool for mass surveillance and coercion of their own populations.

“During the next several years, governments are likely to exploit new and more intrusive technologies—including generative AI—for transnational repression,” it says. 

That trend is well underway. AI-created misinformation and disinformation have proliferated across global social media, often supported by China, Russia, and other authoritarian regimes, and often at the expense of the U.S. government, military, or other institutions.

The 2025 report took note of Russian deepfakes but didn’t describe the intent or consequences. The authors were more concerned about Moscow’s pioneering use of AI: on the battlefield, particularly in anti-drone efforts. They also highlighted China’s “multifaceted, national-level strategy” to displace the United States as the “most influential AI power by 2030.”

Over the past year, AI has seized a growing share of public attention, private investment, and White House and Defense Department focus. While the Pentagon has used it for  intelligence analysis since 2017, the new threat report notes that AI “has been used in recent conflicts to influence targeting and streamline decision-making, marking a significant shift in the nature of modern warfare.”

It reiterates its predecessors’ emphasis on the importance of U.S. dominance in AI technology while also noting that “other global powers' robust progress in AI is challenging U.S. economic competitiveness and national security advantages.” In particular, it says, “China is driving AI adoption at scale—both domestically and internationally—by using its sizable talent pool, extensive datasets, government funding, and burgeoning global partnerships.”

There is also a special warning about the use of autonomy in warfare. AI carries risks that require careful human engineering to mitigate the dangers of AI autonomy before they are broadly deployed.

At the Wednesday hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said that a China-run data-extortion operation  last August foretold the future:  the perpetrators used “an AI tool” to extort ”international government, healthcare, public health, emergency services sectors, and religious institutions.”

What’s missing

Missing from today’s hearing and the new report is any meaningful mention of AI’s role in election interference, disinformation, and the advancement of autocracy.

That’s a big change from 2024, when those uses of AI drew much comment at the hearing connected with the annual threat assessment. Brett Michael Holmgren, then-assistant Secretary of State for intelligence and research, said that “tools like generative AI will essentially lower the barrier for actors, state and non-state, with fewer resources to engage in potential election interference.” CIA Director William Burns said that threat actors in the Arabian Peninsula had “used AI to generate videos aimed at inspiring lone-wolf attacks as a result of the Gaza conflict as well.” And Avril Haines, the then-Director of National Intelligence, said, “Russia is deploying AI tools in the context of their influence efforts in Ukraine.”

Over the past two years, the Republican party and the Trump administration have dismantled efforts to prevent the spread of misinformation: pressing social-media companies to end moderation efforts, forcing universities to cease monitoring programs, and shuttering a key office at the Department of State.

But allied governments continue to mark the threat. Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, speaking on Tuesday at a conference in Belgium, noted: “AI has taken cognitive warfare to the next level, in the movie business and many other sectors, including our democratic space.”