‘Must ensure America’s military AI dominance so no adversary can exploit’: US War Secy Hegseth launches AI Acceleration Strategy

TEXAS: US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Tuesday launched a sweeping Artificial Intelligence (AI) Acceleration Strategy aimed at ensuring America’s military dominance in AI, warning that no adversary must be allowed to exploit the technology to threaten US national security or its citizens.

Speaking during the Arsenal of Freedom Tour in Fort Worth, Texas, Hegseth said the mission of the War Department was unequivocal, noting that the strategy, directed by US President Donald Trump, would extend Washington’s lead in military AI and transform the armed forces into an “AI-first” warfighting force.

“The War Department’s mission is clear — we must ensure America’s military AI dominance so no adversary can exploit this technology to hold our national security interests — and our citizens — at risk”, he said, adding, “America first in every domain”.

LIVE: @SecWar Pete Hegseth speaks during the nationwide Arsenal of Freedom tour at a SpaceX facility in Brownsville, Texas. https://t.co/sER6w4FFIy

— Department of War (@DeptofWar) January 13, 2026

“Today, at my direction, we are executing an AI Acceleration Strategy that will extend our lead in Military AI… We will win this race by becoming an AI-first warfighting force across all domains — from the back offices of the Pentagon to the tactical edge on the frontlines”, the Secretary of War added.

Highlighting the urgency of innovation, Hegseth said modern warfare would be decided by speed and adaptability, declaring a break from past approaches made by the country.

“In modern warfare, the fastest innovator will be the winner–and no one can out-innovate an American entrepreneur who has been liberated from the constraints of a stifling bureaucracy”, Hegseth said. “The old era ends today: we’re done running a peacetime science fair while our adversaries are running a wartime arms race”, he added.

According to an official press release from the Department of War on Monday, the AI Acceleration Strategy is designed to enable experimentation, eliminate bureaucratic barriers, and rapidly integrate frontier AI capabilities across every mission area.

The strategy follows what the department described as a wartime approach, focused on warfighting, intelligence and enterprise operations, with the aim of strengthening battlefield decision-making, accelerating intelligence processing and modernising internal workflows for more than three million personnel.

According to the release, the plan will be driven by seven pace-setting projects across warfighting, intelligence and enterprise domains, each assigned a single accountable leader and aggressive timelines to set new execution standards across the department.

The War Department also announced major investments in AI compute infrastructure, expanded access to data, and efforts to recruit top American AI talent, including through the Office of Personnel Management’s “Tech Force” initiative.

Under-Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael said speed would define victory in the AI era. “The War Department will match the velocity of America’s AI industry,” he said, adding that cutting-edge technology and frontier AI models would be embedded into the workforce at a rapid, wartime pace.

The War Department said the strategy would secure America’s position as the world’s leading AI-enabled fighting force and guarantee decision superiority in an era increasingly defined by artificial intelligence. (ANI)