Story perspectives

Protesters Interrupt Hegseth as Pentagon Plans 2026 Attack Systems

By Drooid · Oct 17, 2026, 2:41 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was interrupted four times by protesters at a Washington, D.C., panel.
Security removed six demonstrators after 20 minutes of disruptions.
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson called the protesters left-wing activists and said Hegseth was undeterred.
Hegseth said the Department of War will field hundreds of thousands of attack systems in 2026.
A September 30 Pentagon memo proposes a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command by October 1, 2027.

History

Historical Context

In November 2012 Deputy Secretary Ashton Carter issued DoD Directive 3000.09, establishing testing, senior-level review and human-judgment requirements for autonomous weapons. The policy was updated in January 2023 and complemented by a February 2023 foreign-policy declaration on responsible AI. That precedent frames current scrutiny of Secretary Pete Hegseth’s proposed four-star Autonomous Warfare Command slated for October 1 2027.

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Story summary

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was interrupted four times by protesters at a Washington, D.C., panel.
Security removed six demonstrators after 20 minutes of disruptions.
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson called the protesters left-wing activists and said Hegseth was undeterred.
Hegseth said the Department of War will field hundreds of thousands of attack systems in 2026.
A September 30 Pentagon memo proposes a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command by October 1, 2027.

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