At Colorado space firms, Hegseth casts Pentagon bureaucracy as the enemy

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth used a pair of stops at Colorado space companies Monday to sharpen a message that has become central to the Trump administration’s defense agenda: Washington is the problem.

Speaking to workers at True Anomaly and Sierra Space as part of the Pentagon’s “Arsenal of Freedom” tour, Hegseth framed the department’s acquisition struggles as the product of a sclerotic Beltway establishment — and cast commercially oriented space firms as the antidote.

Washington, D.C., and much of the aerospace and defense industry “is a giant swamp, a cozy club of bloated, over budget prime contractors who got rich by failing the American people and our war fighters,” Hegseth said at Sierra Space. He accused defense CEOs of caring “more about their stock options and golden parachutes than about delivering for the men and women on the front lines,” and blamed the Washington establishment for outsourcing manufacturing jobs and weakening the industrial base.

The remarks drew repeated applause from employees gathered on factory floors — a reaction that underscores how closely his critique mirrors frustrations common inside parts of the startup-driven space ecosystem.

The Colorado visits are part of what the Pentagon describes as the “Arsenal of Freedom” campaign, a cross-country push to highlight American manufacturing and companies investing in defense technology. The tour has included stops at Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Rocket Lab, a mix of large primes and newer entrants.

‘Never ending war of attrition’

But at the commercially oriented firms, Hegseth’s language gets particularly pointed. He described himself as engaged in an “ongoing, never ending war of attrition against the Pentagon bureaucracy,” adding: “We are in a war of attrition against our own bureaucracy for the next three years, and we intend to win it. We will outwork them every single day.”

At True Anomaly — a startup building maneuverable autonomous spacecraft designed for contested space operations — Hegseth said the United States “quite literally can’t deter that next conflict without companies like True Anomaly.” While acknowledging that the traditional primes “create a lot of wonderful, exquisite platforms,” he warned that relying on “five companies that have the whole thing on lockdown” would be a mistake. “We have to open the aperture,” he said, arguing that smaller firms need a level playing field to compete.

Sierra Space, which develops space systems for commercial, civil and national security customers, provided a similar backdrop. There, Hegseth again targeted what he described as a procurement culture that rewards delay and cost growth. “No more delays, no more allowing wealthy executives to line up their pockets with stock buybacks while the factory floor crumbles and our warriors wait for the tools that they need,” he said.

The rhetoric aligns with a broader procurement reform narrative inside the Pentagon. Senior officials have voiced dissatisfaction with cost overruns and slow fielding timelines in major defense programs and signaled greater interest in commercially funded innovation, fixed-price contracts and faster development cycles. Space — where venture-backed firms often tout Silicon Valley-style iteration — has become a focal point of that shift.

“Our goal is deterrence, so absolute that our adversaries tremble at the very thought of even challenging us, and space is the ultimate arena where that strength will be proven,” Hegseth said. “Whoever controls space controls the fight.”

He linked the role of private industry to the administration’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative, which he described as a “revolutionary shield of space based weapons and sensors” built around next-generation satellites and space-based interceptors. The Pentagon, he said, will continue to seek partners that can “deliver the most advanced space infrastructure and deliver it fast … because we cannot afford to have a fair fight in space.”

The message reflects a delicate balancing act. The Pentagon remains deeply dependent on major contractors for nuclear modernization, missile defense and classified space systems. Hegseth acknowledged that the primes build “wonderful” platforms and that the department “continue[s] to rely on those things.”

But the administration has increasingly paired that reliance with public denunciations of what it portrays as entrenched industry practices and a risk-averse bureaucracy. Hegseth said that nearly every time he speaks with President Donald Trump, he hears the same question: “Are you getting those guys to go faster?”