Hegseth Announces Military Religious Affairs Office

At a Quantico address, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth paired plans to cut general and flag officer positions by 20% with attacks on what he called “woke” policies and a call for a more physically and ideologically tough military. He also announced a new Office of Religious Affairs, saying it would report directly to him and strengthen religious support across the department. The initiatives have fueled broader concerns about the role of faith in the armed forces: after the Defense Department reduced its religious-affiliation codes from 211 to 31, some airmen said they could no longer identify specifically as atheist and viewed the change as marginalizing nonreligious service members. The Air Force says the revised codes standardize personnel records and help chaplains allocate resources, while critics argue the changes favor Christianity and could undermine religious freedom.