Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to Livestream Remarks and Oath of Enlistment in Los Angeles

The Secretary of War is the civilian head of the U.S. Department of War (the renamed Department of Defense). The Secretary’s official responsibilities include:

• Overseeing and directing the entire Department of War and the U.S. armed forces under civilian control.
• Serving as the principal defense policy maker and chief military advisor to the President.
• Implementing approved defense policies, managing the defense budget and resources, and issuing guidance to the military services and combatant commands to organize, train, and equip U.S. forces. These responsibilities are essentially the same as those long assigned to the Secretary of Defense, carried forward under the new Department of War branding.

The advisory states that the event will be livestreamed but, due to access limits on the war.gov advisory page, it does not publicly show the exact platform link or time beyond the basic date. However, Defense/War Department events of this type are typically streamed on:

• The Department of War’s official video portal and social channels (often embedded or linked from war.gov’s video pages).
• DVIDS (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service), which already hosts the full 8‑minute recording of this specific event dated Jan. 8, 2026. So the public can now access the event recording on DVIDS and on the Department of War’s official video feeds, but the precise original livestream URL and time are not fully recoverable from open sources.

The Los Angeles Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) is one of the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command (USMEPCOM) facilities that screens and processes people who want to join the armed forces. Key functions include:

• Conducting aptitude testing (like the ASVAB) and medical examinations.
• Verifying eligibility, reviewing background information, and completing enlistment paperwork.
• Administering the oath of enlistment once applicants are qualified and ready to enter military service. The Los Angeles MEPS, located in El Segundo, is noted by USMEPCOM and the USO as the busiest MEPS in the nation, processing and swearing in thousands of recruits each year.

To “preside over the oath of enlistment” means the Secretary of War leads the formal ceremony in which recruits swear to support and defend the U.S. Constitution and obey lawful orders. In practice this involves:

• Addressing the recruits and any guests with brief remarks.
• Instructing recruits to stand, raise their right hand, and repeat the standard enlistment oath word‑for‑word.
• Confirming completion of the oath, which legally finalizes their enlistment into the armed forces as required by federal law (10 U.S.C. § 502). In this event, Pete Hegseth personally administered the oath to the assembled recruits at Los Angeles MEPS.

The “Department of War” on war.gov is not a separate agency; it is the same cabinet‑level organization historically known as the Department of Defense, operating under a rebranding authorized by President Trump. An executive order in September 2025 directed that “Department of War” and “Secretary of War” be used as secondary titles and led to changing Defense Department web domains from defense.gov to war.gov and installing “Department of War” plaques at the Pentagon, though full formal renaming still requires an act of Congress.

Open‑source information for this specific Hegseth event does not list detailed in‑person attendance rules. However, standard Los Angeles MEPS policy allows a limited number of guests—typically close family—to observe the oath of enlistment, subject to base security procedures (ID checks, escorts, and restrictions on items/liquids). General public walk‑in attendance is not normally allowed; access is controlled and coordinated through the applicant’s recruiter and MEPS staff. Because the advisory text is not fully accessible, there is no public indication that broader public attendance was authorized beyond the usual MEPS guest policy.