Speaker 1: I, Pete Hegseth, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. That I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I'm about to enter. The duties of the office of which I am about to enter. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Mr. Secretary, say a few words.

Speaker 2: All praise and glory to God. His will be done and we're grateful to be here. And as I said in my hearing, it was Jesus and Jenny. I would not be here without you, sweetheart. Thank you so much. I want to thank the President of the United States, our Commander-in-Chief, Donald Trump. We could not have a better Commander-in-Chief than him. It is the honor of a lifetime, sir, to serve under you. We look forward to having the backs of our troops and having your back in executing peace through strength, in putting America first, and in rebuilding our military. Mr. Vice President, thank you for breaking the tie. It's not the last time or not the first time the headline reads, Junior Enlisted Marine Bails Out Junior Army Officer. And, you know, some people were saying, well, 50-50, that's too tight. And Senator Mark Wayne Mullen was nice enough to take my kids up to the gallery to watch the actual moment that the Vice President sealed the deal. And they came running in, they said, Dad, instead of being sad about 50-50, 51-50, they said, Dad, you won in overtime. That's the perspective I like. So thank you throughout this process, Mr. Vice President, for being incredible. I also want to thank the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. So many members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, we became fast friends in this process. The advice, the consent, the wisdom, the guidance, I look forward to working with all of you and other senators to ensure the Defense Department has what it needs, that our nation has what it needs, and that we're prepared to defend it in all moments. To my staff, amazing staff who were with us this entire process, I see so many of you through thick and thin. We used to look at the betting odds every once in a while on this. It was low at one point. Never do that. But we defied them. And there were so many folks on the inside and then allies on the outside who stood by us every single moment, and we are eternally grateful for that. And I want to thank the war fighters. I want to thank the men and women wearing the uniform. And I've said this before when I speak, and I mean it. Every time I stand at a podium and there's bright lights and cameras, the first thing that goes through my head are the guys that I served with on the battlefield, the men and the women who I locked shields with and put my life on the line with, who never get the spotlight, who never had the cameras, who people don't know what they did in dark and dangerous places. But I know. And at the Pentagon, we're going to remember and we're going to know, and we're going to think about those warriors with every single decision that we make. We will put America first. We will bring peace through strength. And the three principles I talked about are what we will bring to that Pentagon. Restore the warrior ethos in everything that we do. Rebuild our military and reestablish deterrence. We don't want to fight wars. We want to deter them, as you said, and we want to end them responsibly. But we're going to bring overwhelming and decisive force to close with and destroy the enemy and bring our boys home. And to my other family that's here as well, who I love, it's the honor of a lifetime. And I would be remiss if I didn't know one person in this room who doesn't expect to be recognized, but Captain Rougeau is here. He was my company commander on my first deployment in Guantanamo Bay. He was there on June 3rd, 2003, when I first swore in as a second lieutenant at Princeton University, and he swore me in. And I wanted to make sure he was here today with me as well. So, Mr. President, thank you very much. To the American people, we have your back. We're going to get to work right away. God bless. Thank you.