The Pentagon is cutting bureaucratic hurdles to unleash “American drone dominance” and outcompete hostile powers such as China and Russia.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a slate of reforms to jolt U.S. production of drones and equip U.S. service members with the skills to use them effectively. The Department of Defense posted a video on social media Thursday of Hegseth signing orders delivered by drone.

“While our adversaries have produced millions of cheap drones before us, we were mired in bureaucratic red tape. Not anymore,” Hegseth said.

After noting that President Donald Trump signed an executive order in June to energize the drone industry in the United States, Hegseth said, “Today, I’m rescinding restrictive policies that stifle production. And this will unleash American manufacturing and the ingenuity of our war fighters.”

The Pentagon’s newest drone strategy has three main pillars, according to Hegseth. First, the Department of Defense will prioritize buying American-made drones to help expand drone-making on the domestic front.

Second, Hegseth said the military would leverage the United States’ “world-leading engineers and AI experts” to arm combat units with drones. And third, the secretary plans to stamp out a risk-averse mindset that he suggested has held back senior military staff from innovating with drones.

“We’re going to train as we expect to fight,” Hegseth said. “Senior officers must overcome bureaucratic risk aversion in budgeting, weaponing, weaponeering, and training.”

“This is the future. We’re in the fight. We’re in the fight to win it. And we’re never going to back down,” he concluded.

Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance @DOGE pic.twitter.com/ueqQPc7rKI

— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) July 10, 2025

Hegseth’s orders will allow for the first time commanders with the ranks of colonel or captain to obtain and test drones that meet national security standards, according to Fox News, which first obtained the memos signed on Thursday. The orders also cut through a series of approval processes so that the drones may be tested immediately.

The orders reclassified drones from being durable military assets to consumables, taking them out of bureaucratic tracking systems and allowing faster acquisition. The orders also directed military officials to coordinate with the Federal Aviation Administration on expanding range restrictions where needed and setting up sites for military training in drone use.

Drones have recently played major roles in the Ukraine-Russia war and in the Middle East.

Ukraine and Russia used drones to attack and hamper each other’s forces. Israel employed drones as part of its “Operation Rising Lion” to damage Iran’s military command structure and nuclear program.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) who is unfailingly left on political issues but is also a fervent supporter of the State of Israel, admitted this week that the reason allies of hard-Left New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani want to primary him is because of his support for Israel.

The conversation stemmed from CNN’s Abby Phillip noting that Mamdani’s allies have a list of congressional representatives they want to challenge in primaries and Torres is on the list.

Torres is not the only Democrat to be pilloried by members of his party for supporting Israel; Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has been targeted for the same reason.

“I want to ask you this,” CNN’s Ana Navarro said. “How the hell does the first openly gay Afro-Puerto Rican congressperson from the Bronx, end up being establishment? What — what does establishment mean these days in the Democratic Party?”

“For me, the lesson learned from Mamdani’s victory is that there is no Democratic establishment,” Torres replied, alluding to Mamdani’s recent win in the Democratic Party’s primary for New York City mayor.

“What do you mean by that? What do you mean by that?” Phillip interjected.

“Are you being honest when you say you don’t know why they’re targeting you?” CNN conservative political commentator Scott Jennings asked bluntly. “ You know why they’re targeting you.

“Oh, no, I’m not — I know why they’re targeting —” Torres managed.

“But you know why they’re targeting you,” Jennings persisted.

“But I don’t — I don’t care that they’re targeting me,” Torres protested.

“So, why don’t you say it?” Jennings challenged. “You know why they’re targeting you.”

“I think they’re targeting me because I’m pro-Israel,” Torres admitted.

“That’s 100 percent correct,” Jennings agreed.

“That’s the issue,” Torres finished, adding, “I am specifically targeted because of my position on Israel.”

“And by the way he’s been courageous on this issue and he’s had a backbone and he stood up to the wacko radicals in his party on this, and he deserves all the credit in the world for it,” Jennings declared. “But that’s why he’s on the list, because these people have a burning hatred for Israel. It’s one of their main pieces of their platform and that’s why they put them on the list and it’s terrible.”

Often, my main function is to get to the heart of the matter 👇

In NYC, Mamdani’s radical, socialist, anti-Semitic supporters are trying to primary @RepRitchie for one reason only: because of his courageous stance on Israel. Let’s not pretend there’s any other reason. pic.twitter.com/M66fhAbkrf

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) July 10, 2025

Three months after the Hamas massacre of roughly 1,200 people in Israel on October 7, 2023, Torres gave impassioned response to those who had cheered and celebrated the attack.

“Like all of you, I was profoundly shaken, not only by October 7, but by its aftermath. I found it utterly horrifying to see fellow Americans openly cheering and celebrating the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,” he stated at the annual Martin Luther King sermon at Central Synagogue in Manhattan.

“And for me, the aftermath of October 7 revealed the barbarity of the American heart that reminded me of an earlier and darker time in our nation’s history; a time when the public mobs of Jim Crow would openly celebrate the lynching of African-Americans or the lynching of a Jewish-American like Leo Frank,” he continued.

“And so words cannot express the overwhelming outrage that I felt at the barbaric reaction to the barbarism of October 7. You know, people often ask me, ‘Why do you care so deeply? Why do you speak out so frequently and forcefully against antisemitism?’ And I simply reply, ‘You are asking the wrong question. The question is not why have I chosen to be outspoken; the question is why have others chosen to be silent amid the deadliest day for the Jews since the Holocaust.’”

“Dr. King once said that history will record that the greatest tragedy is not the strident clamor of the bad people, but it’s the appalling silence of the good people,” Torres recalled. “Elie Wiesel once said that the opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference. And what we’ve seen in the aftermath of October 7 is appalling silence and indifference and cowardice from so-called leaders in our society; from institutions that we once respected and admired. And if we as a society cannot bring ourselves to condemn the murder of innocents with moral clarity, then we must ask: What are we becoming as a society? What does that reveal about the depth of anti-Semitism in the American soul?”

“October 7 has been an awakening for the Jewish community, but it must be a reckoning for all of America,” he declared. “We must confront the deepening rot of anti-Semitism; on social media platforms, on college campuses, and elsewhere in America. We must ask ourselves: What kind of society do we wish to be? Do we wish to be a society that affirms that every life, every Jewish life, every black life, every life, has inherent dignity and value and worth? That each of us is a child of God, that each of us is an equal creation in the image of God?”

“Or do we wish to be a society that affirms that violence and terror, no matter how barbaric, can be justified and even glorified, under the guise of ‘resistance,’” he asked pointedly.

I had the honor of delivering the annual MLK sermon at Central Synagogue.

My speech touches on a range of topics and themes: October 7th, Jim Crow, Leo Frank, MLK, Elie Wiesel, silence, indifference, moral clarity, nonviolence, Israel, Am Yisrael Chai, Hatikvah, and hope. pic.twitter.com/stxqxzgyLi

— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) January 16, 2024

Related: As Fetterman Defends Israel, Dems Suddenly Question His Mental Health