MANILA, Philippines — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday that the Trump administration would work with allies to ramp up deterrence against threats across the world, including China’s aggression in the South China Sea.

Hegseth, who was visiting the Philippines, blamed the previous Biden administration for insufficient actions that emboldened aggressors like China over the years. He said the U.S. military was being rebuilt under President Donald Trump and was reestablishing its “warrior ethos” in the region, but did not elaborate.

“What we’re dealing with right now is many years of deferred maintenance, of weakness, that we need to reestablish strength and deterrence in multiple places around the globe,” Hegseth told a news conference with his Philippine counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro, after meeting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Manila.

“There’s a long line of countries in the past who have attempted to test U.S. resolve,” Hegseth added. “We are resolved at this time … to work with our partners.”

Earlier, he told Marcos that deterrence was particularly needed in the Indo-Pacific region “considering the threats from the communist Chinese.”

“Friends need to stand shoulder to shoulder to deter conflict, to ensure that there is free navigation whether you call it the South China Sea or the West Philippine Sea," he told Marcos.

The U.S. was not gearing up for war, Hegseth said — while underscoring that peace would be won “through strength.”

The Philippines was the first stop in Hegseth's first trip to Asia. He is due to travel next to Japan, another staunch U.S. ally.

Ahead of his visit to the region, China called the United States a “predator” and an unreliable ally.

Hegseth said the Trump administration would commit more security assistance to the Philippines in addition to a $500 million fund to help the Philippine military modernize. The U.S. funding was first announced by the previous Biden administration.

US-Philippine Joint War Games 

The U.S. would also deploy an anti-ship missile system called the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System as well as unmanned sea vessels for largescale military exercises involving thousands of American and Filipino forces next month in the Philippines, Hegseth said.

That would enable the allied forces to train together to defend Philippine sovereignty, he said.

Additionally, the allied forces agreed to stage special operations forces training in Batanes province, a cluster of islands in the northernmost tip of the Philippine archipelago across a sea border from Taiwan, he said.

Taiwan is the self-ruled island that China regards as a province and has threatened to annex, by force if necessary.

China claims virtually the entire South China Sea^[1], a major security and global trade route. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims to the resource-rich and busy waters, but confrontations have spiked between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval forces in the last two years.

Hegseth said that U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. Samuel Paparo, who heads the largest number of American combat forces outside the U.S. mainland, has “real war plans” and was ready to work with allied forces to create “strategic dilemmas for the communist Chinese that (will) help them reconsider whether or not violence or action is something they want to undertake."

Aside from the U.S., Teodoro said the Philippines has been building security alliances with other friendly countries for added deterrence.

“God forbid. We must be prepared … to deter any possibility in the future for our mutual defense and the defense of freedom and international law,” Teodoro said.

Trump’s “America First” foreign policy thrust has triggered concerns in Asia about the scale and depth of U.S. commitment to the region.

Under the previous Biden administration, the U.S. has repeatedly warned that it is obligated to help defend^[2] the Philippines if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea. Hegseth renewed that Biden commitment in his talks with Marcos and Teodoro.

China Warns of ‘Opening the Door to a Predator’ 

Ahead of Hegseth’s visit, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said China opposes “interference from outside countries” in the South China Sea.

"U.S.-Philippines military cooperation must not harm the security interests of other countries or undermine regional peace and stability,” he said Thursday in a news conference.

He added without elaborating that the United States has “an astonishing record of breaking its promises and abandoning its allies” throughout its history.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun separately warned the Philippines earlier this week “that nothing good could come out of opening the door to a predator. Those who willingly serve as chess pieces will be deserted in the end."

Hegseth, who has come under strong criticism for texting attack plans t^[3] o a Signal group that included top-level U.S. security officials and the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, projected composure and camaraderie while in Manila.

Clad in a sweatshirt and shorts, he joined American and Filipino forces in physical training, including push-ups, in a gym after arriving Thursday in Manila.

The U.S. defense chief shook hands and posed smiling with military personnel while they flashed the thumbs-up in pictures posted by the U.S. Embassy on X.

Associated Press journalists Joeal Calupitan Manila, Ken Moritsugu in Beijing and Christopher Bodeen in Taipei contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Thursday said he will order the Trump administration to preserve records of a text message chat^[1] in which senior national security officials discussed sensitive details of plans for a U.S. military strike against Yemen’s Houthis.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said during a hearing that he’ll issue a temporary restraining order barring administration officials from destroying messages sent over the encrypted messaging app Signal^[2].

A nonprofit watchdog, American Oversight, requested the order. A government attorney said the administration already was taking steps to collect and save the messages.

The Atlantic published^[3] the entire Signal chat on Wednesday. Its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, had been added to a discussion that included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Michael Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

On the chat, Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop before the attacks against Yemen’s Houthis began earlier this month. Hegseth laid out when a “strike window” would open, where a “target terrorist” was located and when weapons and aircraft would be used.

The images of the text chain posted by The Atlantic^[4] show that the messages were set to disappear in one week.

American Oversight sued this week to ensure that the records are kept in accordance with the Federal Records Act. The group suspects that administration officials routinely use Signal to communicate.

“Defendants’ use of a non-classified commercial application even for such life-and-death matters as planning a military operation leads to the inevitable inference that Defendants must have used Signal to conduct other official government business,” American Oversight’s attorneys wrote in a court filing.

Boasberg limited his order to messages sent between March 11 and March 15.

“We are still ascertaining what records the agencies have,” Justice Department attorney Amber Richer said.

“I’m glad we could figure out a solution,” the judge later said. He instructed the government to provide him with an update Monday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said no classified information was posted to the Signal chat. Hegseth’s spokesman, Sean Parnell, said in a statement Wednesday that “there were no classified materials or war plans shared. The Secretary was merely updating the group on a plan that was underway.”

Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday^[5] that Hegseth was responsible for determining whether the information was classified.

American Oversight’s attorneys argued that the public is entitled to access government records even if they are auto-deleting messages that originated on officials’ private phones.

“This is nothing less than a systematic effort to evade the rules for record retention in the federal government,” they wrote. “There is no legitimate reason for this behavior, which deprives the public and Congress of an ability to see the actions of government.”

Boasberg has been at odds with the administration over a separate case involving flights deporting Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law. He temporarily blocked the flights^[6] and ordered at least two planes carrying immigrants to turn around, but that didn’t happen. The judge has vowed to determine^[7] whether the administration ignored his turnaround order.

Boasberg, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, noted during Thursday’s hearing that his order shouldn’t harm the government since the agencies already were working to preserve the Signal messages.

As fallout from the revelation that plans for Yemen military strikes were discussed by top Trump administration officials on a commercial messaging app continues to ripple through Washington, D.C., a slate of Pentagon nominees was questioned Thursday on their own past handling of classified information.

Four nominees, including President Donald Trump's pick to be Air Force^[1] secretary, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday for their confirmation hearing.

Noting the ongoing scandal over Cabinet officials' use of Signal, an encrypted but unclassified messaging app, to discuss attack plans against Houthi rebels in Yemen, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, asked each nominee whether they have ever discussed classified information in an unclassified setting. All four said they have not.

Read Next: 'Different Spanks for Different Ranks': Hegseth's Signal Scandal Would Put Regular Troops in the Brig^[2]

In addition to Troy Meink, the nominee to be Air Force secretary, Thursday's hearing included Michael Duffey, the nominee to be under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment; Emil Michael, the nominee to be under secretary of defense for research and engineering; and Keith Bass, the nominee to be assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.

The hearing largely focused on more mundane issues for each nominee's potential office, such as Meink's vision for the future of the Space Force^[3] and Bass' commitment to research troops' brain injuries.

But Thursday's hearing was the first committee meeting since The Atlantic magazine reported earlier this week that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent the Signal group sensitive operational details about the strikes, including timing and weapons platforms, before they were launched. And some Democrats, who have been excoriating Hegseth for sharing what should have been classified details in an unclassified channel, took the opportunity to keep a spotlight on the issue.

In addition to Hirono's questions to the full panel, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a former CIA analyst and Defense Department civilian, also specifically pressed Duffey about the Signal scandal. As he awaits approval to be the Pentagon's top weapons buyer, Duffey has been working as Hegseth's deputy chief of staff.

Asked by Slotkin whether he knew of any other Signal chats between Pentagon leaders that contained operational details like those in the Yemen chat, Duffey told the committee that he was "not aware of Signal chats that contain sensitive information."

Despite some testiness between Democrats and GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri, who accused Democrats of exaggerating the Signal issue to score political points, the hearing was largely drama-free, suggesting the nominees will be easily confirmed.

Meink, the nominee to be Air Force secretary, has been principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office since 2020. The office oversees the U.S. intelligence community's network of spy satellites.

Meink's career in the Air Force, which he joined through the Reserve Officers' Training Corps program at South Dakota State University in 1988, included time as a KC-135 Stratotanker^[4] navigator and instructor and as a lead test engineer for the Missile Defense Agency.

His nomination as secretary of the Air Force, a job that also oversees the Space Force, was seen as a sign of the importance the president is placing on space in his national security policy. The creation of the Space Force was one of Trump's signature achievements in his first term.

At Thursday's hearing, Meink made clear he views growing the still-young Space Force as one of his top priorities.

"Space is critical. This is actually one of the areas that we're most challenged, I believe, from the rapidly evolving threat from China and others," he said. "I think the key to both acquisition and operations is making sure you have the best talented workforce. These are some of the most complicated systems and, if the U.S. is going to maintain our advantage, which we need to do in space, we need to make sure we have the right workforce.

"The Space Force is in the process of growing," he said. "I will support that activity to make sure we have the right numbers and the right skill set."

Unlike Trump's other picks for service secretaries, Meink would bring an extensive military background to the job if he is confirmed.

But his record has come under some scrutiny. Last month, Reuters reported that a government watchdog^[5] investigated allegations that Meink used his role in the National Reconnaissance Office to steer a multibillion-dollar contract toward SpaceX, the company owned by billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk.

While two Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee pressed Meink on the Reuters report in a letter ahead of the hearing^[6], the allegations were not mentioned at all Thursday.

Meanwhile, Bass, the nominee to oversee the Defense Department's health system, also faced questions from Democrats^[7] about his record ahead of the hearing.

Bass, a retired Navy^[8] commander, faced allegations that he did not take a health condition known as Havana syndrome seriously when he led the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Medical Services. Havana syndrome, also known as anomalous health incidents, or AHI, is a mysterious affliction with an unknown cause that has hit U.S. diplomats, spies and defense officials.

"I reject the premise that I did not take AHI seriously," Bass said Thursday. "All individuals that are affected by AHI, regardless [of cause], should be treated with dignity and respect, and they should be afforded health care."

More generally on brain injuries affecting service members, Bass also committed to "continue to look at ways and devote research to this issue and making sure that we can continue to make progress."

Related: Trump Names Former KC-135 Navigator, Spy Agency Official to Be Next Air Force Secretary^[9]