Pentagon creates Office of Religious Affairs reporting directly to Hegseth

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has established a Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs that will report directly to him and advise the defense secretary and deputy secretary on religious matters across the military.

Hegseth announced the office during a Sept. 30 State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. He said it would provide service members with “first-class religious support” and argued that chaplains had previously been hindered by bureaucracy. During the speech, he cited the Bible and described the military’s battle as spiritual as well as physical.

Under Hegseth’s memorandum, the office will coordinate religious-affairs policy, oversee the Armed Forces Chaplains Board and represent the Defense Department in dealings with religious endorsing organizations and government bodies. It will also seek resources for chaplain programs and religious facilities and sponsor research and tools concerning spiritual fitness, readiness and resilience. The military services must report unfunded or underfunded religious-affairs needs within 90 days. A director has not yet been named.

The memo says the office may not compel religious participation or diminish the free-exercise rights of service members, civilian employees or family members of any faith or no faith. Service chaplains will remain the military’s primary providers of religious support.

The Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services expressed appreciation for the new office. Church-state separation groups criticized it, however. The Freedom From Religion Foundation said it would file a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records about the office’s creation, funding and planned operations, while Americans United for Separation of Church and State said the initiative improperly elevates Christianity in military policy.