President Donald Trump's defense secretary touched down Monday in Honolulu amid a national security scandal unfolding across the country.
A conversation between top defense officials on the encrypted messaging app Signal somehow included The Atlantic editor-in-chief, Jeffery Goldberg, the magazine reported in a story posted online Monday.
Goldberg said he was surprised to be included in a message chain that appeared to detail U.S. war plans in Yemen.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke Tuesday at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies about achieving “peace through strength.”
Environmental groups are said to be organizing a demonstration at 4 p.m. at the Hālawa Gate near the Pacific Fleet command, calling on Hegseth to make sure the military cleans up its mess at Red Hill — the site of a fuel spill that contaminated the Navy's drinking water system.
After his visit to Hawaiʻi, Hegseth will travel to Guam and the Philippines before wrapping up his trip in Japan.
Many eyes will be watching to see about U.S. relations with the Pacific amid threats of tariffs, most recently on foreign-made cars.
Glen S. Fukushima, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, was just in Japan, where he has a long history of diplomatic and government work. The former diplomat has led multinational companies in Japan, served as president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and worked in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Fukushima spoke with HPR's Bill Dorman, who started by asking what expectations are in Japan and the region about Hegsethʻs first visit as defense secretary.
Fukushima was in Honolulu as part of the University of Hawaiʻi’s Better Tomorrow Speaker Series. He talked Tuesday about “The Transformation of National Security in the Indo-Pacific." For more information, click here.
This interview aired on The Conversation on March 25, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
