This Week in DOD: Better Access to Panama Canal, Billions Saved by DOGE, Outreach Effort Begins

Published April 11, 2025
By C. Todd Lopez

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Panama to talk about, among other things, U.S. access to the Panama Canal and ridding the canal of China's influence.

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"Secretary Hegseth traveled to Panama this week and delivered huge wins for the Trump administration and the American people," said Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell during the Weekly Sitrep video, which highlights department activities each week.

"The United States secured 'first and free' canal passage for U.S. military vessels and agreed to reestablish and enhance joint military training with Panama. We're taking back the Panama Canal from malign Chinese interests and making the Americas great again," Parnell said.

During that visit, the United States and Panama signed both a memorandum of understanding on cooperative security activities and a joint declaration regarding the security and operation of the Panama Canal, which, in part, provides a framework allowing U.S. warships and auxiliary ships to sail first and free through the canal.

"These documents reaffirm our historic ties and outline how we will deepen our relationship and strengthen bilateral canal security cooperation," Hegseth said April 9, 2025.

Three men sit at a table and sign documents.

The Panama Canal, built by the United States and completed in 1914, serves as a passageway between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Ships passing through the canal avoid a much longer route around the southern tip of South America. The canal reduces the time and cost of traveling by ship between the east and west coasts of the United States.

"We're securing the Panama Canal and countering China's malign influence," Hegseth said. "The Panama Canal is key terrain that must be secured by Panama, with America, and not China."

Both nations are also partnering in other areas of concern, including countering the influence of violent cartels and criminal enterprises, securing borders and stopping mass illegal migration.

"What Panama has done in the Darién Gap is incredible; crossings [are] down 99% since a year ago," Hegseth said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to a group of Marines.

Earlier in the week, Parnell said, Hegseth's focus was on the Middle East.

During a briefing at the White House, which included President Donald J. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hegseth updated the two world leaders on the Houthis.

"It's been a bad three weeks for the Houthis, and it's about to get a lot worse," Hegseth said. "It's been a devastating campaign, whether it's underground facilities, weapons manufacturing, bunkers, troops in the open [or] air defense assets; we are not going to relent."

Last month, the Defense Department announced it conducted a series of precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets across Yemen in response to ongoing Houthi attacks on U.S. military and commercial shipping vessels in the region. That effort continues.

"It's only [going] to get more unrelenting until the Houthis declare they will stop shooting at our ships," Hegseth said. "And we've been very clear with the Iranians as well. They should not continue to provide support to the Houthis ... We have a lot more options and a lot more pressure to apply."

DOD launched an extensive effort to reconnect with roughly 8,700 service members who were involuntarily separated from service for refusing to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, enacted in August 2021 and repealed by Congress in 2022. The Defense Department has made plans to invite those service members back into uniform.

"This week, the department began outreach to ensure service members who were separated solely for refusing the experimental COVID-19 vaccine received clear information on how to pursue reinstatement," Parnell said.

The outreach effort includes letters of apology from the department, which also provide instructions on how former service members can pursue a return to service. In addition to letters, the effort includes emails, phone calls, website resources and social media posts, all to ensure every affected individual is informed of their opportunity to return to the military.

Yesterday, Hegseth signed a directive furthering efforts to rebuild the military, restore accountability to the department and eliminate wasteful spending, Parnell said.

"Secretary Hegseth signed a [Department of Government Efficiency] memo, and this time, we've saved the Department of Defense $5.1 billion," Parnell said. "That's 'billion' with a 'b' — $5.1 billion. We are doing everything we can to be steadfast protectors of your taxpayer dollars."

Within that memorandum, Hegseth directed the termination of several contracts for services he said the department could do on its own.

"These contracts represent nonessential spending on third-party consultants to perform services more efficiently performed by the highly skilled members of our DOD workforce using existing resources," Hegseth wrote.

The savings resulting from the contract cuts identified in the memo, which Hegseth said, can be reallocated to mission-critical priorities aimed at reviving the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military and reestablishing deterrence.

Finally, this week, Parnell said that DOD brought on board a new civilian leader to guide department policy.

"On Tuesday, Undersecretary [of Defense] for Policy Bridge Colby was confirmed by the Senate," Parnell said. "We very much look forward to his America First leadership at the Department of Defense."

Colby was sworn in April 9, 2025, by Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg.