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Hegseth to Remake Military in His Preferred Image; Trump Says Military Should Use "Dangerous Cities as Training Grounds"; Federal Government Officially Shuts Down; Trump's Exec. Order for Pediatric Cancer Initiative Involving A.I. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 01, 2025 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is pushing forward to rid the military of any so-called wokeness. You heard him give his speech yesterday where he outlined before a gathering of hundreds of generals and admirals from around the world how to get rid of, quote, "fat troops." He also vowed to end diversity efforts and ensure male physical standards for combat roles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Each service will ensure that every requirement for every combat MOS, for every designated combat arms position, returns to the highest male standard only. Because this job is life or death. Standards must be met. And not just met, at every level we should seek to exceed the standard, to push the envelope, to compete. It's common sense and core to who we are and what we do. It should be in our DNA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Joining us now with CNN senior military analyst and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis. Admiral, you have a new opinion piece out saying the military is already the best in the world. So, tell us more about your reaction to what Secretary Hegseth said.

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST AND FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Well, first and foremost, I thought the undercurrent both of his speech and Donald Trump's speech, which followed it, was kind of denigrating to the military. It implied that we're not a lethal force, we're not a professional force, that we need to change our culture to be better in battle. I just disagree with that.

I disagree that when I look at the hundred-year history of the armed forces, in which we won World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Persian Gulf War, Panama, the Cold War, the most important war of all, we just destroyed Iran's nuclear program. Lethality is not a problem for us. And I guarantee you the 800 senior leaders there, the thought bubble above their heads would have been something like, hey, boss, we may not be exactly perfect at what you're looking for, but are we lethal? Ask our opponents. BROWN: I want to specifically ask about his comments regarding the military shifting to solely male standards for combat roles. What did you make of that? Do you think that that could alienate women? Do you think that's an effective strategic decision to come out and say that?

SCIUTTO: My daughter, as you know, Pamela, is a Navy veteran who served proudly for four years in the Navy as a Navy nurse, not in a combat role. I think the point here is that you look at each job- specific tranche inside the military for SEALs, for Green Berets, yes, you need very high physical standards. You shouldn't bend those for anything.

[10:35:00]

On the other hand, people who are drone operators, who drive destroyers around, who are cyber experts, there are many, many jobs in the military that don't require that same extraordinary level of physical fitness. So, the smart thing here is to be very balanced. You don't exclude anybody from any role. You decide what the right level of physical fitness is for that role, and then it's open.

If a woman can become a Navy SEAL, more power to her. Haven't seen that yet. But I know that many, many women can serve in 80, 90-plus percent of the jobs the military has. Hey, final thought, retention and recruiting. You mentioned it. You can't man 100 percent of the force with 50 percent of the population. So, if you go in with an attitude that excludes women and sends that signal, you're going to have significant recruiting problems over time.

BROWN: I want to ask you about something the president said that's made waves. He suggested the military should use, quote, "dangerous cities" as training grounds. He also talked about the invasion from within. I mean, just, again, to remind our viewers, he was saying this to a room full of generals. What is your reaction to that?

STAVRIDIS: Yes, generals and admirals and their senior enlisted advisers, 800 of them. And the thought bubble above most of their heads, in my view, would have been, what is he talking about? We are not designed, we, the U.S. military, are not designed to go into civilian cities and take over from local law enforcement. What we ought to do is fund the local law enforcement at a higher level. The military ought to be an absolute last resort ever deployed inside the United States.

And I think that the idea of using our cities as training grounds is incomprehensible. We have training grounds. We have bases all over the country where we do training, including in urban warfare, not to go into a U.S. city, but to take down Fallujah in Iraq, which we did. So, we know how to do urban warfare. We shouldn't be using it against the American civilian population ever.

BROWN: Admiral James Stavridis, thank you so much. We'll be right back.

STAVRIDIS: You bet. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:00]

BROWN: We are following breaking news and we are just over 10 hours into a government shutdown with no deal in sight. Both parties are blaming each other for the federal government running out of funding. And just moments ago Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called out Republicans from the Senate floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: Democrats' positions hasn't changed. We're willing ready and able to negotiate. We're ready to reopen the government today. We've made our position clear about how to move forward. Surely, we can come together and agree. We need to fix health care, and that needs to happen now as people are getting these incredible increases, and within a few weeks they're going to have to say what new health care if they'll, even keep their health care or have to cut it back or do something else that hurts them because they don't have the money.

If Republicans work with us and fix America's health care crisis, the shutdown could go away very quickly. And that's what Democrats want, to end this now, fix health care now. It's the right thing to do for the American people. We urge our Republican colleagues, we urge President Trump to take yes for an answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: You know, Pamela it looks like they're getting further apart, the Democratic leadership and the Republican leadership, on this issue what to do right now instead of simply passing what's called a clean CR continuing resolution that would allow the government to remain open for several weeks they could continue the negotiations while the government is open but they seem to be moving further and further apart.

BROWN: They certainly do. There really seems like no end in sight this could go on for quite some time. And it's interesting to hear at the Senate minority leader speak because as you recall last time this happened he really -- he saved it he kept the government open and --

BLITZER: He supported the continuing resolution.

BROWN: He supported the continuing resolution. And he got a lot of blowback from people within his own party, more liberal voters who wanted to see him and other Democrats fight back. So, this time around, you're seeing a very different posture. Democrats did not get on board fully to -- for the continuing resolution. Now, Senate Majority Leader Thune has said he's going to continue to bring it up and put Democrats in the position to see what they're going to do and get them on the record. But this could be a while, Wolf.

BLITZER: If there is a prolonged government shutdown, these federal employees who are being furloughed, they're losing their jobs, at least temporarily, they're not going to be paid, and it's going to be a serious problem all across the country right.

BROWN: Right. And you heard President Trump, for his part, say he's going to use this to actually get rid of and import more federal workers. So, we'll see.

BLITZER: We'll see how all this unfolds. All right. We'll take a quick break. Much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:00]

BROWN: Well, new this morning, after cutting millions of dollars in research funding, President Trump has signed an executive order aimed at using A.I. to change the way scientists fight childhood cancer.

BLITZER: CNN National Correspondent Rene Marsh is joining us right now. She's the author of a new children's book entitled "The Nature of Change: Lessons of Determination, Resilience, and Hope from the Outside World." Rene, thanks so much for writing this book. I know you love kids. We all love kids. And this is an important book. Let me show our viewers the cover. There it is right there. You have the first question.

BROWN: Yes, we're going to talk about the book in just a moment. But first, I want to talk about this new initiative that the president announced. He signed an executive order to improve childhood cancer research. I know this is really personal for you.

RENE MARSH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT AND AUTHOR, "THE NATURE OF CHANGE": Yes. So, yesterday in the Oval Office, the president signed this executive order announcing some $50 million for A.I.-backed childhood cancer research. And the administration says the idea here is to speed up the development of treatments, cures, and preventative strategies for childhood cancer.

[10:50:00]

It's unclear how this initiative will change the research going forward. But the full context here is this announcement is coming after the president proposed cuts to the National Cancer Institute's 2026 budget by a whopping 37 percent. Those cuts are so deep. There are actually no indications of bipartisan support for that kind of cut. We saw the House and the Senate 2026 budget proposals that did not follow the president's lead with that sort of 30 percent cut to the National Cancer Institute.

But this new funding promised to supercharge childhood cancer research and ultimately find cures a lot faster. Obviously, it's welcomed for the pediatric cancer community because this is a historically underfunded community. So, any federal help they will take. But again, this is coming within this larger context of dramatic staffing losses at the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute. The administration has cut hundreds of millions of dollars in science research grants. And when I reported this out some two weeks ago, a lot of researchers within the pediatric cancer community, they were concerned and they were sounding the alarm that this sort of cuts could really set back cancer research for not just the next three years, but for years to come.

BROWN: And you had talked to families with kids who had cancer.

MARSH: Yes. I mean, I spoke to a family in Boston, their young daughter. She's just five years old. Sweetest little girl. She has an incurable form of brain cancer. And they were just getting ready to inquire about a clinical trial when they found out that the trial was no longer accepting enrollees, again, because of cuts from the National Cancer Institute.

BROWN: And as you know, if you're a parent with a child with cancer, there's so much uncertainty and hardship, right? And you wrote this beautiful book called "The Nature of Change," and it's about teaching kids about uncertainty and about resilience, something that you know all too well. Tell us more about why it was so important for you to write this book and to learn these skills at an early age.

MARSH: Yes. I mean, my own experience with pediatric cancer and losing my son, Blake, at just age two to an incurable form of brain cancer led me to many days just sitting in my backyard, struggling to understand the world that I felt like I no longer understood. And it was in those moments that I was just surrounded by all the trees in my backyard and in nature that I received a lot of profound messages of hope.

One -- I told you this over lunch. There was a broken limb on a tree in my backyard, but yet it was still sprouting leaves. And the message I received is, even in your brokenness, you can still grow. You can still bloom. And that is what inspired this book, taking these quiet -- the quiet wisdom of nature and helping our kids understand how to cope with all that may come their way in the course of their life.

The world is heavy these days. There's a lot going on. Many people feel overwhelmed. And so, I hope that by reading this book, the parents as well as kids will be able to start looking around them to get that inspiration for how to cope, how to be hopeful when the facts tell you maybe, you know, things are kind of tough, how to be determined and how to be resilient. Those are lessons that we struggle with sometimes as adults. And I -- so, I feel like if we can really teach them at a younger age, some of these skills, maybe they will handle the hardships a lot better than we are.

BLITZER: And what I love especially about the book, and you do, too, I know, it's not just the book for kids. It's a book for their parents to read at the same time. Kids can read it and learn. Parents can read it and absorb, grandparents as well.

BROWN: Yes.

MARSH: It is. And it also has a philanthropic component. As you know, everything I do is inspired by my experience and my loss. And so, my first children's book, "The Miracle Workers," I donated 100 percent of the proceeds to pediatric brain cancer research. With this book, I'm working with a traditional publisher. I have decided to donate 14 percent of all of my royalties proceeds from this book to pediatric cancer research. I chose the percent 14. That is Blake's number. His birthday was March 14th. And so, I took the 14 percent pledge.

So, if you buy this book, you get the story. You get the life skills. Your kids will probably have a greater appreciation. Get them away from the screens and get them outside. But also, we're trying to solve a very stubborn problem. And, you know, as there are cuts and as grants become harder to get, I know that this is a community where they are going to be relying a lot more on the private sector, people, philanthropy to still continue that science so that we can keep the research going and ultimately, save these young lives.

[10:55:00]

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: Rene Marsh, you are so inspiring. And Blake is so inspiring. I mean, his legacy lives on. He's helping so many. And it's remarkable.

BLITZER: We love Rene.

BROWN: We love Rene.

MARSH: I love you, too.

BROWN: And I can't wait to read -- my kids love your first book, "The Miracle Workers," and all the illustrations. And I can't wait to read this. And by the way, I think we could all -- as you point out, as adults, read this right now in this moment about resilience and change and just learning from nature around us. Rene, thank you so much.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brian Todd at Reagan National Airport outside Washington, where TSA screeners and air traffic controllers have reported to work today without getting paid due to the government shutdown. We'll have a report on how the shutdown could affect American travelers coming up.

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