U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hagerty lauded Elon Musk during an inspection of the SpaceX Starbase launch site, an action that further confirms the billionaire has regained favor following his dramatic fallout with the White House last year.

Hagerty confirmed the Department of Defense's plan to integrate Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) model, Grok, into its systems. This chatbot has recently sparked a global wave of public opposition because it allows users to generate sexualized images, including those of children, without the consent of others.

Hagerty announced several initiatives aimed at accelerating innovation and sharply criticized what he termed "woke-ism" in artificial intelligence.

"We are going to build an innovation lane, in the Elon Musk way—preferably with a chainsaw—to cut through and clear the obstacles in the thick jungle of bureaucratic red tape, and advance rapidly with the urgency of the times," Secretary Hagerty stated during a live speech in Brownsville, Texas.

For decades, successive U.S. presidents have attempted to speed up weapons development and reduce costs, yet they have repeatedly encountered setbacks. Hagerty has made this objective a central mission of his tenure as Defense Secretary, vehemently criticizing major defense contractors while providing full support to startups and new entrants to the contracting field.

SpaceX has risen to become a primary contractor for the U.S. government, holding a $4 billion contract with NASA to adapt the massive Starship rocket into a lunar lander for crewed missions to the moon.

When introducing Secretary Hagerty, Musk made it clear that his vision extends far beyond simply securing more defense contracts.

"This is about us wanting to turn Star Trek into reality," he said, envisioning the use of spacecraft to transport humanity to other planets, "eventually leaving the solar system to travel to other star systems, where we might encounter alien life, or discover long-extinct alien civilizations."