EXCLUSIVE: Pete Hegseth's New Religion Office Faces Investigation — as Pentagon Ordered to Reveal Records on Funding and 'Spiritual Fitness'
Pet Hegseth's new religious office is ruffling feathers.
Oct. 2 2026, Published 8:00 p.m. ET
Pete Hegseth is facing a fresh watchdog investigation over his newly created Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs, with critics demanding records revealing how taxpayer money will fund the powerful operation and how officials plan to assess troops' "spiritual fitness," RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) announced it is launching an investigation into the office just one day after Hegseth formally established it, saying it plans to use the Freedom of Information Act to uncover records surrounding its creation, operation, and funding.
Pete Hegseth in Hot Water
Hegseth's Office of Religious Affairs is now under investigation.
The probe comes as a September 30 Pentagon memorandum obtained by Radar lays out sweeping powers for the new Office of Religious Affairs, known as ORA. Under Hegseth's order, the office's director will report directly to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary without any "intervening authority" and serve as the Pentagon's principal adviser on religious affairs.
Among the office's most striking responsibilities is overseeing research, technology and analytical tools designed to "support and assess spiritual fitness, spiritual readiness, and spiritual resilience" throughout the military.
FFRF said its records request will seek definitions for those terms – along with information about any assessments, technologies, or analytical tools being considered to measure them.
What Is the Office of Religious Affairs?
The Pentagon memo says the office is intended to strengthen the 'moral, ethical and spiritual readiness.'
The watchdog is also demanding proposed budgets and staffing records, communications with outside religious organizations, and documents involving atheists, humanists, nonreligious service members, and the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
The Pentagon memo says the office is intended to strengthen the "moral, ethical and spiritual readiness" of American warfighters while protecting the free exercise of religion. It explicitly states nothing in the directive should compel religious participation or diminish the rights of personnel "of any faith or no faith."
Money is also set to become a major part of the scrutiny.
Pete Hegseth's Orders
Hegseth announced the creation of the office this week, on September 30.
Hegseth's directive orders the office to advocate for sufficient funding and resources covering religious ministry, facilities, chaplain programs, chapel youth programs, faith-based homeschool support for military families, suicide-reduction initiatives, and contracted services from faith-based non-federal organizations.
Pentagon officials have also been instructed to establish an initial baseline budget and deliver Hegseth a plan within 60 days for funding the office in fiscal year 2027.
Within 90 days, military departments must additionally identify unfunded and underfunded religious-affairs requirements across the armed forces.
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The new office has already received backlash.
FFRF co-president Dan Barker said the organization intends to determine exactly what influence outside groups could wield over the new operation and how federal dollars will be spent.
The group has also invited military personnel who believe they have experienced religious coercion, preferential treatment or new "spiritual fitness" requirements to come forward confidentially.
The investigation follows Hegseth's September 30 announcement of the office during his State of the Force address, where he argued religious support had become buried inside Pentagon bureaucracy. The office's director has not yet been publicly named.
