Newly minted White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have partnered on several key initiatives throughout the Trump administration, including national security and public safety.
Miller, who was White House deputy chief of staff for policy before his promotion took effect Monday, and Hegseth have worked in tandem on the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (A3C), also known as the Shield of the Americas, as well as safety and law enforcement crackdown initiatives in Washington, DC, Memphis, and Louisiana.
“At President Trump’s direction, Stephen Miller and Secretary Pete Hegseth have built an incredibly successful partnership working together on some of the administration’s most important public, safety, and national security priorities,” a White House official said in a statement to Breitbart News.
“From driving down crime in cities like Washington, DC and Memphis, to securing our southern border, to dismantling the cartels through the Homeland Security Task Force, to combating drug trafficking and criminal organizations in Venezuela and across the Western Hemisphere, their coordinated efforts are delivering results and making America safer,” the official added.
In March, Miller and Hegseth co-led the first A3C conference at Southern Command headquarters in Doral, Florida, where the United States and 16 partners in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean signed a joint declaration to establish the coalition.
Since then, three more countries have signed on to the coalition, the purpose of which is to confront and counter narco-terrorist networks that pose threats to the respective nations. The coalition has enabled expanded information sharing and collaboration to dismantle cartel operations and secure borders in the Western Hemisphere.
“We are not going to cede an inch of territory in this hemisphere to our enemies or our adversaries,” Miller said at the conference.
“The cartels that operate in this hemisphere are the ISIS and the Al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere and should be treated just as brutally and just as ruthlessly as we treat those organizations,” he added, stressing that “These organizations can only be defeated with military power.”At a Shield of the Americas forum in Panama in August, Hegseth emphasized that the A3C represents “a new sheriff in town,” and said, “When we say we will dismantle the cartels, we mean it.”
In Panama, Hegseth unveiled the coalition’s motto: “We do bad things to bad people.”
In September, at the second Shield of the Americas summit in New York, 15 governments announced they would target 24 designated criminal organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel, MS-13, and Tren de Aragua, with sanctions and other measures.
During his press conference on Tuesday at the Pentagon, Hegseth spoke glowingly about Miller, including his work on the A3C, and expressed confidence in his ability to serve as the new chief of staff for President Donald Trump.
“As far as Stephen Miller’s concerned, he is an incredible American patriot and a great friend of this department. We wouldn’t have an A triple C in Americas Counter Cartel Coalition without Stephen Miller. We wouldn’t have a secure southwest border for 18 months without what Stephen Miller has enabled,” Hegseth said.
“So… we’ve got no better friend at the Department of War than Stephen Miller. He’ll be a fantastic chief of staff. He understands the president’s agenda. He will stand, he will fight, and defend this republic, and we’re proud to be right there with him all the way,” he added.
The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, which Hegseth and Miller have participated in, has produced tangible quality-of-life results in the nation’s capital. According to a source familiar, D.C. has seen a 48 percent drop in homicides, a 12 percent decline in violent crime, and robberies have dwindled 32 percent under the task force.
Moreover, there have been more than 19,000 arrests, including 1,995 arrests for weapons offenses, nearly 4,000 arrests for narcotics offenses, and 46 homicide arrests. Nearly 100 known gang members have been arrested as well.
The operation has seen the surge of thousands of National Guardsmen to the Capital.
In August 2025, Miller and Hegseth joined Vice President JD Vance at Union Station to thank National Guard troops for their efforts.
“We are not going to let the communists destroy a great American city, let alone the nation’s capital,” Miller said.
Hegseth called the troops “patriots” and said he was honored to be at Union Station with them.
“[These guardsmen are] here because they’re patriots who serve the country and believe we deserve a beautiful, safe capital. And when I talk to all these people, they’re proud of this mission [and] they’re proud to be a part of making sure the rule of law is established. … It’s an honor to be here with you,” he said.
In July, the Pentagon announced that the National Guard’s presence in the nation’s capital would continue into 2029, and in November, Hegseth “authorized the National Guard to begin using boats, several dozen marked police cars, humvees and light medium tactical vehicles,” Politico reported.
The Memphis Task Force also boasts strong results, according to data from the U.S. Marshals Service. As of late October, the task force made nearly 13,876 arrests, which include nearly 1,400 for firearm violations, over 1,500 for narcotics, 147 in connection with homicides, and 126 for sex offenses. The crime crackdown has seen more than 1,561 known gang members arrested, and 2,329 illegal firearms seized. The task force has located 198 missing children.
In the first year of the Memphis Safe Task Force, which saw National Guard deployed to the city, homicides declined 37 percent, robberies dropped 47 percent, sexual assaults dropped 30 percent, and aggravated assaults were down 29 percent, per the U.S. Marshals Service. There was a 38 percent decline in serious crimes.
On October 1, 2025, when the task force was just beginning operations, Miller and Hegseth joined then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) in the Volunteer State.
“You are unleashed. The handcuffs you’re carrying, they’re not on you anymore. They’re on the criminals,” Miller told officers.
He pledged “a level of support you cannot even imagine,” adding, “We have the entire weight of the United States government behind us,” Newsweek noted.
Like D.C., National Guard troops were also deployed as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force operation.
A third task force focused on Louisiana, where a source familiar with the matter said murders dropped 87 percent, aggravated battery was down 12 percent, and simple robbery dwindled 31 percent.
In a statement obtained by Breitbart News, Hegseth said his department has no better friend than Miller.
“Stephen Miller has been loyal to President Trump and the MAGA movement since Day One,” Hegseth said. “He sets the standard of leadership required to serve the American people and embodies what this moment demands: fearless patriotism, unrelenting courage, and total commitment to restoring American Exceptionalism. The Department of War has no better friend and advocate than Stephen Miller.”
Beyond Hegseth, other top cabinet officials are also speaking highly of the president’s new chief of staff.
“Stephen is one of President Trump’s longest-serving and most trusted advisors, and he has worked to advance the President’s agenda on behalf of the forgotten men and women of America,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement obtained by Breitbart News. “Whether combating fraud, contributing to Venezuela policy, or making D.C. safe and beautiful, Stephen is an effective and tireless leader for the Administration.”
“Few people care more deeply about this country or work harder to keep it safe than Stephen Miller,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “Together, we’ve worked to make our communities safer, drive crime down to historic lows, and protect American taxpayers from fraud. Stephen never shies away from difficult fights, and he never loses sight of what matters most: putting the American people first.”
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