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Secretary Rubio Delivers Remarks to the Munich Security Conference, Feb. 14, 2026

February 14, 2026 · U.S. Department of State · 0:29:14

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered the U.S. address to the Munich Security Conference on February 14, 2026, according to the State Department broadcast. He recalled the first conference in 1963, held months after the Cuban Missile Crisis with the Berlin Wall newly built, when “thousands of years of Western civilization hung in the balance” — and argued the euphoria of the Cold War’s end “led us to a dangerous delusion: that we had entered, quote, ’the end of history.’” In that delusion, he said, the West embraced unfettered trade while rivals subsidized their companies and deindustrialized allied societies, outsourced sovereignty to international institutions, funded welfare states at the cost of defense, imposed energy policies “to appease a climate cult,” and “opened our doors to an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our societies.”

“We made these mistakes together, and now, together, we owe it to our people to face those facts and to move forward, to rebuild,” Rubio said. Under President Trump, he said, the United States “will once again take on the task of renewal and restoration” — preferably with Europe: “For the United States and Europe, we belong together. America was founded 250 years ago, but the roots began here on this continent long before.” He framed national security’s fundamental question as “what exactly are we defending, because armies do not fight for abstractions. Armies fight for a people; armies fight for a nation. Armies fight for a way of life.” The address closed with questions on Russia–Ukraine and China, per the broadcast’s chapter markers.

Why it matters

The Munich address is the Secretary’s fullest statement of the administration’s civilizational case to Europe — the speech the Breitbart interview and the Athens Acropolis remarks later expound — pairing sharp criticism of post-Cold War policy with an explicit offer of joint renewal.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, “Secretary Rubio Delivers Remarks to the Munich Security Conference” (official upload, embedded above); remarks as delivered 2026-02-14; transcript via state.gov as linked in the upload description and reviewed in the site’s private research store.