President-elect Donald Trump shocked the national security establishment when he nominated Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense.
The plain-spoken former Army National Guard officer will be set apart from other defense secretaries by his track record of being highly critical of the organization he was appointed to run. The culture warrior, broadcast commentator and author's written record of publicly shared views will be fully revealed during his confirmation hearing.
“I've been a recovering neocon for six years now,” Hegseth, a former Fox News host, said on the “Sean Ryan Show” podcast.
He said he was a big supporter of the Iraq war “at the time,” but “in hindsight, that's definitely not the case.”
“The Pentagon's arrogance is that it wants to tell other countries how to counterinsurgency based on what we did in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our political leaders and generals are putting our interests first. “The trust that they will think about it has been completely shattered.” He explained. “At the same time. I'm worried about what will happen if this facility is abandoned.”
President Trump nominates Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense
Host Pete Hegseth speaks on “Fox & Friends” at the Fox News Channel studios on May 27, 2022 in New York City. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
In a previous life, Hegseth ran Vets for Freedom, an Iraq war advocacy group. He then pivoted and became CEO of Concerned Veterans for America, a restraint-oriented advocacy group focused on reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs.
He has not held a senior-level leadership role at the Pentagon, leading some hawks to point out that he has experience leading the nation's largest government agency and a combat force of more than 1.3 million active-duty military personnel. I have a skeptical view.
“He is the least prepared secretary of all the nominees,” said Mark Cancian, a former Marine Corps colonel and senior adviser at the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“He has a strong military background as a junior officer and a strong academic background from Harvard University, but no eye-opening experience in national security. He has no experience running a large organization, nor has he served in Congress. He has no experience and, although he is good, his relationship with the president is very short.
Prior to his current position, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin served as Commander of U.S. Central Command, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, and Commander of U.S. Forces in Iraq. After leaving the military, he joined Raytheon's board of directors.
Hegseth, 44, is an infantry officer in the Minnesota National Guard and served as a platoon leader at Guantanamo Bay. He also led a platoon in Baghdad and later served as a civil-military operations officer in Samarra.
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“The weakness that a lot of people point to is that he's young,” said Steve Bucci, a former assistant secretary of defense in the George W. Bush administration. “He served very effectively as a junior officer and combat leader, but as you know, he did not participate in the institutionalized process for promotion to general officer and all staff positions in between. I didn’t.”
Pete Hegseth said that while he was a big supporter of the Iraq War “at the time,” “in hindsight, I definitely wasn't.”
“That will help him think outside the box,” Butch thought. “Frankly, Austin is a four-star, but they weren’t known for new ideas.”
“That would drive a lot of people crazy.”
Hegseth said he would work to combat the Pentagon's “woke” programs that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. He also spoke out against women serving in combat roles.
“I just want to be candid and say that women shouldn't be in combat roles,” Hegseth said on the “Sean Ryan Show” podcast. “It didn't make us more effective, it didn't make us more lethal, it didn't make the fight more complicated.”
Additionally, in 2019, he successfully lobbied President Trump to pardon three service members convicted or accused of war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.
President Trump may have been looking to avoid the headaches caused by this role during his first administration. Only Jim Mathis and Mark Esper served for more than a year; the other three served as alternates.
Hegseth also called for the removal of Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mr. Brown has been a target of conservatives who say he is promoting a “woke” agenda, and Mr. Hegseth suggested that Mr. Brown, who is Black, was an embracer of DEI.
“That's going to be a big problem,” Cancian predicted. “He has a very good military record and, as you know, [Hegseth] We are at war with the military. ”
Democrats are expected to criticize him for his lack of experience and his past as a co-host on “Fox & Friends.”
Prior to his current position, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin served as Commander of U.S. Central Command, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, and Commander of U.S. Forces in Iraq. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
“Hegseth is completely unqualified to be Secretary of Defense,” Colorado Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, a national security advocate, wrote in X. “Every day, the Department of Defense makes life-or-death decisions that affect 2 million troops around the world.” This is not an entry-level job for a television commentator. ”
There is also the possibility that Hegseth's 2017 sexual assault charges may resurface. Officials with the city of Monterey, Calif., released a public statement Thursday regarding a 2017 police investigation into whether Hegseth acted inappropriately. Vanity Fair reported that Trump's incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and Trump's lawyers raised the accusations during the vetting process.
Hegseth is likely to become the first defense secretary candidate to be barred from attending a presidential inauguration. Hegseth told Ryan that he had volunteered to serve in the National Guard at President Biden's 2020 inauguration. But he said he was one of many National Guard members ordered to “resign.”
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“I was labeled an extremist by a National Guard unit in Washington, D.C., because of my tattoos, and my order to guard Biden's inauguration was revoked.''
“I got a lukewarm phone call from my commander the day before and said, 'Major, you're down and you're fine. We don't need you, we're fine. I was like, 'What do you mean? Everyone's down there. He said, 'No, no, no…he couldn't tell me.'
Hegseth said the tattoo is not an extremist symbol, but a Jerusalem cross. This was a popular symbol used during the Crusades.
“My 20 years in the military, the things I loved, fought for, and respected…spit me out,” Hegseth wrote about the incident in his book.
