Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth slammed the Biden administration's “disastrous” Afghanistan withdrawal during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
“There has been no accountability for the disaster of withdrawal in Afghanistan, which is why we are here today,” Hegseth told the committee.
He added: “Leadership has been reluctant to take responsibility and the time has come to bring responsibility back to the most senior positions.”
Hegseth promised to return the Pentagon to a focus on lethality and combat, and accused the Biden administration of prioritizing a woke social experiment over its core mission.
“My only special interest is combatants,” he declared in his opening statement. “Deterring wars, and winning them if necessary, is done by ensuring that our warriors never engage in a fair fight. We let them win, and we let them win. I will take you home.”
Hegseth said his priorities as secretary will be to restore the warrior spirit across the Pentagon and combatant forces, rebuild the military and reestablish deterrence.
Protesters who disrupted Pete Hegseth's hearing are taken away by Capitol Police.
President-elect Donald Trump appointed Hegseth to change things, he said in his opening statement.
Certainly, I don't have the same background as the Secretary of Defense over the last 30 years. But as President Trump told me, we have repeatedly placed people at the top of the Pentagon with the “right qualifications,” whether they are retired generals, academics or defense contractor executives. But where did that lead us? He believes it's time to hand over the helm to someone with dusty boots on his hands, and I humbly agree. Job change agent. A person who has no vested interest in a particular company, a particular program, or an approved story.
The committee is scheduled to vote on Hegseth's nomination on Monday, just hours after Trump's inauguration.
Bradley Jay is the deputy political editor at Breitbart News. please follow him X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.
