The newly confirmed secretary, Pete Hegseth, has promised to restore the “warrior ethos” to the US military, which he believes has been weakened by its diversity.
His view that the military has lowered its standards in welcoming women and ethnic minorities and that ethnic minorities have been resisted as he reins in the Pentagon, which sees its diversity as an asset And has tried to make America a mirror power.
Mr Hegseth said standards had been “lowered” when women began serving in combat positions. But that would add to the more than 10,000 women who currently serve in combat roles, from artillery and infantry positions to engineers and even some green brats and Army Rangers.
He has vowed to “address the recruitment, retention and readiness crisis in our ranks” and bring “deadliness” back to the Pentagon. But the military has been focused on these issues for years.
“When he walks through that door he’s going to be ready to focus on lethality, and not fight it on that,” said Duke University political science professor Peter Feuer. In an interview
Mr. Hegseth, an Army combat veteran and former Fox News host, has made right-wing talking points in his criticism of the military and the “war on warriors” on podcast appearances.
In his book, he criticized the military for “waking up”, writing, “Affirmative action posts have singled out ‘Firsts’ as the most important factor in recruiting new commanders.” “We will not stop until transsexual black women run everything.”
But with his aim of reshaping an army with 300,000 personnel, Mr Hegseth, 44, faces a tough challenge. The $9.849 billion enterprise has 1.3 million active duty service members and 750 military bases worldwide. People of color make up about 43 percent of the workforce.
“He may find out quickly that in order to maintain the high caliber of people he wants, he has to reach out to women,” Mr. Feuer said. “He may find that some of his best people are women and black men,” he said.
In a message to the Defense Department on Saturday, Mr Hegsett outlined his main priorities. Besides reviving the “warrior ethos”, he called for strengthening the country’s industrial base and streamlining the army’s cumbersome process for procuring new weapons.
He also said that the Pentagon will “re-establish security” and work with allies to “defend our homeland” to counter the growing military threat from China.
At his Senate hearing, Mr Hegseth admitted that he had never managed more than a few hundred people at a time. But they have an unconventional background – their predecessors have been former generals, legislators or government officials.
Mr. Hegseth also made it clear that he believed Mr. Trump’s Electoral College and popular vote victories gave the president a mandate to carry out his agenda. Indeed, even before the Senate voted Friday night to approve Mr. Hegseth’s nomination, the Pentagon announced that it would send 1,500 active-duty Marines and Army soldiers to the Southwest border to support Mr. Trump’s central policy. One, help thwart immigrants entering the country. Objectives
According to Senate records, Mr. Hegsett was confirmed by a vote of 51 to 50, the narrowest margin for a defense secretary since the post was created in 1947. Vice President J.D. Vance had to cast the tie-breaking vote after three Republicans joined all Democrats in voting no.
One of those Republicans, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, cited Mr. Hegsett’s lack of strategic vision as one of his reasons for opposing him. Mr. McConnell said, “Haggsett made no observations about defending Taiwan or the Philippines against a Chinese attack, or even that he believed the United States should do so.” A statement On Friday “He failed to articulate the strategic vision in any detail in this matter.”
Mr McConnell also took a dim view of claims that Mr Hegsett would restore “a warrior culture” to the armed forces. “The restoration of ‘warrior culture’ will not come from trading one set of culture warriors for another,” he said.
With the exception of Chuck Hagel in 2013, most defense secretaries have sailed through their confirmation votes. President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, was confirmed on a 93 to 2 2 vote. The Senate voted 98 to 1 to confirm Mr. Trump’s first Pentagon chief, Jim Mattis, and 90 to 8 for his successor, Mark T. Esper.
Traditionally, both sides have encouraged the belief that the military should be nonpartisan. The commander-in-chief typically appoints defense secretaries, who have the ability to win support from Democrats and Republicans at the time of the Pentagon budget, as well as from the public.
But for 30 minutes on Friday night, after all 100 senators had voted, Mr Hegseth’s confirmation stood at 50 to 50, a stark display of an end to an unwavering military.
And many Democrats who voted against him insist he is unfit for duty.
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said he was disturbed by Mr. Hegseth’s testimony at his confirmation hearing, which included allegations of sexual abuse and allegations of alcoholism and financial mismanagement. Attention was given.
“He lacks the character, ability and determination to do this job,” Mr Reid said after the hearing. “Indeed, he is the least qualified nominee for secretary of defense in modern history.”
Mr Hegseth has denied the allegation of sexual assault, saying the encounter was consensual, and he was never charged with a crime. He labeled the allegations against him “anonymous smears”.
Mr Hegseth’s remarks have already had a chilling effect on the army’s most uniformed ranks.
At his confirmation hearing, he promised that “each senior officer will be evaluated based on the standards, lethality, and commitment to lawful orders that are assigned to him,” a door to the political circle of generals and admirals. open
The first commandant of the Coast Guard under Mr. Trump was Adam Linda L. Fagan, the first female uniformed leader of a branch of the armed forces. One of the reasons they were pushed was an “excessive focus on diversity, equity and inclusion,” according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.
A military official said the admiral was told on the eve of President Trump’s inauguration that she had been fired, as she was waiting to be photographed with Mr Trump at the Commander in Chief’s Ball.
Even some of Mr. Hegseth’s staunchest Congress supporters have warned against a witch-hunt in the senior ranks that could lead to low morale.
“There’s a lot of talk about firing ‘woke’ generals,” said Senator Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota. “I would say give these men and women a chance at new leadership.”
Republican leaders embraced Mr. Hegseth’s approach as they cheered his confirmation. “Peace through peace has returned under President Trump and Pat Hagseth,” Sen. Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi and chairman of the armed services panel, said in a statement after the vote.
Mr. Feuer, the Duke professor, suggested that Mr. Hegseth would find an army that did not run away from the lethality, recruiting, and training issues he highlighted.
In fact, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown Jr., has made these issues a priority for years. Mr Hegseth has suggested that General Brown, a four-star fighter pilot with decades of military experience, should be fired.
General Brown, known as CQ, was the Air Force chief of staff before becoming chairman, and he spoke about lethality and readiness in a 2021 recruiting video. “When I’m flying, I put my helmet on, my visor down, my mask on,” he says, referring to footage of American fighter pilots stuck in fighter jets. “You don’t know who I am, whether I’m African American, Asian American, Hispanic, white, male or female.”
“All you know is that I’m an American airman, kicking your butt,” he added. “I am General CQ Brown Jr. Join us.”
