WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he has picked as his secretary of defence Pete Hegseth, a Fox News commentator and veteran who has expressed disdain for the so-called “woke” policies of Pentagon leaders including its top military officer.
Hegseth, if confirmed by the US Senate, could make good on Trump’s campaign promises to rid the US military of generals who he accuses of pursuing progressive policies on diversity in the ranks that conservatives have rallied against.
It could also set up a collision course between Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General CQ Brown, a former fighter pilot with command experience in the Pacific and the Middle East, who Hegseth accused of “pursuing the radical positions of left-wing politicians.”
The 44-year-old NATO sceptic is perhaps Trump’s most surprising pick as he fills out his cabinet ahead of the Jan 20 inauguration, and the decision drew swift condemnation from some of Trump’s opponents.
“The job of Secretary of Defence should not be an entry-level position,” Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said on X.
Trump, announcing his decision, praised Hegseth, who is an Army National Guard veteran and according to his website served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
“Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” Trump said in a statement. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.”
While Hegseth has articulated only limited policy positions in the past, he has railed against NATO allies for being weak and said that China is on the verge of dominating its neighbours.
Hegseth has said he left the military in 2021 after being sidelined for his political and religious views by an Army that didn’t want him any more.
“The feeling was mutual – I didn’t want this Army any more either,” Hegseth said in his book “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.” There is already anxiety in the Pentagon that Trump aims to root out military officers and career civil servants he perceives to be disloyal.
