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President-elect Donald Trump’s Tuesday night surprise pick of a conservative commentator and television host as his Pentagon chief shocked Washington, which had expected the nominee to be a seasoned lawmaker or someone with defense policy experience.
National security officials and defense analysts had braced for surprises from Trump after experiencing his first four years in office. But even grading on that curve, they say the announcement of Fox News host and decorated Army veteran Pete Hegseth caught them totally off-guard.
“[Trump] puts the highest value on loyalty,” Eric Edelman, who served as the Pentagon’s top policy official during the Bush administration, said in an interview. “It appears that one of the main criteria that’s being used is, how well do people defend Donald Trump on television?”
One assessment was more blunt. “Who the fuck is this guy?” said a defense industry lobbyist who was granted anonymity to offer candid views. The lobbyist said they had hoped for “someone who actually has an extensive background in defense. That would be a good start.”
The pick will do little to quell fears inside the Pentagon and beyond that Trump, who jousted with his own defense secretaries, plans this time to install a loyalist who will unquestioningly carry out his policies. Trump’s campaign trail rhetoric has primed fears that his second term could see a swift and divisive overhaul at the Pentagon.
Trump’s return is expected to bring a collective rollback of Biden administration policies, likely reinstating a ban on transgender troops, ending abortion travel policies, reigniting battles over bases named for Confederate figures, slashing diversity programs and the use of troops on U.S. soil against civil unrest and his political enemies.
Late in his first term, Trump also ordered the pullout of thousands of U.S. troops from Germany, something the Pentagon was unable to accomplish in the short amount of time he had left in office.
Hegseth’s selection drew immediate backlash from veterans group leaders who opposed him when he was floated for Veterans Affairs secretary during Trump’s first term. He is a former executive director for Vets for Freedom and former CEO of Concerned Veterans for America — a group advocating for outsourcing of health care for veterans that was funded by the Koch brothers.
“Hegseth is undoubtedly the least qualified nominee for SecDef in American history. And the most overtly political. Brace yourself, America,” Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Independent Veterans of America, said in a post on X Tuesday night.
Rieckhoff said he had believed that Hegseth — “a highly effective and ferocious media, culture and political warrior for MAGA. And beyond loyal to and trusted by Trump” — would be Trump’s pick for chief of staff or press secretary.
“Very Trump,” another industry lobbyist said. “I’m sure they vetted him.”
During the first Trump administration, Hegseth played a pivotal role in several episodes in which Trump inserted himself in the military justice system in order to grant clemency to troops convicted of war crimes.
The pick ensures that his confirmation hearing will be must-see TV, with a pugnacious television personality used to sparring on national security and culture war issues squaring off against a Senate Armed Services Committee with both friendly backers and hostile interrogators ready for their own moment praising the president’s pick or damning the choice.
“The dumbest phrase on planet earth in the military is our diversity is our strength,” Hegseth said on a podcast this month.
Amid fears Trump may use his powers as commander-in-chief to purge the top generals or civil servants, politicizing the Defense Department, Trump’s pick to be Pentagon chief has explicitly confirmed that he could target military leaders, including Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown, in an effort to remove diversity and inclusion programs at the agency.
“First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,” Hegseth said when prompted by podcast host Shawn Ryan about reforming the military. “Any general that was involved, any general, admiral, whatever, that was involved in any of the DEI/woke shit has got to go.”
Hegseth in a Fox appearance this year called for a fundamental shift in U.S. military priorities, warning that the current focus on diversity and inclusivity is weakening America’s defenses.
“These ideologies, political correctness, made their way into the ranks — and generals and leaders didn’t stand up and say, No, we should only be focused on readiness and meritocracy and lethality,” Hegseth said.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers were taken aback by the Pentagon pick. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a senior Senate Armed Services member, said he was giving Hegseth the benefit of the doubt for the moment.
“I’m not going to be negative right now, because I want to learn more about his background and his approach to this stuff. So he’ll go through the regular process,” Rounds said. “But so far, [Trump]’s done an excellent job of choosing people that fit the mold that he wants for the different departments.
“It came as a surprise to me when they said that he was up for this,” Rounds said of Hegseth. “So I want to go back and look at his bio and ask him questions too.”
One Senate staffer predicted that Hegseth will make it through Senate confirmation “just fine.”
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, expressed concern that Hegseth doesn’t have the experience to tackle the Pentagon bureaucracy.
“I confess I didn’t know who he was until 20 minutes ago,” Smith told reporters. “And he certainly doesn’t seem to have any background whatsoever in DOD policy.”
He also said he’s concerned about a Pentagon chief without extensive relationships with allies at a time when the U.S. has “a lot of irons in the fire” in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
“I see no evidence that this person has relationships whatsoever with our overseas partners,” Smith said. “How is he going to do when working on the various coalitions that we have?”
GOP Rep. Mike Waltz, a fellow National Guard vet who is leaving his Florida House seat to become Trump’s national security adviser, posted on social media that “The Pentagon is in need of real reform, and they’re getting a leader who has the grit to make it happen.”
One expert said he was expecting the Pentagon pick to be a seasoned professional.
“I think it’s a surprising pick, someone who’s a TV personality when the entire rhetoric from Trump and everyone else is that the world is falling apart and you pick someone who is not necessarily the most experienced,” said Max Bergmann, a former Obama administration official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
“Shocking is sort of an understatement when it comes to that appointment for secretary of defense. This is why you want the Senate to carefully scrutinize nominations to ensure this person is in fact qualified,” Bergmann added.
“Wow. Trump picking Pete Hegseth is the most hilariously predictably stupid thing,” former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a frequent Trump critic, posted on social media.
Phelim Kine contributed to this report.
