Pete Hegseth conceded his lack of traditional experience in his bid to oversee the Pentagon’s $900-billion budget and millions of personnel in his appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. But President-elect Trump’s pick to succeed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said his own experience would be sufficient.
“It’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm,” said Hegseth, apparently suggesting that didn’t apply to Austin, a retired Army four-star who received the Silver Star for leading troops under fire. “A change agent, someone with no vested interest in certain companies or specific programs or approved narratives. My only special interest is the war fighter, deterring wars, and if called upon, winning wars by ensuring our warriors never enter a fair fight. We let them win and we bring them home.”
Hegseth, 44, spoke often during the hearing of focusing on warfighting, reforming the acquisition process, and prioritizing the deterrence of China in the Indo-Pacific, all echoes of rhetoric from both the Biden administration and the first Trump administration. He invoked Silicon Valley, the Defense Production Act, off-the-shelf technologies, and other talking points from the past decade, but offered no specific policies or actions he would take that would be different from his predecessors.
He did repeatedly invoke his experience as an Army National Guard officer as his best qualification for the job.
Hegseth deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan as an infantry officer in the Minnesota National Guard and later the D.C. National Guard, while in his civilian life working briefly at investment firm Bear Stearns, then a conservative think tank before heading up two non-profit organizations, Concerned Veterans of America and Vets for Freedom.
For the past decade, he has been a commentator for Fox News, where he often offered his opinions on military issues, including that women shouldn’t be allowed in combat roles.
At the hearing, Democrats questioned Hegseth’s bona fides—he has no experience leading a large organization—and his fitness to preside over a department that struggles to stamp out the types of misconduct of which Hegseth has been repeatedly accused.
“A variety of sources—including your own writings—implicate you with disregarding laws of war, financial mismanagement, racist and sexist remarks about men and women in uniform, alcohol abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and other troubling issues,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in his opening statement.
Other members of the committee detailed their concerns in an opinion piece published Monday by Military Times.
“He financially mismanaged two veterans political organizations, with his staff alleging that he misused funds, was frequently drunk in front of them and fostered an environment where sexual harassment was an issue,” wrote Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., both retired field-grade officers.
Asked about these allegations during the hearing, Hegseth said he had been smeared by false media coverage, but didn’t address any specific charges.
In his opening statement, he focused on defending his lack of traditional defense secretary experience.
“Ask anyone who has ever worked with me—or for me: I know what I don’t know,” Hegseth said. “My success as a leader has always been setting a clear vision, hiring people smarter and more capable than me, empowering them to succeed, holding everyone accountable, and driving toward clear metrics.”
Hegseth laid out three goals: restore the warrior ethos, rebuild the U.S. military, and re-establish deterrence.
The first comes out of his long grievance with the Pentagon’s diversity and inclusion efforts, on which he opined in his 2024 book The War on Warriors, which he wrote after he left from the D.C. National Guard in 2021.
Hegseth has said he resigned “in disgust” after he was barred from serving during President Joe Biden’s inauguration, deemed a possible security threat because of multiple tattoos associated with right-wing extremism.
Hegseth said he will address the “recruiting, retention and readiness crisis in our ranks,” by restoring this “warrior ethos.” In the past, he has said women should not be able to serve in combat.
His other goals reflect largely bipartisan and non-controversial sentiments throughout the department and Capitol Hill, including that the Pentagon’s acquisition process needs to be more nimble and less expensive, and that deterring the Chinese from fomenting conflict in the Indo-Pacific is the country’s highest national-security priority.
The Senate is expected to vote on Hegseth’s nomination, possibly teeing him up to be sworn in as early as Monday. Following the inauguration, Trump’s staff would have to formally nominate Hegseth for the position.
Both Austin and Trump’s first defense secretary, Jim Mattis, sat for confirmation hearings in late January in order to be sworn in during the early days of their respective administrations.
