By Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt
Pete Hegseth, the newly confirmed defense secretary, has pledged to restore “the warrior ethos” to the U.S. military, which he believes has been weakened by its diversity.
His view that the military has diminished its standards in welcoming women and racial minorities might run into resistance as he takes the reins at the Pentagon, which sees its diversity as an asset and has tried to build a force that mirrors America.
Hegseth has said that standards were “lowered” as women began serving in combat positions. But he will be met by the more than 10,000 women who currently fill combat roles, from artillery and infantry positions to combat engineers and even a few Green Berets and Army Rangers.
He has vowed to “address the recruiting, retention and readiness crisis in our ranks” and to bring “lethality” back to the Pentagon. But the military has been focused on those issues for years.
“The whole Department of Defense will be ready to focus on lethality when he walks through that door, and is not going to fight him on that,” Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University who has studied the military for decades, said in an interview.
Hegseth, an Army combat veteran and a former Fox News host, has delivered right-wing talking points in his criticism of the military in podcast appearances and in his book, “The War on Warriors.”
“Affirmative action posts have skyrocketed, with ‘firsts’ being the most important factor in filling new commanders,” he wrote in his book, criticizing the military for being too “woke.” “We will not stop until trans-lesbian Black females run everything.”
But in his aim to reshape a military with 3 million employees, Hegseth, 44, faces a daunting challenge. The $849 billion enterprise has 1.3 million active-duty service members and 750 military bases around the globe. People of color make up about 43% of the workforce.
“He may quickly discover that to retain the high caliber of people he wants, that he will have to reach out to women,” Feaver said. “He may find that some of his best people are women and Black males,” he said, and other people of color.
In a message to the Defense Department on Saturday, Hegseth outlined his main priorities. In addition to reviving “the warrior ethos,” he emphasized strengthening the nation’s industrial base and streamlining the military’s cumbersome processes for buying new weapons.
He also said the Pentagon would “reestablish deterrence by defending our homeland” and work with allies to confront a rising military threat from China.
In his Senate confirmation hearing, Hegseth acknowledged that he had never managed more than a few hundred people at a time. But he cast his unconventional background — his predecessors have been former generals, lawmakers or government officials — as an advantage in President Donald Trump’s drive to shake up the establishment.
Hegseth was confirmed on a vote of 51-50, the smallest margin for a defense secretary’s confirmation since the position was created in 1947, according to Senate records. Vice President JD Vance had to cast a tiebreaking vote after three Republicans joined all Democrats in voting no.
One of those Republicans, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, cited Hegseth’s lack of strategic insights as among his reasons for opposing him. “Mr. Hegseth provided no substantial observations on how to defend Taiwan or the Philippines against a Chinese attack, or even whether he believes the United States should do so,” McConnell said in a statement Friday. “He failed, for that matter, to articulate in any detail a strategic vision.”
Many of the Democrats who voted against him insist he is unfit for duty.
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the Armed Services Committee’s top Democrat, said he was unswayed by Hegseth’s testimony at his confirmation hearing, which focused on a sexual assault allegation and accusations of alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement.
“He lacks the requisite character, competence and commitment to do this job,” Reed said after the hearing. “Indeed, he is the least-qualified nominee for secretary of defense in modern history.”
Hegseth has denied the sexual assault accusation, saying the encounter was consensual, and he was never charged with a crime. He labeled the allegations against him “anonymous smears.”
Hegseth’s remarks have already had a chilling effect on the military’s highest uniformed ranks.
In his confirmation hearing, he pledged that “every single senior officer will be reviewed based on meritocracy, standards, lethality and commitment to lawful orders they will be given,” opening the door to a political purge of generals and admirals.
The first to fall under Trump was the Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Linda Fagan, the first female uniformed leader of a branch of the armed forces. Among the reasons she was pushed out was an “excessive focus on diversity, equity and inclusion,” according to a statement from the Homeland Security Department.
The admiral was told on the evening of Trump’s inauguration that she had been fired, as she was waiting to have a photo taken with Trump at the Commander in Chief Ball, a military official said.
Even some of Hegseth’s staunchest congressional supporters have warned against a witch hunt in the senior ranks that could cause morale to plunge.
“There’s been a lot of talk about firing ‘woke’ generals,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. “I would say give those men and women a chance under new leadership.”
Republican leaders embraced Hegseth’s outlook as they cheered his confirmation. “Peace through strength is back under President Trump and Pete Hegseth,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the chair of the Armed Services panel, said in a statement after the vote.
Feaver, the Duke professor, suggested that Hegseth would find a military that has not run away from the lethality, recruitment and readiness issues that he has highlighted.
In fact, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has prioritized those issues for years. Hegseth has suggested that Brown, a four-star fighter pilot with decades of military experience, should be fired.
Brown, known as CQ, was the Air Force chief of staff before becoming the chair, 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 up,” he says, to footage of U.S. fighter pilots strapping into warplanes. “You don’t know who I am, whether I’m African American, Asian American, Hispanic, white, male or female.
“You just know I’m an American airman, kicking your butt,” he continues. “I’m General CQ Brown Jr. Come join us.”
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