Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick to become defense secretary, is expected to emphasize his experience as a veteran during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday morning, according to a copy of his prepared and reviewed remarks. by the New York Times.
“When President Trump selected me for this position, the primary charge he gave me was to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense,” Mr. Hegseth planned to say, describing himself as “an agent of change” whose “only particular interest is the fighter.
Mr. Hegseth, a veteran of the Army National Guard who led veterans’ nonprofit organizations and worked as a television host for Fox News, has far less leadership experience than most top defense secretaries. recent. Some senators expressed concern that his relative lack of experience could be a liability if he were leading a department with more than three million civilian and uniformed employees and a budget of more than 800 billion dollars.
But Mr. Hegseth should dismiss these concerns out of hand.
“As President Trump also told me, we have repeatedly placed people at the top of the Pentagon who are said to have ‘the right qualifications’ – whether retired generals, academics or executives. of defense companies – and where has that left us? read his prepared comments. “He believes, and I humbly agree, that it is time to hand over the rudder to someone who has dust on their boots.”
But Mr. Hegseth, who retired at the rank of major and served in Iraq, Afghanistan and was a platoon leader at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is also expected to express a willingness to listen to advisers.
“I know what I don’t know,” he is expected to say, adding that his success as a leader “has always been about setting a clear vision, hiring people smarter and more capable than me, giving them the ways to succeed and to make everyone responsible. , and move towards clear measures.
Mr. Hegseth’s prepared remarks also detail his combat experience, explaining how he dodged improvised explosive devices, “heard bullets whizzing past,” “snatched corpses” and “knelt before a cross.” battlefield”.
“It’s not academic for me; This is my life,” his prepared remarks read. “I led then, and I will lead now.”
According to his prepared remarks, Mr. Hegseth is expected to pledge “to be patriotically apolitical” if confirmed to lead the Pentagon, while accusing the Biden administration of failing to meet the same standards.
He will also make clear that under his leadership, the Pentagon would not prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion policies, programs that have also been targeted by Republican lawmakers.
“Unlike the current administration, politics should play no role in military affairs,” Mr. Hegseth’s prepared comments state, adding: “Our standards will be high and they will be equal (not fair, it is a very different word).”
Mr. Hegseth was criticized for previously saying he did not think women should hold combat positions in the military — a stance that particularly angered Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa and the country’s first female veteran. of the Senate. Ms. Ernst, a member of the committee who will hear testimony Tuesday, said in a statement last month that Mr. Hegseth had made a commitment to her to appoint a senior official to “defend the roles and values of our military, men and women – based on quality and standards, not quotas.
