Trump’s defense choice stumbles over a fundamental question of geography

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, couldn’t name a single country from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations during his confirmation hearing Tuesday, even naming the ‘Australia instead.

Senator Tammy Duckworth request Hegseth to talk about the importance of political and economic alliance, in an effort to show how unqualified he was to lead the Pentagon and its enormous staff.

“You talked a little bit about the Indo-Pacific… Can you name the importance of at least one of the ASEAN nations, and what kind of agreement we have with at least one of those nations? By the way, how many nations are there in ASEAN?

“I can’t tell you the exact number of nations involved, but I know we have allies in South Korea and Japan, and in AUKUS with Australia, (we) are working on submarines with them. ..”

“Mr. Hegseth, none of these countries are part of ASEAN. None of the three countries you mentioned are part of ASEAN,” Duckworth replied. “I suggest you do some homework before you prepare to this type of negotiations.”

“This may seem like an embarrassing little trap, but ASEAN is an acronym you often encounter if you read even the basics about the Pentagon’s strategy for countering China,” Yahoo’s Jordan Weissman. written the.

ASEAN includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The United States regularly conducts joint military exercises with member states.