In picking Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense, President-elect Donald Trump has selected a military veteran and popular conservative media personality with a large following of his own.
Hegseth, 44, has developed a close rapport with Trump, who also reportedly considered him for a post in his first administration. Hegseth has lobbied Trump to release service members accused of war crimes.
Here are a few things to know about Hegseth.
He called to 鈥渃lean house鈥 at the Pentagon
Hegseth complains in his latest book that 鈥渨oke鈥 generals and the leaders of the elite service academies have left the military dangerously weak and 鈥渆ffeminate鈥 by promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. He says rank and file soldiers are undermined by 鈥渇eckless civilian leaders and foolish brass,鈥 adding that 鈥渢he next commander in chief will need to clean house.鈥
He mocks and misgenders transgender servicemembers and says the military is turning off recruits.
鈥淎merica鈥檚 white sons and daughters are walking away, and who can blame them,鈥 he writes in 鈥淭he War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.鈥
Like Trump, he espouses a traditional view of masculinity, writing that men are innately drawn to fight, compete and prove their strength. Also like Trump, he is sharply critical of NATO allies that he says are not spending enough on their own defense, calling them 鈥渟elf-righteous and impotent nations asking us to honor outdated and one-sided defense arrangements they no longer live up to.鈥
He calls the political left, 鈥淎merica鈥檚 domestic enemies鈥 and 鈥淎merica-wreckers.鈥
Hegseth鈥檚 writing is contemptuous of the policies, laws and treaties that constrain warfighters on the battlefield, from restrictive rules of engagement to the Geneva Conventions, which he suggests are outdated against enemies who don鈥檛 abide by them.
He has little patience for the moral questions surrounding war. Of the Americans who dropped nuclear bombs on Japan to end World War II, he writes, 鈥淭hey won. Who cares.鈥
He calls to rename Defense Department back to its original moniker, the War Department, and implement a 10-year ban on generals working for defense contractors after retiring from the military.
He's gone viral 鈥 with an ax
Hegseth went viral and was later sued after he struck a U.S. Army master sergeant in the arm with an errant ax throw during a 2015 鈥淔ox & Friends鈥 segment.
Video of the incident shows the ax flying over a target and hitting Jeffrey Prosperie, a drummer in West Point鈥檚 Hellcats field band, who had been invited to the show for the 240th anniversary of the Army鈥檚 founding.
Records show that the lawsuit was discontinued in 2019, and Brandon Cotter, Prosperie's attorney, said in an email Wednesday that 鈥淭he parties have resolved the matter and will make no further comment.鈥 Prosperie did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Fox News, which was also named in the lawsuit, called the incident 鈥渦nfortunate and completely unintentional,鈥 said it immediately apologized to him and offered medical assistance, which he declined.
Prosperie has since returned to the network to perform with the West Point band.
He鈥檚 questioned the role of women in combat
Hegseth has pushed for making the military more lethal and said that allowing women to serve in combat roles hurts that effort.
鈥淓verything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat, means casualties are worse," Hegseth said during an interview last week on 鈥淭he Shawn Ryan Show鈥 podcast to promote his new book. 鈥淚鈥檓 straight up just saying that we should not have women in combat roles 鈥 it hasn鈥檛 made us more effective, hasn鈥檛 made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated."
While he said that diversity in the military is a strength, Hegseth also said it was because minority and white men can perform similarly, something he said isn鈥檛 true for women.
By opening combat slots to women, 鈥渨e鈥檝e changed the standards in putting them there, which means you鈥檝e changed the capability of that unit,鈥 Hegseth said in the podcast interview.
Since then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter opened all combat roles to women in 2016, women have successfully passed the military鈥檚 grueling tests to become , and the Naval Special Warfare鈥檚 test to serve as a 鈥 the boat operators who transport Navy SEALs and conduct their own classified missions at sea.
He鈥檚 defended service members accused of war crimes
In 2019, Hegseth urged Trump to pardon U.S. service members who had been accused of war crimes. He advocated for the servicemen鈥檚 cases on his show and online, interviewing relatives on Fox News. He posted on social media that pardons from Trump 鈥渨ould be amazing,鈥 and added hashtags with the names of those accused to reporting mentioning his private lobbying of the then-president.
The effort was successful, a former U.S. Army commando set to stand trial in the killing of a suspected Afghan bomb-maker, as well as a former Army lieutenant convicted of murder for ordering his men to fire upon three Afghans, killing two. Trump also ordered a promotion for a decorated Navy SEAL convicted of posing with a dead Islamic State captive in Iraq.
He鈥檚 a military veteran
Hegseth has served in the military, although he lacks senior military or national security experience.
After graduating from Princeton University in 2003, Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry officer in the Army 香港六合彩挂牌资料 Guard, serving overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as at Guantanamo Bay.
He was formerly head of the Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and also unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012. According to his Fox News bio, he has a master鈥檚 degree in public policy from Harvard University鈥檚 John F. Kennedy School of Government.
As Trump formulated his first Cabinet following his 2016 win, he reportedly considered Hegseth to run the Department of Veterans Affairs. He again considered Hegseth when Secretary David Shulkin faced criticism before his ouster in 2018.
He's a Fox News personality and author
Co-host of Fox News Channel's 鈥淔ox & Friends Weekend,鈥 Hegseth has been a contributor to the network for a decade. He developed a friendship with Trump through the president-elect's regular appearances on the show. In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson complimented Hegseth's military knowledge, saying his 鈥渋nsights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers.鈥
He's also written a number of books, several for the network's publishing imprint, including 鈥淭he War on Warriors." In announcing Hegseth's nomination, Trump complimented that book, noting its 鈥渘ine weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE.鈥
He would come to the job during a series of global crises
Hegseth would lead the Pentagon with burgeoning conflicts on multiple fronts, including Russia鈥檚 war in Ukraine, the ongoing attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies, the push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah, and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea.
While the Pentagon is considered a key job in any administration, defense secretary was a tumultuous post during Trump鈥檚 first term. Five men held the job during Trump's four years.
Trump鈥檚 relationship with his civilian and military leaders during those years was fraught with tension, confusion and frustration, as they struggled to temper or even simply interpret presidential tweets and pronouncements that blindsided them with abrupt policy decisions they weren鈥檛 prepared to explain or defend.
Many of the generals who worked in his first administration 鈥 both on active duty and retired 鈥 have slammed him as unfit to serve in the Oval Office. He has condemned them in return.
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Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix, Michael R. Sisak in New York, Lolita C. Baldor and Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.
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Meg Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina, and can be reached at
