President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and military veteran, as his pick for defense secretary.
In a statement, Trump described Hegseth as “tough, smart and a true believer in America First.”
“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down,” Trump said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., applauded Trump’s selection, calling Hegseth a “great choice.”
“Pete brings a lot to the table. He’s got experience, and I think he’ll be reform-minded in the areas that need reform. So I’m excited about the pick,” Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill, without elaborating on what programs he thinks need changing.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he was caught off guard by Trump’s announcement.
“I confess, I did not know who Pete Hegseth was until about 20 minutes ago,” Smith told reporters.
“He does not seem to have much of a detailed background in [Department of Defense] policy. To the extent he’s worked on any of that stuff, it has been on veterans policy, not on DoD issues. So the lack of experience is concerning,” Smith said.
“Now I have not heard what his plans are, so we will see what his plans are,” he added. “But it was surprising and is concerning, just given that lack of experience. You know, the Pentagon, biggest bureaucracy in the world. It’s a hard thing to run, so I think it’s going to be a challenge.”
During an interview on the podcast “The Shawn Ryan Show” released last week, Hegseth denounced what he called diversity, equity and inclusion “woke s—” in the military and outlined a plan to “course correct it.”
“Well, first of all, you gotta fire — you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and obviously, you’re going to bring in a new secretary of defense. But any general that was involved — general, admiral, whatever that was involved — in any of the DEI woke s— has got to go,” Hegseth said.
During his first administration, Trump nominated James Mattis and later Mark Esper to lead the Defense Department.
Mattis resigned in December 2018 and suggested in a resignation letter that he and Trump differed in their views on “treating our allies with respect” and being “clear-eyed” about U.S. adversaries and competitors.
Trump fired Esper in 2020 after disagreements that included the use of active-duty troops to quell nationwide racial justice protests that year after the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.
Amid a flurry of picks for his second administration, Trump earlier Tuesday said he would nominate former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to be CIA director.
On Monday, he tapped Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., as his pick for U.N. ambassador and said he would nominate Lee Zeldin, a former House Republican from New York, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
Sunday, he named immigration hard-liner Tom Homan as his “border czar.”
Trump’s first major administration announcement came last week, when he said Susie Wiles, his campaign manager, would be White House chief of staff.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
