Controversial Pentagon nominee Pete Hegseth faced tough questions from US senators on Tuesday about his views on women serving in combat and his qualifications to lead the US Department of Defense as confirmation hearings for US president-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks get underway.
US Senate Republicans are keen for Trump’s national security nominees to be confirmed quickly, and Democrats might agree to fast-track some, but they are determined to throw up roadblocks in front of candidates they see as unfit.
Hegseth, a former US Army National Guard officer and ex-Fox News host, was grilled by Democratic members of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, but Republicans largely signaled support.
Photo: Reuters
He stuck to his opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion policies, saying they are “dividing troops inside formations, causing commanders to walk on eggshells, not putting meritocracy first.”
However, he sought to soften past remarks on women serving in combat — something he stated as recently as November last year that he opposed.
“I respect every single female service member that has put on the uniform past and present. My critiques ... recently and in the past, and from personal experience, have been instances where I’ve seen standards lowered,” Hegseth told lawmakers.
Photo: Reuters
“Women will have access to ground combat roles... Given the standards remain high,” the 44-year-old said.
Democratic US Senator Tammy Duckworth — who lost both legs when her Black Hawk helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq — was unconvinced.
“There is no US military as we know it without the incredible women that we serve, women who’ve earned their place in their units,” Duckworth said. “You have not earned your place as secretary of defense.”
Hegseth has also come under fire for concerns about his past personal conduct, as well as his ability to lead the Pentagon — a massive bureaucracy that employs more than 3 million people.
He admitted under questioning that he had previously overseen “nothing remotely near the size of the defense department.”
US Senator Jack Reed, the committee’s ranking Democrat, put it bluntly: “Mr Hegseth, I do not believe that you are qualified to meet the overwhelming demands of this job.”
“We must acknowledge the concerning public reports against you,” he said. “A variety of sources — including your own writings — implicate you with disregarding the laws of war, financial mismanagement, racist and sexist remarks about men and women in uniform, alcohol abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment and other troubling issues,” Reed said.
Asked by Republican US Senator Roger Wicker, the committee chair, about allegations Hegseth has faced, the nominee claimed there was a “coordinated smear campaign” against him.
“I’m not a perfect person, but redemption is real,” Hegseth said, later asserting he was “falsely accused” of sexual assault and dismissing accounts of alcohol abuse as “anonymous smears.”
He can only afford three Republican rejections and still be confirmed, should every Democrat and independent vote against him.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
RSS