Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s Defense secretary nominee, faced down more than four hours of questioning from the Senate Armed Services Committee on Jan. 14, as the committee weighed his qualifications for the top Pentagon position.
In his prepared statement to the committee, Hegseth emphasized his focus on advancing the warrior ethos of the U.S. military, and initiatives to expand and reorient the force to deter conflicts with nation-state adversaries, namely China. Hegseth also pledged the force will “remain patriotically apolitical and stridently constitutional.”
