President-elect Donald Trump sent shock waves through the national security establishment when he nominated Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary.
The plain-speaking former Army National Guard officer would set himself apart from other Defense secretaries with his prolific record of criticism of the institution he has been tapped to run. A culture warrior, on-air commentator and author, the paper trail of his publicly shared views will be on full display in his confirmation hearing.
“I’ve been a recovering neocon for six years now,” Hegseth, a former Fox News host, told the “Shawn Ryan Show” podcast.
He said he was a huge proponent of the Iraq War “at the time,” but “in retrospect, absolutely not.”
“The hubris of the Pentagon is they want to now tell other countries how to do counterinsurgency based on what we did in Iraq and Afghanistan. The trust that our political leaders and our generals would have our best interests in mind is totally broken,” he explained. “At the same…
