{"id":2369889,"date":"2024-11-17T07:13:02","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T12:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-bureaucratic-behemoth-awaiting-pete-hegseth-at-the-pentagon-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-11-17T07:15:27","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T12:15:27","slug":"the-bureaucratic-behemoth-awaiting-pete-hegseth-at-the-pentagon-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-bureaucratic-behemoth-awaiting-pete-hegseth-at-the-pentagon-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"The bureaucratic behemoth awaiting Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-bureaucratic-behemoth-awaiting-pete-hegseth-at-the-pentagon-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2369889&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses Pete Hegseth&#8217;s nomination by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Department\u200d of Defense. Critics have raised concerns about Hegseth&#8217;s \u2064qualifications, citing his lack of experience managing large bureaucracies, particularly one as complex as the\u2062 Pentagon, which oversees \u2064approximately 3 million personnel and has a colossal budget\u200c nearing\u2063 a trillion\u200d dollars.\u2063 Although Hegseth, a former \u200bFox\u200c News host and Army Reserve veteran, shares Trump&#8217;s views \u200don reversing perceived issues of &#8220;woke&#8221; culture in the military, skepticism persists about his capability \u2063to lead \u2064effectively given his media background.<\/p>\n<p>The piece highlights mixed opinions regarding\u200d Hegseth\u2019s potential impact, with\u200d national security experts \u200cnoting that \u2062managing the Pentagon successfully often requires a\u200b capable \u2062deputy and strong policy advice, especially amidst ongoing \u200cmilitary challenges \u200dsuch as support for allies\u200d like \u2064Israel and Ukraine,\u200c and addressing the rising threat from China. Some\u200b within \u2064the Republican Party are \u2064supportive of\u2062 Hegseth, \u2062while others, including defense \u2062industry\u200d insiders, have expressed disappointment that a candidate with more extensive\u200b defense \u2063experience wasn&#8217;t chosen. As the military faces pressing issues beyond cultural conflicts, Hegseth&#8217;s confirmation\u2062 would\u2063 mark a significant \u2064transition in leadership at the Pentagon.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">The bureaucratic behemoth awaiting Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1880320\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/wwww.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pete-hegseth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Pete Hegseth<\/a> may have been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to weed the woke out of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/department-of-defense\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Department of Defense<\/a>, but he has a far bigger bureaucratic task on his hands than just scrubbing the Pentagon of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/dei\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"DEI\">DEI<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Hegseth, a Princeton and Harvard graduate, served for about two decades in the U.S. Army Reserve and the National Guard in New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia from May 2001 to March 2021. He deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and then Afghanistan in that order, according to a spokesperson with the National Guard Bureau.<\/p>\n<p>Almost immediately following Trump&rsquo;s announcement that he picked Hegseth to be his nominee to lead the Pentagon, critics quickly highlighted the Fox News host&rsquo;s lack of experience when it comes to managing bureaucracy, let alone one the size of the Pentagon.<\/p>\n<p>The secretary of defense leads more than 1.<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">4 million active-duty service personnel<\/a> and more than 700,000 National Guard and reservists. About the same number of civilians who work in the Pentagon, bringing the number of people within the department to nearly 3 million with a budget believed to be approaching a trillion dollars annually in the near future.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fox anchor Pete Hegseth at Fox News Channel Studios on August 09, 2019 in New York City. (John Lamparski\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;A Fox &amp; Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense,&rdquo; Senate Democrat Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), said. &ldquo;I lead the Senate military personnel panel. All three of my brothers served in uniform. I respect every one of our servicemembers. Donald Trump&rsquo;s pick will make us less safe and must be rejected.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Dan Meyer, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dojs-top-national-security-lawyer-slammed-investigation-into-government-wrongdoing-in-surveillance-of-trump-aide\/\" title=\"DOJ\u2019s Top National Security Lawyer Slammed Investigation Into Government Wrongdoing in Surveillance of Trump Aide\">national security lawyer<\/a>, argued that there have been previous secretaries of defense who had stellar resumes on paper but it didn&rsquo;t translate to a successful tenure.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Even the people who have the best of credentials for management and connections really struggle in that job,&rdquo; Meyer explained. &ldquo;For the most part, [the secretary of defense] isn&rsquo;t dealing with all these people, [they&rsquo;re] dealing with the 30 to 40 people that are closest to him in the &lsquo;E ring,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said, in reference to the outer ring of the Pentagon where senior leaders&rsquo; offices are located.<\/p>\n<p>Trump tapped Hegseth to lead the department because they share a similar view of what they believe has been the degradation of the military&rsquo;s readiness and lethality due to what they describe as an overemphasis on diversity and inclusion, and it will be the former Fox News host&rsquo;s job to reverse that trend.<\/p>\n<p>Gene Moran, a national security expert, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>, that &ldquo;finding the right person, I think, has been the challenge for some time,&rdquo; pointing out that there have been defense secretaries with experience leading a service branch who haven&rsquo;t succeeded in the role.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Running the Pentagon is really the job of the deputy,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;So with a strong deputy that problem could resolve itself, with a strong policy person, he might get good counsel on the international relations aspect of the job. I think it remains to be seen how much latitude will President Trump give any of these cabinet secretaries.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He noted that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis (who served during Trump&rsquo;s first administration) required Congress to pass waivers for them to serve in the position due to the proximity of their retirement from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/turbotax-owner-intuit-ordered-to-pay-141-million-to-customers-unfairly-charged-while-using-free-edition-of-product\/\" title=\"TurboTax Owner Intuit Ordered to Pay 1 Million to Customers \u201cUnfairly Charged\u201d While Using \u201cFree\u201d Edition of Product\">active-duty military service<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t support the former four-star generals having been selected for that role, that&rsquo;s great experience, but I think it&rsquo;s the wrong kind of experience,&rdquo; Moran, a former adviser to multiple Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs in the early 2000s, said. &ldquo;And each of those, General Mattis, General Austin, I think, had significant challenges interfacing with the political arena for different reasons.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The GOP has shown an openness to Hegseth&rsquo;s nomination &mdash; as well as all of Trump&rsquo;s picks, even some of the more shocking ones &mdash; while others have shared more skepticism.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s unclear how else exactly Hegseth could shake up the military, if he&rsquo;s confirmed, though prior to being selected, he expressed his support for firing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown and he called for women to be barred from combat roles in the military. The president-elect is reportedly considering creating a board of veterans to evaluate senior military leaders to determine whether they are &ldquo;lacking in requisite leadership qualities,&rdquo; according to the draft reviewed by the&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/national-security\/trump-draft-executive-order-would-create-board-to-purge-generals-7ebaa606?mod=mhp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;&ldquo;Who the f*** is this guy?&rdquo; a defense industry lobbyist told <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/11\/12\/defense-world-reacts-to-trump-pick-pete-hegseth-00189221\" title=\"Politico\">Politico<\/a><\/em>, adding that they had hoped for &ldquo;someone who actually has an extensive background in defense. That would be a good start.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Hegseth, if he&rsquo;s confirmed, will come into the role with a military facing a number of pressing issues aside from those associated with cultural concerns. The U.S. has provided two allies, Israel and Ukraine, with billions of dollars of military aid for years, depleting U.S. military stockpiles, as the department attempted under the Biden administration to turn its attention to the growing threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party, which DoD has described as its &ldquo;pacing challenge.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trump has indicated he would maintain support for Israel even though he hopes they wrap up their conflicts quickly, while he and surrogates on the campaign trail indicated they would limit or stop aid to Ukraine. The Biden administration has provided more than $60 billion of military equipment to Ukraine since the war began, and officials have signaled that they will try to get Ukraine the remaining roughly $5 billion that have already been allocated for the department to arm them.<\/p>\n<p>Retired Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) wrote in a <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/opinion\/two-years-to-prevent-world-war-iii-trump-sec-def-needs-to-overhaul-bureaucracy-cut-waste-c9a162d8?st=x95JzR&amp;reflink=article_imessage_share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Wall Street Journal<\/a><\/em>  op-ed this week that Hegseth, or whomever becomes the next secretary of defense, needs to &ldquo;go to war on day one &mdash; not with China, Russia, or Iran but with the Pentagon bureaucracy,&rdquo; because the department has &ldquo;two years to prevent World War III.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He argued in a recent interview on Fox News that Hegseth should look to: reduce the size of the civilian workforce, fix the Navy&rsquo;s shipyards to build more maritime vessels, and increase production of critical munitions and long-range fires, which have been depleted by the wars in the Middle East and Europe.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Trump had a rocky relationship with senior Pentagon leaders during his first administration, and the friction he had with them and others have charted a different course of action this time around &mdash; instead he is appointing loyalists and believers in the agenda.<\/p>\n<p>Officials within the department have held informal discussions about how they would respond if Trump gave them an unlawful order, which they would be compelled to disobey, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/11\/08\/politics\/pentagon-officials-discussing-trump\/index.html\">CNN<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1880320\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1880320\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pete Hegseth faces a massive bureaucratic challenge at the Pentagon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2671,"featured_media":2369890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Pete-Hegseth-defense-6.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[15016,3761,44930,32076],"class_list":["post-2369889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bureaucracy","tag-pentagon","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Pete-Hegseth-defense-6.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2671"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2369889"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2369893,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369889\/revisions\/2369893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2369890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2369889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2369889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2369889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}