CMV: Pete Hegseth is wholly unqualified to be SecDef.

As stated above, my view is that Pete Hegseth is possibly the least qualified candidate that has ever been nominated for the position. I’ve served both Active and as a Reservist, and his resume borders on insulting.

Here’s a brief breakdown of my reasoning

  1. He’s never led a large organization or one with a large budget. By my research, he’s led a few non-profits that had less than 50 employees.

  2. He doesn’t have any experience in things like acquisition, diplomacy, policy, or congressional appropriations. Which are all important in one way or another and are things most senior officers are trained in.

  3. His military experience is relatively light for someone who is entirely basing their qualifications on it. He’s only served a few deployments working in training or at the tactical level, but he doesn’t have any experience at the operational or strategic levels of a war which are going to be much more relevant for SecDef. He served roughly 10 years as an Officer in the National Guard and transitioned to IRR (an inactive, non-drilling status) about the same time he was promoted to Major. I don’t have anything negative to say about his service, but on its face there isn’t anything that stands out compared to the thousands of other members serving at similar ranks and time in service.

Overall, I don’t think Pete Hegseth has much in the way of real experience that would be important or valuable for the position of SecDef. I’m not saying we even need someone with military experience. The current challenges of the military and priorities of the administration may require someone with skillsets outside of the military. In my view, Hegseth was selected strictly based on his status as an ideologue who will try to “de-woke” the military and ignores any real qualifications which might be valuable in facing the very real challenges being faced by our military.

(I’m purposely leaving out his scandals and opinions, which I also find concerning, to keep this a bit more focused and easier to respond to.)