Fighting culture wars while prepping for any real wars.
That's the direction the next administration appears poised to take the Pentagon in after President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in Monday, based on defense secretary-nominee Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearing, Trump's promises on the campaign trail, and expectations from their GOP supporters.
Hegseth's testimony last week did not delve deeply into how the administration will confront some of the thorniest national security challenges facing the U.S., including competition with China and Russia, but some clues about that can be gleaned from the prospective defense secretary's written answers to policy questions posed by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
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There were also few indications of how the administration will handle the quality-of-life issues at the top of mind for service members, such as crumbling housing and inconsistent access to quality food.
What the hearing did make clear is that fighting cultural issues -- such as rolling back diversity efforts and relitigating COVID-19 vaccine mandate discharges -- will be a key theme of Trump and Hegseth's Pentagon, with Hegseth saying that Trump expects him to "restore the warrior ethos" at the department.
"I know the troops will rejoice," Hegseth contended when asked how the force would react to him and Trump removing a "woke yoke" from the military. "Because they want to focus on lethality and warfighting and get all the woke political prerogative, politically correct, social justice, political stuff out of the military."
It's a mission that Republican lawmakers have also said they expect Hegseth to focus on.
"Pete Hegseth is going to get the military back, instead of focusing on all the woke political crap that the Biden administration and Lloyd Austin and all of these -- the clown show at the Pentagon over the last four years," Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., said on Fox News the morning of Hegseth's hearing.
Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump vowed to reverse what he and other Republicans have characterized as "woke" military policies -- a term that has grown nebulous but which generally refers to policies aimed at making the military more welcoming to minorities, women and LGBTQ+ people.
Among the ways Trump indicated he would do that is firing military officers perceived to be woke or liberal. For example, his campaign platform vowed[2] to "get woke left-wing Democrats fired as soon as possible." Within days of Trump's election, his advisers reportedly already had drafted an executive order[3] to create a "warrior board" to recommend which top generals should be fired.
At his hearing, Hegseth all but confirmed that the beginning of his tenure will focus on scrutinizing the officer ranks.
"On day one, on Jan. 20, when President Trump is sworn in, he will issue a new set of lawful orders, and the leadership of our services will have an opportunity to follow those lawful orders or not. Those lawful orders will not be based on politics. They will be based on readiness, accountability, standards and lethality. That is the process by which leaders will be judged," Hegseth said when asked who will be held accountable for "wokeness." "And accountability is coming. Because everybody in this room knows, if you are a rifleman and you lose your rifle, they are throwing the book at you. But if you are a general who loses a war, you get a promotion. That is not going to happen in Donald Trump's Pentagon."
Asked specifically whether Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. "CQ" Brown is on the chopping block, Hegseth repeated that "every single senior officer will be reviewed based on meritocracy, standards and lethality." Brown, the second Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs, has drawn the ire of conservatives for speaking positively about diversity efforts and for co-signing a memo when he was Air Force chief directing those in charge of officer commissionings to encourage a more diverse pool of candidates to apply[4].
For service members, one of their biggest concerns in recent years has been quality-of-life issues. For example, barracks have been found to be dilapidated and unsafe[5], and the services have struggled to feed their troops[6].
Hegseth and Trump have given little indication how they would fix those issues, nor was Hegseth asked about them in detail at his confirmation hearing.
A single question in the Senate Armed Services Committee's 75-page written policy questionnaire[7] for him asked what quality-of-life programs he would prioritize. Hegseth had no specific answer.
"If confirmed, I will conduct a review of existing quality-of-life and [morale, welfare and recreation] programs to identify those most essential to supporting military communities and maintaining the readiness of the force," he wrote.
Another major issue the Pentagon has faced in recent years is difficulty convincing young Americans to enlist. Addressing the military's recruiting[8] woes was part of what Hegseth said is included in his mandate to bring back a "warrior ethos" to the military. There too, he argued the "first and foremost" fix will be to "tear out" diversity initiatives.
Another way Hegseth promised to end "wokeness" included reinstating, with back pay[9] and at rank, troops who were discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine when it was mandated from 2021 to 2023. Existing Pentagon policy allows those troops to rejoin if they want, but few have taken up the opportunity, officials have said[10].
And even while Hegseth walked back his previous categorical objection to women serving in combat, he said he would order a review of the standards women have to meet to qualify for combat jobs.
On other Pentagon policies that have been longtime targets of GOP lawmakers -- such as the policy that reimburses troops for travel related to reproductive health care, including abortion, and pro-LGBTQ+ policies -- Hegseth demurred.
"Our standard is whatever the president wants on this particular issue," Hegseth said when asked about the reproductive health care policy.
One area that is likely to be consistent across administrations is a focus on China as the primary so-called "pacing threat" faced by the U.S.
Asked on his policy questionnaire about the future of U.S. military forces in the Middle East, Europe and Africa, Hegseth promised to do a global force posture review, which is typical of new administrations. He said the same thing about the Indo-Pacific region, but also suggested he plans to "strengthen" the troop presence there and said he agrees with the assessment that China is America's top challenge.
"We need to accelerate efforts to strengthen our force posture and increase operational capabilities in the Indo-Pacific, given China's historic and rapid military buildup and the urgent need to reestablish deterrence," Hegseth wrote. "If confirmed, I will work to identify programs that could urgently strengthen deterrence in the Indo-Pacific."
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