- Pete Hegseth soon concludes his attention-grabbing first year as Defense secretary.
- The Defense secretary has implemented numerous actions in an effort to move the military beyond so-called "wokeness."
- Hegseth's policies have earned him fans — and critics.
It’s doubtful most Americans in 2024 could have named the U.S. secretary of the Defense Department.
(Answer: It was Lloyd Austin.)
But after being sworn in almost a year ago, Austin’s successor, Pete Hegseth, has become widely recognized for his staunch loyalty to President Donald Trump, his often contentious relationship with the media and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly — and his often divisive actions to promote what he calls the “warrior ethos.”
Need evidence of Hegseth’s cultural visibility and familiarity?
How often is the U.S. Defense secretary parodied in a “Saturday Night Live” cold open? Comedian Colin Jost portrayed Hegseth last month in an “SNL” satire sketch prompted by the U.S. Navy’s recent Venezuelan boat strikes, mocking the secretary’s truculent messaging.
The Defense secretary’s vocal efforts to move America’s armed forces beyond so-called “woke” and “political correctness” policies and reawaken the “warrior spirit” have been saluted by some.
For others, not so much.
But regardless of one’s opinion of the former Fox News host-turned-Cabinet-member, Hegseth has been an undisputed headline-grabber during his first year on the job:
‘Our troops will be fit — not fat’
Weeks after being sworn in as the nation’s 29th secretary of Defense, Hegseth took to social media to articulate his vision for America’s “quota-free” armed forces.
“Our troops will be fit — not fat. Our troops will look sharp — not sloppy. We seek only quality — not quotas.”
Bottom line, he added, “our Defense Department will make standards high and great again — across the entire force.”
In his memo calling for a review of military standards, Hegseth said high standards are what made the U.S. military “the greatest fighting force” on the planet.
“The strength of our military is our unity and our shared purpose. We are made stronger and more disciplined with high, uncompromising and clear standards.”
Hegseth ordered senior Pentagon leadership to gather the existing standards set by the branches of the military “pertaining to physical fitness, body composition, and grooming — which includes, but is not limited, to beards.”
The review, the memo added, would examine how standards have changed since Jan. 1, 2015 — and the impact of those decade-old changes.
The year specified in the memo — 2015 — is significant in recent U.S. military history. In December of that year, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered the military to open all combat jobs to women.
In a 2013 Fox News appearance, Hegseth said women shouldn’t be allowed to serve in combat roles because it forces the military to lower the bar. The secretary has since modified that view, suggesting he’s fine with women in combat roles if they meet the qualifying standards.
Shelving affirmative action at American service academies
Admission to such storied institutions — which train graduates for the nation’s military officer corps — will be based “exclusively on merit.”
“The Military Service Academies are elite warfighting institutions with long histories of producing world class military officers,” wrote Hegseth.
“The Department owes it to our nation, our service members, and the young Americans applying to the MSAs to ensure admissions to these prestigious institutions are based exclusively on merit.”
Nixing all elements of affirmative action, the memo added, ensures “only the most qualified candidates” are admitted, trained and commissioned to lead “the finest fighting force in history.”
“Selecting anyone but the best erodes lethality, our warfighting readiness, and undercuts the culture of excellence in our Armed Forces.”
The United States has five service academies: the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
Hegseth’s service academies admission memo did include a few caveats: Merit-based scores may give weight to “unique athletic talent” or other experiences, such as prior military service or high performance at an military service academy preparatory school.
Hegseth’s memo regarding service academy admissions echoes his January memo directing that “the most qualified” individuals across the armed forces are placed in positions of responsibility “in accordance with merit-based, color-blind policies.”
Military libraries reviewing diversity-themed books
Meanwhile, in another May memo, the Pentagon reportedly ordered all military leaders and commands to pull and review their library books that address “diversity, anti-racism or gender issues.”
The directive was part of the Defense Department’s efforts to “rid the military of diversity and equity programs, policies and instructional materials,” according to an Associated Press report.
It follows Hegseth’s earlier actions to remove hundreds of similar books from the libraries at U.S. service academies.
According to a memo obtained by The Associated Press, a temporary “Academic Libraries Committee” was set up by the department to provide information on the review and decisions about the books.
That panel provided a list of search terms to use in the initial identification of the books to be pulled and reviewed. The search terms include: affirmative action, anti-racism, critical race theory, discrimination, diversity, gender dysphoria, gender identity and transition, transgender, transsexual and white privilege.
Hegseth: ‘War Department’ and restoring ‘warrior ethos’
In March, Hegseth used his X account to poll followers on their opinions on whether his agency should be called “Department of Defense” or “Department of War.”
More than 200,000 people voted — with 54% favoring the “Department of War.”
Hegseth’s boss, President Donald Trump, had noted in June that the name “War Department” was a historical precursor to the “Defense Department.”
“Then we became politically correct and they called it the Secretary of Defense,” Trump said.
When the president signed an executive order in September renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War, Hegseth said the change is about “restoring the warrior ethos” and victory.
“We’re going to go on offense, not just on defense, maximum lethality, not tepid legality, violent effect, not politically correct,” Hegseth said. “We’re going to raise up warriors, not just defenders.”
Restoring Confederacy memorial at Arlington
In August, the Trump administration approved restoring a memorial to the Confederacy at Arlington National Cemetery — less than two years after it was removed by the Biden presidency.
Called the “Reconciliation Monument,” the Confederate monument was originally erected in 1914 and was the creation of sculptor and Confederate veteran Moses Ezekiel.
Hegseth announced in a social media post that Ezekiel’s “beautiful and historic sculpture” will be “rightfully returned” to Arlington National Cemetery near the artist’s burial site.
“It never should have been taken down by woke lemmings,” wrote Hegseth. “Unlike the Left, we don’t believe in erasing American history — we honor it.”
The order to return the Confederate monument to the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System came three years after the congressionally mandated commission recommended that the memorial — along with scores of other military assets that bore Confederate references — be either removed or renamed.
The monument features a classical female figure, crowned with olive leaves, representing the American South — alongside sanitized depictions of slavery, according to The Associated Press.
Once back in the cemetery, the monument will also feature panels nearby that will offer context about its history, said a Pentagon official in August, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity about a project still in progress.
Hegseth: No more military promotions ‘for the wrong reasons’
In September, Hegseth joined Trump in a hastily organized meeting with many of the nation’s top military officers. The secretary echoed his message that merit — not race or gender — will be central in deciding promotions and enacting policies.
Daily military operations, promotions and policies, said Hegseth, would be guided by merit.
In the past, he added, the military has been forced “by foolish and reckless politicians” that focus on the wrong things.
“For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniform leaders for the wrong reasons based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called ‘firsts,’” he said.
Hegseth attacked so-called “woke” policies and practices that he said divert the military from its mission to defend the country and win wars.
Now, he said, there are “no more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses, no more climate change worship, no more division, distraction or gender delusion. No more debris.”
The military is done, he added, “with that (expletive).”
Today’s military personnel will also be expected to meet high physical and grooming standards. No more “fat generals and admirals,” said Hegseth. “That’s “completely unacceptable.”
Renaming the USNS Harvey Milk: ‘Taking the politics out of ship naming’
“We are taking the politics out of ship naming,” said Hegseth in a video posted to his X account.
“We’re not renaming the ship to anything political. This is not about political activists — unlike the previous administration.”
Peterson was a Navy chief who was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in combat during World War II.
“People want to be proud of the ship they’re sailing in,” said Hegseth, “and so we’re renaming it after a chief, a Navy chief.”
Opposition to the vessel’s name change included a rebuke from California Gov. Gavin Newsom on his X account.
“Donald Trump’s assault on veterans has hit a new low,” wrote Newsom.
“Harvey Milk wasn’t just a civil rights icon — he was a Korean War combat veteran whose commander called him ‘outstanding.’ Stripping his name from a Navy ship won’t erase his legacy as an American icon, but it does reveal Trump’s contempt for the very values our veterans fight to protect.”
The USNS Harvey Milk was named for the former Navy officer who later became one of the country’s first openly gay officials, winning a position on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977.
Milk, along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was assassinated on Nov. 27, 1978, by former city supervisor Dan White.
Milk served as a diving officer on the submarine rescue ship USS Kittiwake during the Korean War, according to Military.com. He left the service as a lieutenant junior grade in 1955 with a “less than honorable” discharge “after being officially questioned about his sexual orientation,” according to his official biography.
Regarding the decision to pull Milk’s name off the ship, the Pentagon offered a brief statement:
“Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief’s priorities, our nation’s history, and the warrior ethos.”
Medals maintained for Wounded Knee army soldiers
On his X account, Hegseth wrote that, under his direction, “the soldiers who fought at the Battle of Wounded Knee will keep their medals. This decision is final. Their place in history is settled.”
The Pentagon will maintain the Medals of Honor awarded to the 20 U.S. soldiers who were at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota on Dec. 29, 1890, where hundreds of Native Americans were reportedly killed by army soldiers.
In a video attached to his X post, Hegseth said “under the previous administration,” a review panel was convened to determine whether American soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor “for their actions at the Battle of Wounded Knee” should keep their medals.
Upon deliberation, he added, that panel “concluded that these brave soldiers should, in fact, rightfully keep their medals.”
Yet despite the panel’s recommendation, Hegseth said, former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “for whatever reason — I think we know, he was more interested in being politically correct than historically correct — chose not to make a final decision.”
The Defense Department’s decision to maintain the Medals of Honor awarded to the U.S. soldiers at Wounded Knee disregards the historical record “of the brutal, unprovoked and wrongful massacre of the Lakota” by the United States 7th Cavalry, according to a statement released by the National Congress of American Indians.
Native American leaders have called Wounded Knee “a massacre.”
Hegseth: Make the chaplain corps ‘great again’
And last month, Hegseth spoke out about one of the oldest communities in the American military — the chaplain corps.
For two centuries, Hegseth said in a video posted to his X account, the military’s chaplain corps performed its role as the spiritual leader for American men and women in uniform.
“But sadly, as part of the ongoing war on warriors, in recent decades its role has been degraded in an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism. Chaplains have been minimized — viewed by many as therapists, instead of ministers,” said Hegseth.
“Faith and virtue were traded for self-help and self-care.”
Hegseth added that the “Army Spiritual Fitness Guide” revealed the military’s growing disconnect from the divine — relying on New Age notions and pushing secular humanism.
“So we’re tossing it,” he said.
Changes are coming soon to the military’s chaplain ranks, said the secretary.
“We’re going to restore the esteemed position of chaplains as moral anchors for our fighting force. … We are going to make the chaplain corps great again.”