Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's embattled nominee for defense secretary, faces significant personal and professional hurdles that would scuttle any other pick to lead the U.S. military, former chief Leon Panetta said.
Panetta, who led the Department of Defense under President Obama from mid-2011 through early 2013, stressed the need for the incoming Secretary of Defense to possess both the "personal characteristics" and leadership experience necessary to oversee an agency of nearly 3 million employees.
"He's got problems on both fronts," Panetta told Newsweek, referring to reports of Hegseth being forced out of previous roles for financial mismanagement and being repeatedly intoxicated while working as the president of Concerned Veterans for America. "It's hard to discipline the military if you can't discipline yourself."
Hegseth, 44, faces an uphill confirmation fight following revelations that he entered a settlement with a woman who accused him of rape in 2017 and an email penned by his mother in 2018 claiming he abused women for years.
Panetta, 86, said senators must dutifully discern whether Hegseth has the appropriate virtues and traits to oversee the world's largest military force if the Army National Guard veteran and former Fox News host ultimately decides not to withdraw.
"It's very important for the Senate to kind of roll up their sleeves and take a hard look at him," Panetta said Tuesday. "You're talking about a position where you've got to be able to manage 3 million people: 2 million in uniform and a million civilians. So, you've got to have at least some experience in management. You've got to also really understand the role of the military and how it's to be used."
Panetta acknowledged Hegseth's military background but questioned whether the veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq understood the vastness of the role, including being tasked to procure weapons systems or overseeing Department of Defense recruitment efforts.
The latter could be especially difficult for Hegseth, a "guy who doesn't support women in the military," according to Panetta, who revoked the Pentagon's ban on women serving in ground combat units in 2013.
"The bottom line is there's an awful lot of issues that the Senate has to pay attention to when it comes to deciding whether this is the right guy for the job," Panetta said.
Military leaders, including the Secretary of Defense, should serve as templates for the men and women they oversee, Panetta said.
"You've got to reflect the kind of important character qualities that would make you a model for others that are putting their lives on the line for this country," he said. "I don't know what his problems are all about, but he's got a history of alcohol problems, and he's got a history of possible sexual abuse as well."
Those "serious issues" must be examined thoroughly at Hegseth's confirmation hearings, Panetta said.
"To determine just exactly what's involved," he continued. "And has he taken steps to deal with those issues? And is it possible for him to be able to get beyond that kind of baggage in order to be able to be somebody that not only leads our military but has to make damn sure that he gets Congress to approve a strong defense budget? There's a lot of issues that are involved here."
Hegseth's attorney, Timothy Parlatore, said his client has no intentions of withdrawing from the nomination process.
"The idea of removing a nominee based on anonymous, false complaints is pretty offensive to our constitutional principles of due process," Parlatore told Newsweek. "Mr. Hegseth is very much looking forward to the FBI's background check and a proper investigation, which will quickly debunk these claims. He's very confident of that."
Trump's transition team did not return a message seeking comment on Hegseth's future.
The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday that Trump is considering Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a possible replacement since Hegseth's candidacy might not survive additional scrutiny.
Trump is also considering Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-TN, as possible options, CNN reported.
Hegseth's mother, meanwhile, appeared on Fox News early Wednesday, insisting her son had overcome the issues she detailed in a 2018 email obtained by The New York Times blasting him as an "abuser" of women. She also acknowledged he had become a distraction for Trump.
"To a degree, but I think it can be overcome," Penelope Hegseth said. "I think people need to listen to him, get to know him—not the Pete from seven years ago, but the Pete of today."
Hegseth also declined to say whether she'll testify at her son's confirmation hearings following the publication of her email, which she sent amid Pete's split from his second wife, Samantha Hegseth, who filed for divorce after he impregnated Jennifer Rauchet, an executive producer at Fox News.
"You are an abuser of women—that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego," Penelope Hegseth wrote in the message. "You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth."
Panetta said he was also alarmed by reports that Hegseth was forced out of two nonprofit advocacy groups, Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America, due to allegations of misconduct, including rampant alcohol abuse and sexually pursuing female staffers.
Hegseth also allegedly shouted "Kill all Muslims" while drunk in 2015 during an official Concerned Veterans for America tour in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, The New Yorker reported.
"It's tough to be a secretary and deploy our young men and women into harm's way if you don't really present both the strong character and strong leadership model for those that you're sending into war," Panetta said. "It's really important for the Senate to think long and hard about somebody who's had those problems and really understand whether he's gotten beyond them or whether he still has the same problems. That's critical to the decision whether to approve him or not."
English (US) ·