Pete Hegseth has unironically extolled the virtues of being good at one’s job, in the midst of cleaning up a national security mess of his own making.
The defense secretary, fresh from discussing airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels in a group chat that included a prominent journalist, was back on his usual script: blasting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies.
Speaking at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii Tuesday, the under-fire defense chief fielded questions from reporters, including one on how the Department of Defense would change under the Trump administration.
“The DOD will be merit-based and color-blind. You will be judged based on how good you are at your job. Full stop. That’s it,” Hegseth said.
“Getting rid of DEI, getting rid of different standards was fundamental to getting back to basics. When I get a chance to talk to commanders here, that’s what I emphasise,” he went on.
“Standards at every level need to be adhered to. When you talk to soldiers, you talk to Marines, they get it. They’ve seen the standards slide under the previous administration. They watched, in many different ways, how it eroded.... quotas were being met, boxes had to be checked. Not anymore. The only box that gets checked in this Defense Department is lethality and your ability to do your job.”
Earlier in the day, at the same site, Hegseth continued to insist that “nobody was texting war plans” in the Signal group chat, which contained high-ranking national security officials—and the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg.
Goldberg revealed in a bombshell report Monday that he somehow got inadvertently added to the group chat, which was created to discuss the operational details of airstrikes which later killed 53 people.
Goldberg’s report insisted that Hegseth sent “precise information about weapons packages, targets and timing.”
In response, the defense chief attacked Goldberg as “a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again.” He offered no evidence of any deceit.
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz has said he took “full responsibility” for the mess, saying he started the group and accidentally invited Goldberg. That doesn’t mean Hegseth has escaped calls for his sacking, though.
Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, called Hegseth “the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in American history” and demanded he be sacked.
“His continued presence in the top position of leadership at the Pentagon threatens the nation’s security and puts our brave men and women in uniform throughout the world in danger,” he wrote.
Hegseth, who is even being sued for his national security faux pas, also faced questions about how fit he was for his last job, at Fox News. When he became Trump’s pick for defense secretary, the former Fox & Friends Weekend co-host faced intense scrutiny after a number of reports detailed his past exploits—including allegations of sexual assault, lecherous behavior and binge-drinking during his time running veterans organizations.
