Good luck, world

Not a few observers who monitored the live US Senate confirmation hearing of Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Defense Secretary, were alarmed at how seemingly unfit the 44-year-old former national guardsman and Fox News and Fox & Friends commentator is for the complex, gargantuan task of running the US Defense Department, one of the world’s largest bureaucracies with a yearly budget of nearly $900 billion.

Former Pentagon officials emphasize that this is one of the most critical appointments any US chief of state could effect, with the designated defense chief making national security decisions and supervising nearly three million civilian and military service members working for the US Defense Department worldwide.

For Lincoln Bloomfield, former national security adviser who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs in the George W. Bush administration, the job of defense chief is “harder than the presidency.”

Admittedly, Hegseth’s youth and energy are pluses. But noting the absence of any substantive work on national security and foreign policy issues on Hegseth’s CV, Bloomfield stressed, “This is a job where every morning there are at least a dozen fires burning. How much experience does he have to help in finding solutions?”

Mara Karlin, former senior Pentagon official in the current administration, is particularly concerned about Hegseth’s lack of experience managing a federal government agency, much less the largest — the Pentagon.

“This is a job that involves figuring out how to spend trillions of taxpayer dollars and the care of millions of members of the US military,” she said, even as she points out that it “will involve thousands of hours advising the President and how, when, and under what circumstances to use military force.”

Unlike Hegseth, she adds, “There are different worlds that past secretaries have come from — they were political people, technocrats, some from Congress, but traditionally they had a pretty decent level of experience with defense, national security issues and foreign policy.”

Aside from allegations of sexual misconduct and a host of other behavioral issues plaguing his nomination, there too are anxieties that Hegseth doesn’t seem to have adequate familiarity with geopolitical arenas where allies are in critical conflict with US rivals.

Hegseth, or any other nominee for the defense portfolio, must have a comprehensive understanding of the gravity of the challenges faced by a defense secretary — the turmoil in the Middle East, no letup in the Ukraine-Russian war, China’s growing military might in Asia.

Regarding Asia, the US defense chief must be ready to log many miles to address China’s intensified belligerence toward America’s allies in that part of the world, particularly Taiwan where much of Chinese military planning is focused, and the Philippines which hosts a number of Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) facilities designed to boot the US-Philippines’ mutual defense alliance.

The Philippines is, of course, one of the oldest, staunchest allies of the US and a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), established in 1967. Along with other ASEAN members, it is in a maritime dispute with China which claims sovereignty over virtually the entire South China Sea, one of the world’s most crucial shipping waterways.

The US is treaty partners with ASEAN members Philippines and Thailand and has actively sought to harness ASEAN’s regional influence in efforts to counter Chinese influence in the region. US defense secretaries attend ASEAN meetings and annual summits with the US president in regular attendance.

And yet, despite the long-time alliance of the US and ASEAN, Hegseth couldn’t name a single member of the regional body when asked by Senator Tammy Duckworth (Democrat, Illinois) during the Senate hearing on his confirmation.

Duckworth, who before she was elected a senator in 2016 had been a two-term member of the US House of Representatives, is an Iraq War vet, Purple Heart recipient and one of the first Army women to fly Operation Iraqi Freedom combat missions (she lost her legs during one such mission), was bluntly direct with Hegseth, saying, “The country needs a secretary of defense who’s ready to lead on Day One and you’re not that person. Our adversaries watch closely during times of transition and any sense that the Department of Defense that keeps us safe is being stirred by someone who’s wholly unprepared for the job puts America at risk.”

More caustic words came from Democratic leader Senator Chuck Schumer who, speaking on the Senate floor, said Trump’s choice for defense secretary “has failed thus far to address the disturbing questions plaguing his nomination — why should America entrust our military to a television personality who has never led any large organization?”

Whoever becomes head of the Department of Defense of a world superpower will have tremendous global impact and, sadly it seems, with Republicans having the numbers in the US Congress, that position will go to Trump’s nominee — a controversial guy whose reputation is besmirched by allegations of sexual assault, excessive drinking, derisive views about women in military combat roles, financial mismanagement in at least two non-profit entities he led, and no credentials typical of a defense secretary, raising questions about whether he has the capability to manage one of the largest defense agencies in the world with over two million service members, nearly 800,000 civilians, and a budget of over $850 billion.

Good luck, America — nay, the world.