Trump picks army major, Fox News host, ‘anti woke’ warrior to lead Pentagon

Washington: President-elect Donald Trump sprang a surprise on Tuesday as he picked Pete Hegseth — an army veteran, a Fox News host best known for his positions against “wokeism” in the armed services and women in combat and for his calls to sack generals who promote diversity — as the secretary of defence.

US President Donald Trump is interviewed by Fox and Friends co-host Pete Hegseth at the White House in Washington, US, on April 6, 2017. (REUTERS)

Trump also appointed a former Congressman and head of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); a personal friend, pro-Israel hawk and New York real estate developer Steven Witkoff as his special envoy for Middle East; and former Arkansas governor and another staunchly pro-Israel hawk Mark Huckabee as the ambassador to Israel.

But it was Hegseth’s appointment that left Senators, officials in Pentagon, personnel in the services, analysts in the American strategic community, diplomats in Washington DC, and journalists scrambling to know more about the man who, if confirmed by the Senate, will be in charge of a budget of close to $900 billion and over 2.8 million personnel across services and Pentagon’s civilian bureaucracy.

In his announcement, Trump said that Hegseth was a true believer in his America First approach. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our military will be great again and America will never back down.” Trump cited Hegset’s Princeton and Harvard education, tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, bronze star medals, and work with veterans to boost his credentials.

Trump’s ecosystem cheered the appointment for the disruption it will cause in Pentagon — the Trump campaign often spoke against the defence companies and lobbyists for dragging the US to war — but the defence community was apprehensive about Hegset’s judgement and experience in leading the world’s most powerful military at a time of serious threats. During his Fox News stint, Hegset gained prominence for his sharp positions against women in combat and diversity initiatives in the services. While Republicans have a comfortable majority in the Senate, even top Republicans are expected to have concerns about the appointment.

For the CIA, a part of the “deep state” that Trump has derided through the campaign and framed conspiratorially as undermining him and dragging America into wars, the President-elect turned to Ratcliffe. Announcing the appointment, Trump focused on Ratcliffe’s loyalty to the Trump’s politics.

“From exposing fake Russian collusion to be a Clinton campaign operation, to catching the FBI’s abuse of civil liberties at the FISA court, John Ratcliffe has always been a supporter of truth and honesty…When 51 intelligence officials were lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop, there was one, John Ratcliffe, telling the truth to the American people,” Trump said, referring to political accusations and counter accusations over the past nine years, rather than the wars that Ratcliffe will have to now manage. Trump said that Ratcliffe, as the former director of national intelligence, the top US intelligence czar, will be the first person to hold both top US intelligence positions. “

Trump’s appointments on West Asia had a strong pro-Israel imprint. Witkoff, his new special envoy for the region, is a personal friend of the President-elect from his New York days, and Trump said, “Steve will be an unrelenting voice for peace.” On Huckabee, whose daughter, Sarah, was Trump’s press secretary and now is Arkansas governor, Trump said, “He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and, likewise, the people of Israel love him.”

Both Witkoff and Huckabee have been fully supportive of Israel’s war against Palestinians in Gaza, its aggressive response to Iran and its proxies, and its settler push in West Bank.