Forget the personal controversies, how does Defense Secretary Hegseth’s actual experience compare to his predecessors?

Hegseth’s path from nomination to confirmation was not a smooth one, with allegations of drunkenness, sexual misconduct and mismanagement dogging the would-be secretary of defence in headlines the world over.

Those allegations very nearly saw the Senate block his nomination, too. Vice President JD Vance was forced to break a 50–50 tie, voting in favour of the unpopular choice. Only once before has a vice president been called on to break such a tie for a cabinet position – Vice President Mike Pence did the same in 2017 to secure the role of secretary of education for Betsy DeVos, another highly unpopular Trump pick.

Regardless of the drama and his possibly colourful past, Hegseth now has the job and arrived at the Pentagon for his first day in the role.

The real question now is: Does he have what it takes to lead both US defence policy and its 2.1 million service members?

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Rotten apples

Let’s be clear, plenty of what appeared to be well-qualified individuals took up the mantle of secretary of defence only later to be proven uniquely and even dangerously ill-suited to the role. There have also been plenty that have lived up to expectations and excelled in leading the US through troubling times.

What we’re interested in here is looking at what the qualifications of some of those men were and comparing them to the man currently in the hot seat. What made, for instance, Robert McNamara appear to be a good man for the job or Donald Rumsfeld – both men widely believed to be among the worst secretaries of defence since the role was established in 1947 – and how does that compare to some who went on to excel in the role, such as Robert Gates?

However, before we look too far back into history, let’s look at Hegseth himself.

Hegseth holds a bachelor of arts in politics and a master of public policy, which is certainly a good start. His service in the National Guard saw him deployed to Cuba and Iraq in the early 2000s and to Afghanistan during his second active service stint, where he assisted in the training of Afghan security services. Hegseth left active duty in 2014 with the rank of major.

In 2019, Hegseth rejoined the National Guard for the District of Columbia and was slated to be part of a security detachment for Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. But despite volunteering, Hegseth was pulled from the posting regarding concerns over his tattoos and possible links to Christian extremism. He resigned from the National Guard that same year.

Hegseth’s efforts in civilian life are similarly tarred with controversy. After a brief time with a think tank, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, he became an executive director at Vets for Freedom as well as presiding as the political advocacy group’s treasurer. The group was half a million dollars in debt during that time and by 2011, Hegseth had been demoted following concerns that he was spending the organisation’s funds on parties.

There are similar tales about Hegseth’s time with Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) and in his own political action committee, MN PAC.

Concerns over his mismanagement of CVA forced Hegseth to resign in 2016.

While Hegseth’s service was largely distinguished in his early military career, and his civilian efforts were mired in controversy, he is possibly best known as a television presenter on Fox News, where he hosted Fox & Friends since 2017 and made numerous other appearances on the conservative network.

Hegseth had also successfully campaigned in 2019 for Trump to pardon three US service members convicted of war crimes and has written several highly conservative books warning of a coming civil war and describing Democrats as enemies of freedom.

But he is a Trump loyalist, and that, more than anything, counts for a lot in the current administration – far more than the credentials previous secretaries of defence brought to the role.

Apples to oranges

Looking back at previous secretaries of defence shows us a far greater depth of experience at far higher levels of business and policy making.

Some, like the previous secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, and the 26th secretary, Jim Mattis, also show far greater military experience, but that’s not always a particularly good thing either. Austin – a four-star general who earned multiple medals and became the 12th commander of United States Central Command (Mattis was his immediate predecessor at CENTCOM), was so recently retired that Congress needed to pass a waiver to get around a law that barred officers from holding the office of secretary of defence within seven years of retirement.

Biden picked Austin because he liked him and felt he would work smoothly with the White House. However, despite a brief tenure on the board of directors of Raytheon and Nucor, Austin had little civil or political experience. He was a good warfighter, but that’s not quite the job description.

Mattis – who also required a waiver from Congress – did not quite deliver on his seeming promise either, relying too much on a group of Marine insiders to get the job done. Though lauded as the “last grown-up” in Trump’s cabinet, that said more about the first Trump administration than Mattis.

Again, Mattis’ only real civilian claims to fame were positions on various boards, particularly General Dynamics. Neither man had held a political posting and their extensive military experience – at a far higher level than Hegseth ever attained – did not translate to outstanding performance as secretary of defence.

That being the case, let’s look at one of America’s most respected secretaries of defence, Melvin Laird, who came to the role in early 1973 and inherited a department largely shaped by a man considered to be one of the worst ever to hold the title, Robert McNamara.

Laird had some military experience – he rose to lieutenant (JG) in the US Navy between 1944 and 1946 and joined the Wisconsin State Senate a year after leaving the military at the age of 23. In 1952, he was elected to the US House of Representatives, where he was re-elected eight times in a row.

It was the latter political experience that served Laird so well at the Pentagon. He had already been openly critical of McNamara but did not immediately change the way the department ran. Instead, he worked slowly, and cooperatively, to build a rapport with his colleagues that he called “participatory management”.

In other words, he knew how to build a consensus, and that was something he learned in his long career as a politician.

Writing for Fox News, national security commentator James Jay Carafano had this to say about Laird’s performance and prior experience.

“Laird’s congressional experience made him as thoroughly familiar with grappling with power brokers in Washington as it did with the intricacies of defence policy,” Carafano said in a piece critical of Lloyd Austin’s suitability for the role.

Carafano went on to colourfully describe Laird as “a Washington Jedi” who was able to deftly navigate the politics of the Pentagon – and the White House.

Fruits of labour

Which brings us back to Pete Hegseth, the new man of the hour. Hegseth said at his swearing-in this week that under his leadership, the US will “achieve peace through strength” and declared that he will “revive the warrior ethos and restore trust in our military”.

“We are American warriors,” he said. “We will defend our country.”

Carafano – an avowed Hegseth “fanboy” – said of Hegseth in November 2024 that he “puts the nation and the constitution over politics every time”.

Unfortunately, politics is very much a part of the role, and it will be interesting to see if Hegseth will one day be described as a Jedi – of any kind – in his own right. Certainly, history has shown, time and again, that individuals with far more experience have failed to rise to the position.

Only the next few years can reveal if someone with a distinct lack of it will be able to do any better.