Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, revealed an embarrassing ignorance about a major geopolitical organization during his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
Hegseth, a former Fox News personality, was taking questions from Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) when she challenged him to share his knowledge about even just one member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
“Can you name the importance of at least one of the nations in ASEAN and what type of agreement we have with at least one of those nations?” she asked.
“I couldn’t tell you the exact amount of nations in that, but I know we have allies in South Korea and Japan and … with Australia,” Hegseth began responding.
Duckworth cut him off to make a major correction.
“None of those three countries that you’ve mentioned are in ASEAN,” she said. “I suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations.”
Pete Hegseth during his confirmation hearing Tuesday.
ASEAN’s members include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Australia, one of the countries Hegseth mentioned, isn’t even on the Asian continent.
Hegseth, who’s facing allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking and partying, has spent the last decade as a commentator for Fox News. In the early 2000s, he was commissioned as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard and deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. Beyond that, he has no experience in defense roles.
Duckworth wasn’t the only person to focus on Hegseth’s minimal qualifications on Tuesday. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told Hegseth he would support him if he were auditioning for a lesser role, such as a Pentagon spokesperson. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was even harsher.
“Mr. Hegseth, I do not believe that you are qualified to meet the overwhelming demands of this job,” Reed told him.
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“A variety of sources, including your own writings, implicate you with disregarding laws of war, financial mismanagement, racist and sexist remarks about men and women in uniform, alcohol abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and other troubling issues,” he continued. “I have reviewed many of these allegations, and find them extremely alarming.”
Hegseth has denied all allegations against him.
asiaPete Hegsethsoutheast asiadefense department
