The War on Qualifications (and Quality)

Guest Opinion: Jack Knight

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosts Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson and members of Congress for a visit at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., April 3, 2025. (DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza)Secretary of

Who is Pete Hegseth? The recent Signal leak has reignited a lot of chatter about a man few outside of Fox News circles would know.

Seriously, who is he? What are his qualifications? What did he do to earn such an important job?

At first blush, it seems like he has almost no qualifications that make him stand out when compared to previous Secretaries of Defense. As far as I can tell, his most notable achievement, aside from his military service, was working for a propaganda television news network. He’s literally an entertainer. 

Here is his biography as listed by the Department of Defense: “The Honorable Pete Hegseth is the 29th Secretary of Defense, sworn in on Jan. 25, 2025.

Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army National Guard after graduating from Princeton University in 2003. He participated in a number of active-duty deployments during his time in service, including operations in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan. Hegseth also served in multiple staff positions in the National Guard.

Hegseth's military awards include two Bronze Star Medals, the Joint Commendation Medal, two Army Commendation Medals, the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) and the Expert Infantryman Badge (EIB). He has authored five books, including the New York Times best-seller The War on Warriors (2024).”

That’s all it says. Two short paragraphs. Further research finds that he achieved the rank of Major in the National Guard. 

Now, I’m sure that’s a lot of experience compared to people who’ve never been in the military or people who were only rank and file members if they did join.

To be perfectly fair, you can’t just criticize someone’s qualifications without knowing who to compare them to. So I looked up the last ten Secretaries of Defense, at least the ones that passed the nomination process and held the job for an extended period of time. Thankfully, the Department of Defense has biographies on all of them. And to be frank, every one of them is longer than Pete’s.

Two never served, Ash Carter and William Cohen. 

Ash Carter was Deputy Secretary of Defense, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, and he served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy. That’s a lot of relevant experience, far more than Pete Hegseth.

William Cohen was a U.S. House member and Senator, served on several relevant Senate Committees: Armed Services, Government Affairs, Intelligence. During that time he received intelligence briefings and wrote and voted on many defense and security related bills.

But that’s just two guys, both storied professionals with decades more relevant experience before they got the same job. Surely that can’t be the case for the others, can it?

All of this is readily available online. Each of these men held at least one, if not two or three positions of higher responsibility and relevant experience to Pete Hegseth.

Lloyd Austin: General. Mark Esper: deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, 23rd Secretary of the Army. James Mattis: General. Chuck Hagel: US Senator, Chair of the Intelligence Oversight Board and the President's Intelligence Advisory Board. Leon Panetta: CIA Director, White House Chief of Staff. Robert Gates: CIA Director, Deputy CIA Director, United States Deputy National Security Advisor. Donald Rumsfeld: White House Chief of Staff, 9th United States Ambassador to NATO. William Perry: Under-Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, 23rd United States Deputy Secretary of Defense.

These people have some serious resumes. In that, they are actual serious candidates instead of Fox News talking heads with a military record. This is the person in charge of the US military, the most powerful fighting force the world has ever seen. This person is charged with protecting American security and interests. Don’t you want him to be an expert? Don’t you want someone overqualified?

Because so far, I’m not seeing what makes him qualified at all. Why would someone hire an unqualified man for such an important job? Do they want to fail? Do they mean us harm? Is there any goal in mind at all? Are they looking for loyalty to a party? To one man? 

None of these questions has a satisfying or comforting answer.

Did I leave anything out? Is there something that puts Hegseth above people like this that’s missing from the DOD biography? 

Is it the tattoo scandal that made him look like an Islamophobic Christian Crusader? 

Is it the sexual assault and abuse allegations?

Is it his long standing struggles with alcohol?

He worked for a “news network” dedicated entirely to getting republicans elected. That’s his major qualification. Party over county. Maybe I just found the new Republican motto.