Subject: Re: New Hires At The White House
>>The choice of Mr. Hegseth was outside the norm of the traditional defense secretary. But he was a dedicated supporter of Mr. Trump during his first term, defending his interactions with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, embracing his “America First” agenda of trying to withdraw U.S. troops from abroad and energetically taking up the cause of combat veterans accused of war crimes. NYT <<

"The choice of Mr. Hegseth was outside the norm of the traditional defense secretary."

I think that is putting it mildly. - ges

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I agree with you there. Of all his picks, this one is the most puzzling. Hegseth is a long time and well respected conservative, patriotic and proud, degrees from Princeton and Harvard, and an Army veteran with a Bronze star and served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But to be SecDev, wow! I would expect that person to have had a long career of successful executive experience. I can only rationalize that Trump wanted a complete outsider with no allegiances to the Pentagon so as to work more effectively with DOGE to reform the Defense Departments moribund acquisition and funding processes. But I don't see Hegseth providing much in the way of intricate military insights and advice into dealing with our adversaries.