Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said Tuesday she plans to vote for Pete Hegseth’s nomination to become secretary of Defense, as Politico reported. Ernst, a member of the Armed Services Committee, had not committed publicly until after Hegseth appeared before the committee Tuesday.
“He pointed out the woke issues at the Pentagon, and I think we’re at a point where now we can start moving forward,” Ernst told an Iowa radio station after the hearing. “People know where he stands on these issues.”
Ernst’s support makes it more likely that Hegseth will be confirmed.
‘Bring the Warrior Culture Back’
Ernst, a combat veteran, had questioned comments Hegseth made last year about women in the military, which he walked back Tuesday, telling Ernst at the hearing that “women will have access to ground combat roles… given the standards remain high.”
Hegseth did double down on his criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion policies at the Pentagon.
“Our standards will be high, and they will be equal – not equitable, that is a very different word,” Hegseth said in his opening statement. “When President Trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me was to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense.”
Hegseth seemed to confirm the Trump team’s plan to fire some military officers.
“Every single senior officer will be reviewed based on meritocracy, standards and lethality, and commitment to lawful orders they will be given,” Hegseth said, as Military.com reported. He did not say whether that means ousting Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown, whom Hegseth once suggested was promoted to that position because of diversity policies.
Hegseth also said that he would reinstate the roughly 8,000 service members who were dismissed for refusing COVID-19 vaccines, as Military Times reported.
“Tens of thousands of service members were kicked out because of an experimental vaccine,” Hegseth said. “They will be apologized to. They will be reinstated, reinstituted with pay and rank.”
Systems and Acquisition
Hegseth told the committee in written remarks that shipbuilding will be a priority, Breaking Defense reported.
“If confirmed, I will immediately direct the Secretary of the Navy and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment to create a shipbuilding roadmap to increase our capacity within the shipbuilding industrial base, remove bottlenecks within the supply chain, and reduce near-term risk by improving Navy maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) capability,” he wrote.
And he said DOD can do more to advance innovation.
“Several initiatives have aimed to deliver proliferated, distributed and attritable capabilities on short timelines, but more work needs to be done to shift the department’s thinking away from developing expensive, exquisite platforms over many years that we cannot afford to lose, toward delivering innovation at scale on compressed cycles,” he wrote.
Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sgt. Vincent De Groot
