Politics

The Secretary of Defense

Confirmed by a vice president’s tiebreak, with both Utah senators voting yes. What came after, item by item, with his side of each.

The argument

Pete Hegseth is a combat veteran, and the job he was given is one where wanting a tougher, more focused military is a legitimate goal. This page does not argue with that goal. It sets out the record of the man Utah’s senators voted to confirm.

He was confirmed 50 to 50, with the vice president breaking the tie, and both of Utah’s senators voted yes. Since then, he texted strike timing in a group chat that included a journalist, ran a second chat with his wife and brother that included flight schedules, saw at least 20 generals, admirals and senior civilians fired or departed by CBS’s count, and announced a public execution, which the Pentagon says will be livestreamed. One Republican who voted for him now calls it the biggest regret of his career.

1. The confirmation

On January 24, 2025, the Senate split 50 to 50, and Vice President Vance broke the tie (roll call). Three Republicans voted no: Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitch McConnell. Both of Utah’s senators, Mike Lee and John Curtis, voted yes.

Before the vote, senators knew about two things on this page. In 2017 a woman accused him of sexual assault at a Monterey, California hotel. He told police it was consensual, prosecutors declined to file charges in January 2018, and he paid her $50,000, which he disclosed to the Senate. He says he was “falsely accused” and “completely cleared” (PBS NewsHour). Separately, tax filings show Concerned Veterans for America ran deficits in three of the five years he led it, and anonymous former colleagues alleged repeated intoxication on the job. His attorney denied the allegations, and Hegseth said the accusations made the group sound like “a college frat house. That’s just untrue” (CBS News). None of these allegations was proven in court.

2. The Signal chats

In March 2025, in a Signal group chat about strikes on the Houthis in Yemen that included the editor of The Atlantic by mistake, Hegseth posted the strike timeline, including “1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package).” Asked about it, he said, “Nobody was texting war plans.” PolitiFact rated that False (PolitiFact). The administration’s defense was that the messages named no targets, locations, sources or methods.

A month later, ABC News reported a second Signal chat on his personal phone, with his wife, his brother and his personal lawyer, that included the flight schedules for the jets in the same attack. The Pentagon’s spokesman said, “There was no classified information in any Signal chat” (ABC News). In December 2025 the Defense Department’s inspector general reportedly found that his use of a personal device for official business violated department policy, and that the chat’s information originated from a document marked classified at the time. The inspector general did not decide whether it was still classified, because he has authority to declassify. He declined an in-person interview and did not hand over his phone, and he has said no classified information was shared.

3. The firings

CBS News counts at least 20 generals, admirals and senior civilian leaders fired or forced out under Hegseth, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. CQ Brown, in February 2025, the chief of naval operations, the head of the National Security Agency, and the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (CBS News). The DIA director was ousted in August 2025, after news outlets reported on an initial DIA assessment of the June 2025 strikes on Iran; no reason was given. In April 2026 the Army chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, was told to retire immediately, more than a year before his term was to end (ABC News).

A secretary is entitled to pick his own commanders. For several of these removals, including the intelligence chief’s, no reason was given.

4. Religion at the Pentagon, and Latter-day Saints

Hegseth began holding monthly Christian prayer services at the Pentagon in 2025. In February 2026 the guest preacher was Doug Wilson, an Idaho pastor who has accepted the label “Christian nationalist” and who has said women voting is inadvisable. The Pentagon said the services are “100% voluntary” (Military.com) and that “of course the Secretary thinks that women should have the right to vote” (Military.com).

In 2026 the Pentagon cut its list of religious preference codes from 211 to 31. The list published June 5 did not count the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints among the faiths labeled “Christian.” After Senator Curtis objected publicly the next day, the Pentagon issued a revised list on June 8 that dropped the “Christian” label from every faith, and said “the mistake has been fixed” (CBS News). That is a fair point in his favor: when Utah’s senators pushed, his office listened.

5. The speeches, and an execution

On September 30, 2026, in a speech to about 600 troops at Quantico, he said the military would have “no fatties,” along with a slur for transgender people, “no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors” (Military.com).

In October 2026 he said the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Hasan, would face “a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be. And we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public” (Military.com). The Pentagon confirmed the execution, set for December 3, would be livestreamed. Asked about a final request, Hegseth said, “Don’t care. We’ll see him on December 3rd” (PBS NewsHour). Hasan murdered 13 people, and a military jury sentenced him to death. Carrying out a lawful sentence is one thing. Whether it should be broadcast is the open question. This was the plan as of October 12, 2026.

What is true on the other side

• He is a combat veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• No sexual assault or drinking allegation against him was proven in court, and prosecutors declined charges in the Monterey case.
• The administration says the Signal messages named no targets, locations, sources or methods, and the secretary has authority to declassify.
• His office dropped the “Christian” label from every faith within days when Utah’s senators objected.

The common rebuttals

“The military needed shaking up.”

Maybe it did. Shaking up a military does not require sharing strike timing in a chat with a reporter in it, or removing the intelligence chief after reports of his agency’s assessment. The goal can be right while the conduct is still the conduct.

“The senators had no choice. He was the president’s pick.”

The Constitution makes the Senate’s consent a real choice, and three Republicans used it. The vote was 50 to 50. Either Utah senator could have changed the outcome. Sen. Thom Tillis, who also voted yes, now calls it the “biggest regret of my career” (PBS NewsHour).

What this means

He was confirmed by a single vote. Both of Utah’s were part of it.