Commentary

Regular readers will recall my disgust, as a veteran, with the lack of leadership in the Pentagon, so you won’t be surprised with my criticism of those who disapprove of the nomination of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.

The latest is Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, who is making the rounds, promoting her new book, A Certain Idea of America. 

Reading the transcript of her interview by Bari Weiss in The Free Press, Noonan gratuitously says of Hegseth: “Nice man, two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Culture warrior. Fine.  The world needs culture warriors.” But it ends there.

“That is not the bio of the guy who runs the three million man and woman, highly bureaucratized bureaucracy that is the Department of Defense, which runs all of the branches of the service, which is so complex,” she points out as if we don’t understand the mess he faces.

Note of Clarification in Noonan’s numbers.  There are 1.3 million men and women in the military, three million in all the federal government.

She goes on to remind us that the office was once held by George C. Marshall, Frank Carlucci and Bob Gates.  “These were substantial and serious men who understood the thing that were running.  They were serous diplomats,” she says.  “Pete Hegseth?  That’s crazy.”

Earlier in her interview Noonan spoke of her position as a speechwriter for Reagan.  I have previously written about her wordsmithing talent.

The Reagan White House was “full of young people, the youngest presidential staff ever,” she said. “We had significant positions, and we were in our 20s and early 30s.  There’s a very good thing about that.  It’s good to have the young there believing and fighting and bringing their energy and freshness.”

Who could argue with Marshall, the accomplished soldier and diplomat, architect of the Marshall Plan, yet he was 70 when President Truman brought him in as SecDef to help prepare the military, logistically and by building their morale for the Korean War.

I found Noonan’s mention of Carlucci conflating. Although he had a long public service career, he served as SecDef for just 14 months and wasn’t known for having had a major influence on the DOD, according to the Pentagon historical office.  He attempted to put his stamp on defense management issues, budget, procurement, weapons systems, all while advocating the downsizing of the military.

Carlucci went to Princeton and served two years in the Navy as a lieutenant. Hegseth received his bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton before getting his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.  He served in the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan with honors and attained the rank of major.

With Carlucci becoming SecDef at age 57 and Hegseth, if confirmed, at age 44, age is hardly relevant. The defense budget is more than double today than it was when Carlucci served.

Reading Hegseth’s books, one quickly grasps his knowledge of the military, his critical views, and where he sees needed change.

Having followed the career of Bob Gates, I would have to agree with Noonan that he was right for the job as SecDef, serving there under two presidents after heading the CIA under a third president.

Noonan was too quick to write off Hegseth without careful thought of other past SecDefs who served with questionable success.  Two Republicans, William Cohen and Chuck Hagel, were brought in by Presidents Clinton and Obama and were what I refer to as placeholders.

Mention Dick Cheney or Robert McNamara in the company of students of the military and you are sure to get highly critical opinions of their performance.

And in my opinion, Leon Panetta’s legacy was damaged when he joined the group of 52 former intelligence officers signing the letter confirming Russian influence in the 2016 election, that was later disproven.  He never apologized. The fact that he is frequently called upon to comment on issues by the media is disturbing.

Hence the knee jerk opposition to Hegseth.

I know from Trump’s campaign speeches that the first term short stints of James Mattis and Mark Esper as SecDefs, as well as his other cabinet failures in his first administration, were on his mind. This time around, he’s no longer the outsider.  He knows people.

Hegseth is bound to face tough questioning during the nomination hearings, but he has written three books on warriors and another on miseducation in America, all of which outline his belief in peace through strength.

May God continue to bless the United States of America