U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) on Monday said that the Pentagon under President-elect Donald Trump, if Pete Hegseth is confirmed to serve as the country’s Secretary of Defense, will drop the focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) seen under the Biden administration, and become focused exclusively on “lethality and competence.”
Hagerty stressed the importance of Hegseth’s confirmation during a Monday appearance on Fox News’ “Mornings with Maria,” telling host Maria Bartiromo that new leadership at the Pentagon would make the nation’s military more effective and address its recruitment and retention crisis.
“The most important thing to me, with respect to our Pentagon and military, is to get new leadership there. Pete Hegseth is working his way through the process right now. I’ve been supporting him all along the way,” Hegseth told Bartiromo. The senator urged, “We have got to get new leadership at the Pentagon, focused again on lethality and competence, away from DEI and pronouns.”
To address the military’s “huge problem in terms of retention [and] recruitment,” Hagerty said it must redirect its priorities.
Hagerty told the network, “They’re not here for the many reasons that the Biden Administration has completely covered them with, with respect to DEI initiatives. We’ve got to get back to the basics. That’s going to be the most important aspect of our lethality.”
Confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate are set to begin on January 14, when a hearing for Hegseth is scheduled. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has reportedly privately confirmed to Trump that Hegseth has sufficient votes from Republicans to be confirmed, and both Hagerty and Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have indicated they will confirm the veteran and former Fox News host.
Blackburn was recently targeted in a statement released by the Illinois Attorney General, an elected Democrat after she raised similar concerns about the amount of FBI resources spent on DEI policies and programs in a letter to outgoing FBI Director Chris Wray.
The senator told Wray, “I am deeply concerned that—under your leadership—the Bureau has prioritized Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives over its core mission of protecting the American people,” prompting Attorney General Kwame Raoul to accuse her of engaging in “hate and bigotry.”
Watch Hagerty’s full Monday appearance on “Mornings with Maria”:
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
