Trump’s confidence that Republican Senators would confirm Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense showed his contempt and disrespect for them, for America’s security and the voters who elected him. Hegseth qualifications are: a Fox News host, an alcoholic sex offender and pathetically unqualified for the job. Yet, succumbing to Trump’s threat that Elon Musk would finance a primary against those who voted no, all but three Republicans voted to confirm, revealing a lack of conscience, contempt for their constituents and a willingness to put the country in peril. Remember that Trump had to be stopped by his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from mishandling America’s nuclear arsenal and that he wanted to “bomb the shit out of Russia” with a plane bearing a forged Chinese flag. Who’ll be there to stop him next time? An alcoholic Fox News host and sex offender who won’t push back on Trump’s dangerous decisions?
Please Compare the qualifications of the Secretaries of Defense below with Pete Hegseth’s. ________________________________________________
Credentials of past Secretaries of Defense
Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin previously was:
• Commander of the US Central Command
• Vice chief of staff of the Army.
• Commander of United States Forces in Iraq.
• Awarded 5 Defense Distinguished Service Medals.
• Graduated from the West Point Army Command and College and Army War College.
Barack Obama had 4 Defense Secretaries: Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel and Ash Carter
Robert Gates
• Member of the Iraq Study Group.
• 26 years with the CIA, Director and National Security Council
• Assistant to the President for National Security.
• Member of Strategic Air Command – delivered intelligence briefings to Intercontinental Ballistic Missile crews.
• PhD in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University.
Leon Panetta:
• Director of the CIA
• White House chief of staff under Obama;
• Graduated magna cum laude from Santa Clara University with a BA in political science and Juris Doctor .
Chuck Hagel:• Chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board,
• Recipient of two Purple Hearts;
• Professor at the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University;
• Chairman of the Atlantic Council on international security;
Ash Carter:
• Under Secretary of Defense
• Deputy Secretary of Defense under Obama;
• Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security under President Clinton, responsible for policy regarding Russia and nuclear weapons;
• Distinguished Public Service Medal Defense Intelligence Medals.
• Director of the Center for Science & International affairs at Harvard.
• Graduated Yale College, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.
George W. Bush had 2 Secretaries of Defense: Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gate
Rumsfeld:
• Chief of Staff for Presidents Ford and Nixon;
• Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity;
• Representative to NATO;
Gates
• 26 years with the CIA, Director and National Security Council.
• Iraq Study Group.
• Assistant President for National Security.
• Member Strategic Air Command – delivered intelligence briefings to Intercontinental Ballistic Missile crews.
• PhD in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University.
Bill Clinton had 3 Secretaries of Defense: Les Aspin, William Perry and William Cohen,
Les Aspin: Member of Congress for 11 succeeding terms, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee
William Perry
• Deputy Secretary of Defense under Clinton
• Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
• Expert in foreign policy, national security and arms control;
• Founded non-profit effort to educate public on the dangers of nuclear weapons;
• Instrumental in surveilling Soviet Union
• Technical consultant to the Department of Defense
• Received Presidential Medal of Freedom.
William Cohen:
• Member of the House of Representatives and Senate.
• Advisor to President Clinton,
• National Security and Joint Chiefs of Staff;
Gates was:
• Assistant to the President for National Security
• Deputy National Security Adviser.
• Officer in US Air Force,
• CIA for 26 years,
• National Security Council.
• Served on Strategic Air Command as an intelligence officer where he delivered intelligence briefings to Intercontinental Ballistic Missile crews.
• PhD in Russian and Soviet history at Georgetown University.
President Reagan chose Caspar Weinberger and Frank Carlucci to be Secretaries of Defense.
Casper Weinberger:
• Oversaw massive rebuilding of US military strength leading to the economic and military-industrial pressures and Russia’s economic decline, end of the Cold War and demise of the Soviet Union as a global power.
• Second lieutenant during World War II in the Pacific,
• Captain of intelligence staff under General Douglas MacArthur.
• Graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, and Harvard Law School.
Frank Carlucci
• Deputy Director of the CIA
• Deputy Secretary of Defense.
• National Security Advisor from 1986 to 1987
• Advocated arms build-up that hastened end of Cold War.
• Graduated from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
