EXCLUSIVE – President-elect Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was described as an “extremely gifted, battle-proven chief,” in keeping with a duplicate of navy evaluations obtained by Fox Information Digital.
Hegseth is about to face a Senate affirmation listening to Tuesday, the place lawmakers are anticipated to grill the 44-year-old Military Nationwide Guard veteran and former Fox Information host on his capability to guide the Division of Protection. A number one critic of range, fairness and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the navy, Hegseth has been beneath scrutiny in current weeks over his {qualifications}.
Fox Information obtained copies of previous efficiency evaluations describing Hegseth’s “excellent” management expertise through the years of his navy service, together with deployments to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hegseth deployed with the New Jersey Nationwide Guard to Guantánamo Bay, the place he was chief of a 39-man Air Assault Infantry Rifle platoon able to deploying wherever throughout the world inside 36 hours.
In an officer analysis report masking April 2005 to January 2006, Hegseth acquired “excellent efficiency” and was described as “an extremely gifted, battle-proven chief.”
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Pete Hegseth in uniform. (Fox Information)
“Having taken cost of his platoon mere days earlier than deployment to Iraq in help of Operation Iraqi Freedom, he successfully led his platoon by way of 5 months of fight,” the report learn. “He deliberate and executed platoon operations starting from air assault raids to the protection of a ahead working base (FOB).”
Throughout his tour as platoon chief, his evaluators stated Hegseth ensured “that his platoon remained bodily match and mentally prepared to fulfill the challenges of protracted missions in demanding situations.”
Whereas serving at FOB Falcon, Iraq, Hegseth’s platoon “developed and fortified a platoon sector of the corporate protection and executed their portion of a steady protection for 3 months whereas planning and executing further offensive operations.”
Underneath his management, the report detailed, Hegseth’s platoon “cleared areas round FOB Falcon suspected of rebel exercise and denied their use to the Anti-Iraqi Forces” and “additionally carried out an air assault, high-value goal raid through which they captured an Al Qaeda in Iraq cell chief.” Hegseth and his troops moved north to Samarra, Iraq, the place “he successfully transitioned his platoon to steady offensive operations and carried out 9 days of steady fight outposts, 9 days of patrolling and a deliberate cordon and search plus quite a few time-sensitive missions,” the report learn.
“His efficiency as platoon chief has been strong. He’s greater than succesful to function independently, controlling not solely his squads but in addition air help, oblique hearth help and different exterior fight help property,” his evaluators wrote.
Pete Hegseth chatting with reporters after assembly with U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-IA, within the Russell Senate Workplace Constructing on Capitol Hill on Dec. 9, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photographs, File)
Anticipating a combat throughout Tuesday’s affirmation course of, a number of Republican lawmakers held a information convention on Capitol Hill Monday backing Hegseth.
Criticism towards Hegseth included alleged mismanagement of veteran nonprofit funds and lack of current navy expertise. He was accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a GOP convention in 2017. He was by no means criminally charged however reportedly acknowledged paying his accuser an undisclosed sum over the allegations.
“I am 110% behind Pete Hegseth,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, stated. “He might be ripped. He might be demeaned. He might be talked about. However we will get him throughout the end line.”
“The final 4 years has been an absolute catastrophe for our navy. Once more, now we have a whole lot of good individuals, a whole lot of good women and men that imagine in the USA of America. However we acquired to go ahead and now we have to have a frontrunner. All of it begins with one particular person,” Tuberville added. “We do not want a normal from the Pentagon. We have tried that. We want a drill sergeant, someone that is been in two wars, someone that understands camaraderie and staff and work ethic and time, restraint and respect.”
“I’m strongly supporting Pete Hegseth for a few causes. We’ve got essentially the most extremely educated and highly effective navy within the historical past of the planet. And we’ve not gained a warfare in 80 years,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., stated.
In Iraq, Hegseth additionally served as an assistant civil navy operations officer for a 660-man Air Assault Infantry Battalion. In response to one other report obtained by Fox Information Digital, evaluators described him as “a fully excellent officer,” who was “clever, mature and intensely gifted” and had grow to be “an amazing asset to his battillion and had contributed immensely to the BN’s efficiency in the course of the previous six months.”
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The officer analysis report went on to explain how Hegseth “led quite a few patrols and civil affairs missions and supplied distinctive help to the battalion, proving himself as a robust fight chief throughout Operation Iraqi Freedom.” His evaluators stated he “developed relationships and belief with most of the native leaders of Samarra, Iraq,” permitting him “to assist accumulate intelligence which led to the seize/killing of numerous Al Qaeda and rebel leaders.”
Pete Hegseth giving a thumbs-up alongside spouse Jennifer Hegseth, left, to fulfill with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a member of the Senate Armed Providers Committee, on the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. (AP Photograph/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
“His efficiency because the battalion assistant civil-military operations officer has been very good,” the corporate govt officer wrote of Hegseth. “He’s a confirmed fight chief who’s calm beneath hearth and leads from the entrance.”
“Peter is bodily and mentally robust, and demonstrates a degree of maturity, poise, and confidence often discovered in additional senior officers,” the report went on.
“Peter all the time accomplishes each mission to excessive requirements with minimal steering or supervision. He has limitless potential,” the evaluator added.
Hegseth equally acquired glowing suggestions when he later deployed to Afghanistan with the Minnesota Army National Guard, one other officer analysis report from 2012 confirmed.
“Excellent efficiency. CPT Pete Hegseth is the very best CPT on this command (#1 of 12),” the report says. “Pete clearly rose to the highest of his peer group by way of his distinctive management skills, initiative, and dedication to mission accomplishment. Pete labored extraordinarily laborious to be taught as a lot as he may about counterinsurgency operations, simply growing into one in every of my greatest COIN instructors. He all the time acquired excessive marks on the end-of-course critiques.”
The report referenceed Hegseth’s “private braveness and selfless service” throughout an October 2011 assault.
“Pete [led] a fast response power to help with the restoration of casualties, guaranteeing the positioning was safe and the stays have been all accounted for,” the report went on.
The evaluator stated Hegseth “ought to be given command as quickly as attainable and intently monitored to maximise his potential to profession development.”
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Hegseth acquired two Bronze Star Medals and two Military Commendation Medals, amongst different honors. He was praised for his work constructing out lesson programs and re-wiring the guidebook for the Counterinsurgency Coaching Heart-Afghanistan, taking hours to do analysis, typically throughout off-hours, and coaching NATO college students from a number of international locations.
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