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Guest columnist Peter Fox
Not since Robert McNamara pushed to multiply U.S. troop levels in Vietnam from 3,000 in 1961 to more than 500,000 in 1968, leading to the deaths of nearly 60,000 service men and women, has the Department of Defense been so poorly led and in such turmoil.
It was left to his successors, Clark Clifford and Melvin Laird, to downsize American involvement until troops withdrew in early 1973. During the conflict, more than 2.5 million soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen rotated through Vietnam.
Today’s question: How can the nation evade the destructive morass Pete Hegseth put in motion thanks to encouragement from President Donald Trump and acquiescence of a silent, prostrate Republican-led Congress?
For the past year, the department has operated under a charade name — Department of War — that runs counter to what Americans have stood for over the decades: peace through strength, instead of turmoil.
Note that during Hegseth’s contentious confirmation hearing in 2025 the secretary’s position was described as “the most consequential cabinet official in an administration.”
Montana’s U.S. senators, Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy, then heaped praise upon this former junior officer who recently avoided embarrassment when the Republican-led House of Representatives abruptly took yet another vacation to avoid an impeachment resolution against him.
(Military veterans may question the phrase “junior officer” knowing that Hegseth’s highest rank was major. Well, he took his majority and soon transitioned to the Individual Ready Reserve, never completing Command and General Staff College or any other mid- to senior-level military education. Make your own decision.)
Set aside his 36% public approval on being considered for the Cabinet position, checkered Fox cable TV and personal life including alcohol abuse and impregnating his third wife while they were both married to others, her unprecedented presence and influence in his official business, the “Signalgate” classified information fiasco, the iron gate he has dropped on Pentagon news coverage and his whimsical evisceration of the 164-year-old Stars and Stripes military newspaper, his fixation on testosterone levels, and his sneering disrespect for congressmen and reporters who question him.
What cannot be forgotten, though, is the long-term harm to our nation’s top military leadership in all branches with abrupt firings of nearly two dozen highly respected senior officers and civilian leaders, the brakes he has applied to more than 80 promising field grade officers by removing them from promotion lists historically built on personal merit for higher responsibility — all carried out with no explanation to the American public, terming his actions a “non-story.” For what reasons could Hegseth have had for firing Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. CQ Brown Jr., Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George?
“Purge” is not too strong a word.
These profound decisions came from a man who completed the Army’s minimal officer qualification courses as a National Guard officer with about three years on active duty and who later quit in a fit of temper. Upon what knowledge or experience does he draw for his decision making? Basically, it seems, his judgmental view of the world.
Prior to beginning to suffer his significant health issues, GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell drew upon his long Senate experience in reviewing presidential Cabinet appointments. He said this to Hegseth:
“Stewardship of the United States Armed Forces, and of the complex bureaucracy that exists to support them, is a massive and solemn responsibility.
“Mere desire to be a ‘change agent’ is not enough.”
Is there a modern Clark Clifford or Melvin Laird in the wings to follow Hegseth?