President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense. Hegseth is a combat veteran who served as an Army infantry officer in Iraq and later deployed to Afghanistan with the Minnesota National Guard. 

Hegseth is best known for his veterans advocacy as executive director of political advocacy groups Vets For Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America.

🚨BREAKING: President Trump has named PETE HEGSETH to be his new Secretary of Defense.

Pete is an amazing patriot who loves America and our troops. Phenomenal pick.

And yes, this is 100% real, folks. pic.twitter.com/J9l1jdV1zA

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 13, 2024

The Trump transition team goes out of its way to mention his New York Times best-selling book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free. According to the press release, the book tells "how we must return our Military to meritocracy, lethality, accountability, and excellence." That seems to work well with Trump's planned "warrior board" to remove the woke deadwood from the Armed Forces; see Trump Preparing Executive Order to Cull the Military of Woke Generals and Admirals.

As refreshing as Hegseth's devotion to our fighting force is the fact that he is bucking the, in my opinion, dysfunctional fad of selected retired four-star generals to serve in that position. Institutions don't reform themselves through the efforts of people who have succeeded under the status quo; they need an outsider to do that.

Update —

Following the announcement, Fox News issued the following statement:

“Pete Hegseth has been an exceptional host on FOX & Friends and FOX Nation and a best-selling author for FOX News Books for nearly a decade. His insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers and made the program the major success that it is today. We are extremely proud of his work at FOX News Media and wish him the best of luck in Washington.”