Pete Hegseth: The New US Secretary of Defense and His Path to the Pentagon

The new US Secretary of Defense, 44-year-old Pete Hegseth, known as a former Fox News host, veteran and US National Guard officer, took office after being sworn in on January 25 of this year. Before that, he headed the Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America organizations.

According to The New York Times, the confirmation process for Hegseth was extremely tense in the Senate, where the vote ended in a 50-50 tie, with the decisive vote of Vice President James David Vance, who added the last vote in support of the candidacy.

Many senators, including Democrats and Republicans, expressed their doubts about Hegseth's qualifications to lead the famous military department with a budget of 1 trillion dollars. Up until that point, the largest budget that Hegseth had managed was only $16 million, and the largest team he had led had only 100 people.

The vote to appoint Hegseth, which ended with a narrow margin (51 to 50), was the most dramatic in the history of the confirmation of the head of the Pentagon since the position was created in 1947. Usually, candidates with significant experience in managing large organizations and broad support from both political parties were appointed to this position.

Before the vote, another scandal arose, related to Hegseth's confession before the Senate Armed Services Committee about paying $50,000 in compensation to a woman who accused him of sexual assault. He denied the allegations, calling them "an embarrassment" and entered into a confidentiality agreement with the accused to avoid any impact on his career.

Despite these difficulties, Hegset appeared before the committee and answered questions about the incident that left his career as a broadcaster in the public eye.