Prospective US defence secretary fails to name a single Asean state at confirmation hearing

On Jan. 14, Pete Hegseth, United States President-Elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense faced members of the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing.

Although Hegseth has been a controversial choice, he appears to have passed the hearings and now looks likely to be confirmed by the full Senate, barring unexpected defections by Republican senators.

Acrimonous confirmation hearing

Hegseth rose to prominence as a pro-Trump host for the conservative Fox News channel.

He also served in the Minnesota National Guard as an infantry officer, and did several tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, retiring as a major.

The 44-year-old is a prominent Trump backer, but since the announcement of his nomination in November 2024, Hegseth has faced a significant amount of criticism, which was reflected in an acrimonious confirmation hearing.

Individuals picked to be cabinet secretaries for U.S. presidents are required to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and are usually questioned by members of a related committee.

These hearings are usually rigorous, and failure to be approved by the committee is usually seen as a blow to an incoming president's prestige. It is rare to put up a nominee that will not definitely get through a hearing.

While Hegseth largely got a pass from Republican members of the committee, Democratic members did not shy away from levelling a number of accusations related to his past personal conduct, his opinion on women and homosexual people serving in the military, and whether he was experienced enough to be defence secretary.

Warrior culture

In his opening speech, Hegseth thanked military veterans for literally and figuratively “having his back”, and promised to do the same for them.

He promised to return a “warrior culture” to the Department of Defense, and that he wanted a “Pentagon laser focused on warfighting, lethality, meritocracy, standards, and readiness”.

In addition, he intended to “re-establish deterrence” and would “work with [the U.S.'] partners and allies (emphasis in the original) to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific from the communist Chinese.”

It was this line that was picked up on by Senator from Illinois and fellow military veteran Tammy Duckworth, who notably lost both her legs while piloting helicopters in Iraq.

One of Duckworth’s line of questions targeted uncertainty about Hegseth’s readiness to take on the role of Secretary of Defense, asking him to name the three types of international agreements that the Secretary of Defense would be required to negotiate, something that Hegseth appeared unable to do.

"I couldn't tell you..."

But in what will be alarming for Southeast Asian policymakers, Duckworth asked Hegseth — especially after he mentioned the Indo-Pacific in his opening statement — to name nations in Asean and state their importance to the U.S., what type of agreements the U.S. had with at least one of those nations, then lowering the bar, simply asked how many nations were in Asean.

.@SenDuckworth asks Pete Hegseth about ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations): "None of those three countries that you've mentioned are in ASEAN. I suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations." pic.twitter.com/C2qsQkBUi3

— CSPAN (@cspan) January 14, 2025

Hegseth began his answer with “I couldn’t tell you the exact amount of nations…”

Duckworth spoke over him saying “No you couldn’t, because you can’t even bother to…”

Hegseth pressed on with his answer, “... but I know we have allies in South Korea, and Japan, and in AUKUS with Australia trying to work on submarines with them.”

AUKUS is a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK, and the U.S.

Duckworth cut in: “Mr. Hegseth, none of those three countries that you mention are in Asean, I suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations.”

LMGTFY - Asean

Some social media users, clearly Googling Asean for the first time, did not realise the numerous defence arrangements that Asean members, and Asean itself, had with the U.S.

The U.S. is treaty allies with not one, but two Asean nations, namely Thailand and the Philippines. The U.S. has a mutual defence treaty with the latter.

This is not to mention the Strategic Framework Agreement that the U.S. has with Singapore, which has allowed the country to be a significant logistics hub for the U.S. Navy.

Asean also coordinates its own defense arrangements through platforms such as the Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting, and through the Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus, also interacts with regional partners.

The meeting was attended by the U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in November 2024.

Largely unscathed

Democratic senators also attempted to put Hegseth’s feet to the fire on comments he had previously made about the role of women in combat, as well as drinking and womanising, including allegations of sexual assault. These were allegations Hegseth denied and that did not result in charges.

Reuters reported that Hegseth “emerged largely unscathed” from the hearing and that he was even backed by Republican Senator Joni Ernst, who “holds sway in her party”.

Republicans, with their 53 seats, hold control of the Senate, and look likely to confirm Hegseth, even if all Democrats and Independents reject him.

A narrow win would be unusual for positions such as the Secretary of Defense.

The incumbent, former General Lloyd Austin, was confirmed 93-2. Trump’s own first Secretary of Defense, former Marine general Jim Mattis, was confirmed 98-1.

Top image via CSPAN