Pete Hegseth

Peter Brian Hegseth was born on June 6, 1980, in Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the north-central United States and the most northerly of the 48 contiguous states; its capital is St. Paul and its largest city is Minneapolis. It was admitted to the Union on May 11, 1858, as the 32nd state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 5,706,494.Open the full entry.⁠[1]

Hegseth has said that he first put on the uniform in 2001 as an Army ROTC cadet at Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private university and Ivy League member in Princeton, New Jersey. Chartered on October 22, 1746 as the College of New Jersey, it moved to Princeton in 1756 and adopted its present name in 1896. Undergraduate education leads to A.B. and B.S.E. degrees and emphasizes small-group discussion, independent research and residential college life. Graduate education spans the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering. As of October 2026, Christopher L. Eisgruber was president. Its 2026–27 operating budget was $3.407 billion, including $342 million for undergraduate aid.Open the full entry. At Princeton he ran the conservative student publication The Princeton Tory, and he received a B.A. in politics in 2003.⁠[2][1]

After graduating, Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army National Guard. He took part in active-duty deployments to Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan and held several National Guard staff positions. His awards include two Bronze Star Medals, the Joint Commendation Medal, two Army Commendation Medals, the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Expert Infantryman Badge.⁠[3][4]

He served as executive director of the veterans’ organization Vets for Freedom and as CEO of Concerned Veterans for America, which he left in 2016. In 2013 he earned a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private research university in Massachusetts, established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony legislature in 1636 and named in 1639 for early benefactor John Harvard. Its principal campuses are in Cambridge and the Allston and Longwood neighborhoods of Boston. It includes Harvard College, graduate and professional schools, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Two governing boards share oversight. Alan M. Garber was president as of October 2026, and the endowment stood at $56.9 billion at the end of fiscal 2025.Open the full entry.⁠[1]

Hegseth joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014, became a co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend in 2017 and also hosted on Fox & Friends and Fox Nation.⁠[5]

He has written five books, including American Crusade (2020) and the New York Times best-seller The War on Warriors (2024).⁠[3][1]

On November 12, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced Hegseth as his choice to lead the Department of Defense; Hegseth stepped away from his Fox News role immediately afterward.⁠[5][1]

On January 14, 2025, the Senate Committee on Armed Services held a confirmation hearing on Hegseth’s expected nomination in Room SD-G50 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. In his opening statement he set out three priorities—restoring the “Warrior Ethos” to the Pentagon, rebuilding the military and reestablishing deterrence—and summed up his aim as “Peace Through Strength.”⁠[6][2]

On January 24, 2025, the Senate held roll-call vote No. 15 on Hegseth’s nomination; with the yeas and nays tied at 50–50, Vice President JD VanceJD VanceJD Vance (born 1984) is an American politician and author, a Republican who served as a U.S. senator from Ohio and has been the 50th vice president of the United States since 2025.Open the full entry voted in the affirmative and the nomination was confirmed. Republican senators Susan CollinsSusan CollinsSusan Collins (born 1952) is an American Republican politician who has represented Maine in the U.S. Senate since 1997 and chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. Seeking a sixth term in November 2026, she conceded to Democrat Troy Jackson on November 4.Open the full entry, Mitch McConnell and Lisa Murkowski voted against. It was only the second time a vice president had broken a tie on a cabinet nomination, the first being Mike PenceMike PenceMike Pence (born 1959) is an American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013, as Governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017, and as the 48th Vice President of the United States from 2017 to 2021.Open the full entry’s vote for Betsy DeVos as education secretary.⁠[7][8]

Hegseth was sworn in on January 25, 2025, as the 29th U.S. secretary of defense, at the head of the U.S. Department of Defense.⁠[3][1]

On September 5, 2025, Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14347, “Restoring the United States Department of War,” authorizing the secretary of defense to use the secondary title Secretary of War and allowing the Department of Defense and the Office of the Secretary of Defense to be called the Department of War and the Office of the Secretary of War in specified contexts. The order directed the Secretary of War to notify Congress within 30 days of the components using the new designation and, within 60 days, to recommend the legislative and executive actions needed to rename the department permanently; statutory references to the Department of Defense and the secretary of defense remain controlling until Congress changes them.⁠[9][3]

As of November 2026, the White House cabinet page lists Hegseth as Secretary of War; the official biography submitted for the House Armed Services Committee hearing of April 29, 2026, also identifies him as Secretary of War.⁠[10][4]

Office of the Secretary of Defense Historical Office: Official website: https://history.defense.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[3]

The White House: Official website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[10]