At a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) questioned Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth about his morals.
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00:00We are now recognized as a gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Crowe.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Chairman Cain, Secretary Hegseth, and Mrs. McDonnell.
00:09You're doing a great job today, Mrs. McDonnell.
00:13Secretary Hegseth, we have a lot of things in common. In fact, our careers started the same way.
00:19We were both infantry officers. We were both platoon leaders.
00:24We both deployed our platoons to combat in a counter-surgency environment.
00:29There are very few better leadership training grounds than that experience,
00:33and it's that experience that I want to transport us back into, back to Lieutenant Hegseth and Lieutenant Crowe.
00:42There are a lot of things that make a leader and that make a unit effective.
00:46Would you say that unit cohesion is important?
00:52Unit cohesion, amongst many, is very important, yes, sir.
00:55It's an important element.
00:56And part of that is making sure that all members of your unit felt included in that team, correct?
01:03Far more important that every member of that unit felt capable to do the mission and united in that mission.
01:08But that they were included and felt part of the team as well.
01:11I wouldn't use the word inclusion, sir, but yes, they were cohering as a team, yes.
01:15And that you reduce tension and infighting and points of tension between your platoon members
01:20so that you can focus on the mission.
01:22That was a part of the regular job.
01:23Absolutely.
01:25That's why I've said that our diversity is our strength is the single dumbest phrase in military history.
01:30And words, words are important.
01:32Because our unity is our strength.
01:33And so unity amongst members, despite differences of backgrounds, race, whatever that is.
01:38And I agree with you on that.
01:40We are together on a mission.
01:40And words, part of that is words are important and setting the tone is important, correct?
01:46When you're a leader.
01:47All aspects of leadership.
01:49Mostly leading by example.
01:50Did you ever tell them your political affiliation?
01:53Did you ever tell your platoon members your political affiliation?
01:57We certainly discussed lots of topics and I'm sure my political affiliation.
02:00Did you ever ask them theirs?
02:02No, their political affiliation was never a concern to me.
02:09Because it's important that everybody feel included and that people weren't excluded, correct?
02:15That would be antithetical to me.
02:17I'm sure my platoon contained Republicans, Democrats, and Independents,
02:21and I had no idea what their affiliation was.
02:23Okay, that was actually my next question, so I appreciate you answering that.
02:26You led your unit in a counterinsurgency environment and you interacted with civilians, correct?
02:34Interacted with members of the civilian population in Iraq, sure.
02:37And you were in fact a COIN instructor, a counterinsurgency instructor, correct?
02:41In Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012, I was the senior counterinsurgency instructor.
02:46And you signed off on a manual.
02:47There's actually a counterinsurgency manual that you signed off on and helped create.
02:51And your name is on that manual, correct?
02:53We were a part of creating a lot of content at the COIN Academy, yes.
02:57Do you remember this portion of the manual?
03:01It says, if you've killed two innocents, you've set yourself back more than you've moved forward.
03:07Do you still agree with that?
03:10I would have to take a look at the manual, but obviously no one in warfare is seeking to kill innocents.
03:15Okay.
03:17Because it's important to show why we're different from the enemy.
03:21Because we're not the enemy.
03:23Right?
03:23We're different from our adversary.
03:24Would you agree with that?
03:25We have different morals and different values.
03:28We are not the enemy, sir.
03:30We have different morals and we have different values than the enemy.
03:33We have a code, a uniform code of military justice.
03:36The answer to that is yes.
03:37You're not trying to compare us to al-Qaeda and ISIS, are you?
03:40We're different.
03:41I know the code of the United States military and army that I signed up for.
03:46You can't tell me whether we're different?
03:48I raise my right hand.
03:48You're not willing to say we're different?
03:49Of course we're different.
03:50Okay.
03:51It's absurd.
03:51That's why I'm trying to reconcile the fact that we learned many of the same lessons as
03:58platoon leaders.
04:00About unicohesion, making sure that people were included, that we didn't ask people's
04:05political affiliation, that we interacted respectfully with civilian populations, that what a leader
04:11says matters, that the tone you set matters, that we are not the enemy, that we are different
04:18from them, we lead differently, we have different morals.
04:21How can I reconcile that experience and those lessons learned from Lieutenant Hegseth to now
04:27Secretary Hegseth, where you say things like what you just saw here, making us equivalent
04:35on the same standards as our adversaries, doing the same things that ISIS and al-Qaeda would
04:41do.
04:42How can you possibly reconcile that?
04:45I can't.
04:46And just the other day, down at Fort Bragg, in our beloved 82nd Airborne Division, sitting
04:51there, while we politicize the military and pull our paratroopers into politics, booing
04:57elected officials, booing politicians with whom you disagree, it's antithetical to our values
05:02and you, sir, have changed.
05:04The gentleman's time is expired.
05:05Chair, now I recognize the gentleman.