Tammy Duckworth Tells Secretary Hegseth To His Face That His 'Failures' Have Been 'Staggering'

Forbes Breaking News

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) questioned Sec. Pete Hegseth about his usage of the US military in the US.

Transcript

00:00Senator Duckworth.

00:01Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:02In response to my colleague from Oklahoma,

00:05I believe the Secretary of Defense has just responded last week

00:08and admitted that the $1 billion mission that he led against the Houthis,

00:13who do not have a Navy,

00:15has not restored the transit of U.S. flag commercial vessels through the Red Sea

00:19and, in fact, has resulted in the loss of two F-18 Hornets

00:23to the tune of $60 million apiece,

00:27as well as I believe the last count was seven Reaper drones

00:31to the tune of another $200 million.

00:33You are blowing through money like my fellow cadets and I did

00:38in our first liberty after basic camp.

00:40Luckily, I didn't end up with a questionable tattoo.

00:43Your failures, Mr. Secretary, since you've taken office, has been staggering.

00:47You sent classified operational information over signal to chest thump in front of your wife,

00:51who, by the way, has no security clearance,

00:53risking service member lives in the process.

00:55You blew the $1 billion fight against the Houthis,

01:00whom, again, as my colleague says, has no Navy,

01:02and yet you lost all of those aircraft.

01:05You've created such a hostile command environment

01:07that no one wants to serve as your chief of staff

01:09or work with you in other senior DOD leadership roles.

01:12But what we should all be talking about,

01:14more than all of this,

01:15is that you have an unjustified, un-American misuse of the military

01:19in American cities,

01:20pulling resources and attention away from core missions

01:23to the detriment of the country, the warfighters,

01:25and, yes, the warfighting that you claim to love.

01:28I don't know if this is because you are too inexperienced

01:31and incompetent to understand the real threats facing our country

01:33or if it's because you are just an unqualified yes-man

01:37who can't tell the president how to keep Americans safe.

01:39You are focusing on renaming bases for Confederate generals.

01:43You said just now to Senator King that to a man and to a woman,

01:47we would rather be associated with the old Confederate names.

01:50Well, I am one of those women.

01:52I served at Fort Rucker, Alabama,

01:54a base that was named for a traitor

01:56who took arms against the United States of America,

01:59led troops who killed Americans.

02:01It was renamed for Mike Novosel,

02:03a Medal of Honor recipient,

02:04who, in his citation for the Medal of Honor,

02:07includes that he saved 29 American lives,

02:10to include hovering backwards in a helicopter

02:13towards an enemy bunker

02:15where a wounded American was laying

02:18and saved that person,

02:20including after being taken fire himself.

02:23I know a little something about what it takes

02:25to fly a helicopter when you've been hit by enemy fire.

02:28That was heroic.

02:28I'd rather be associated with Mike Novosel

02:30than a failed Confederate traitor.

02:33I don't know whether you are inexperienced

02:36or too incompetent,

02:37but I wonder when you will actually focus

02:39on our nation's warfighting mission.

02:42We know that California is just a deliberate,

02:45systematic, political, and dangerous campaign

02:46led by you.

02:48We should not be using our military

02:49to pay cops against Americans.

02:52General Cain, as chairman,

02:53a key part of your job is to coordinate military planning

02:55across the joint force.

02:57Is the department currently incorporating

02:58into any military plans

03:00expanding the use of the reserve forces

03:02to include the National Guard

03:03or active duty troops

03:04to support domestic law enforcement,

03:06including in other locations

03:07in the United States?

03:11Senator, you know, we care for...

03:15No, General.

03:16Well, it's not really a yes or no question,

03:19Madam Senator.

03:20We plan all kinds of different things.

03:23I think it is a yes or no question.

03:24I'm not aware of anything,

03:25but the reason why I'm answering

03:26is the tags may be looking at something

03:28that I'm not aware of.

03:30What are you doing at your level?

03:31You're not aware of that being happening

03:32at your level?

03:33Because we know that on his first day,

03:35President Trump directed

03:36U.S. Northern Command

03:37to revise its unified command plan

03:39to add new planning requirements

03:40to combat, and I quote,

03:41criminal activities.

03:43A series of follow-up executive orders

03:44continue to redirect DOD priorities

03:47to supporting domestic law enforcement,

03:49including one in April

03:50that tells DOD, and I quote,

03:52use national security assets

03:53for law and order.

03:54In other words,

03:55do law enforcement's job.

03:57I'd like to enter these executive orders

03:58into the record, Mr. Chairman.

04:00Is there objection?

04:02Without objection, so are you.

04:03Secretary Hexeth,

04:04you say you are focused

04:05on warfighting and warriors.

04:07These are your words.

04:09Yet you are diverting

04:10untold DOD resources

04:11and attention

04:12to fundamentally non-military mission

04:13of domestic policing.

04:15Across the country,

04:16we have qualified police officers

04:17who are trained for that mission.

04:19They know those streets

04:20better than the Marines

04:21you deploy to Los Angeles,

04:22who normally focus

04:23on the Indo-Pacific.

04:24And you recently approved

04:26700 more troops

04:27in three other states

04:28to do admin and logistics works

04:29for ICE.

04:30You say all of this

04:31is valuable training,

04:32but I would much rather

04:33have our troops

04:34do tough, realistic training

04:35relevant to high-end combat.

04:38Instead of typing in spreadsheets

04:39for ICE,

04:40they should be conducting

04:41live fire maneuver exercises.

04:43Instead of patrolling

04:44American neighborhoods

04:45and standing in front

04:46of federal buildings,

04:47they should be rehearsing

04:48call for fire missions.

04:49We have local police

04:50who can stand in front

04:51of those federal buildings.

04:52And the list of distractions

04:53goes on.

04:54You are encouraging

04:55the DoD workforce

04:56to go work for DHS

04:57in increasing numbers.

04:59You're pulling the military

04:59away from facing

05:00foreign enemies

05:01who literally say things

05:02like death to America.

05:04And you're putting troops

05:06with weapons

05:07aimed at Americans.

05:08Mr. Secretary,

05:09let the military

05:10get back to its real job.

05:11Stop forwarding them

05:12to do DHSs.

05:13And if you want to be

05:14DHS Secretary,

05:15maybe you can apply

05:16for that job

05:16when you're fired

05:17from this one

05:17due to your incompetence.

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