‘Do a Little Homework’: Senator Mocks Pete Hegseth for Flunking General Knowledge Test

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) mocked Defense Secretary-designate Pete Hegseth for flunking a general knowledge test during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, urging him to “do a little homework” before he takes on his responsibilities at the Pentagon.

After declaring that “the American people need a SecDef who’s ready to lead on day one” and that Hegseth is “not that person,” Duckworth assailed Hegseth’s record leading veterans organizations.

Then she got around to a general knowledge test that she had evidently prepared for the nominee:

DUCKWORTH: The secretary of defense is required to make quick decisions every single day that will-, with high-level information that’s being provided for them. A secretary defense has to have breadth and depth of knowledge. Right now, I am concerned that you have neither. Mr. Hegseth, what is the highest level of international negotiations that you have engaged  in, that you have led in? Because the secretary of defense does lead international security negotiations? There are three main ones that the secretary of Defense leads and signs. Can you name at least one of them?

HEGSETH: Could you repeat the question, Senator?

DUCKWORTH: Sure. What is the highest level of international security agreement that you have led? And can you name some that the secretary of defense would lead? There are three main ones.

HEGSETH: That have not been involved in international security arrangements because I have not been in government other than serving in the military. So my job has been to-

DUCKWORTH: So no. The answer’s-, Name one of the three main ones that the secretary of defense signs.

HEGSETH: If you’re talking about defense arrangements, NATO might be one that you’re referring to.

DUCKWORTH: Status of Forces agreement would be one of them.

HEGSETH: Status of forces agreement. I’ve been a part of teaching about Status of Forces agreement inside Afghanistan.

DUCKWORTH: But you don’t remember to mention it. You’re not qualified, Mr. Hegseth. You’re not qualified. You talk about repairing our defense industrial complex. You’re not qualified to DO that. You could do the acquisition and cross-servicing agreements, which essentially are security agreements. You can’t even mention that, you’ve done none of those. You talked about the Indo-Pacific a little bit, and I’m glad that you mention it. I’ll mention it. Can you name the importance of at least one of the nations in the ASEAN, in ASEAN, and what type of agreement we have with at least one of those nations, and how many nations are in ASEAN, by the way?

HEGSETH: I couldn’t tell you the exact amount of nations in that, but I know we have allies in South Korea, and Japan, and in AUKUS with Australia, and trying to work  on submarines with them and-

DUCKWORTH: None of those countries are in ASEAN. 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. Listen, Mr. Hegseth, we ask our troops to go into harm’s way all the time. We ask them to go into harm’s way. And this behind me is a copy of The Soldier’s Creed, a copy that usually hangs over my desk here in the Senate, and you should be familiar with it. It’s a same copy that hung over my desk at Walter Reed every single day that I woke up and fought my way back because I wanted to go back and serve next to my buddies who’d saved my life. These same, this same copy, these words I repeated over and over and over again. And let me read out two things to you, two sentences. I will always place the mission first. And I am disciplined physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior task. Mr. Hegseth, our troops follow these words every single day, and they man up, and they pack their rucksacks, and they go to war, and they deserve a leader who can lead them, not a leader who wants to lower the standards for himself while raising the standards for other people. And by the way, our troops already meet the standards. We asked troops to man that ship, fight that fire, fly that helicopter until the very last breath. And they do that every single day. They cannot be led by someone who is not competent to do the job. How can we ask these warriors to train and perform the absolute highest standards when you are asking us to lower the standards to make you the secretary of defense simply because you are buddies with our president-elect? And by the way, he has filed for bankruptcy six times. I’m not quite sure he’s the kind of CEO you want to refer to as a successful businessman.

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