The Hegseth Hazard: Keep Politics out of Defense

Pete Hegseth is both the Secretary of Defense and a partisan provocateur. That combination is perilous. It undermines legal guardrails intended to prevent political partisanship from infecting government business and erodes the military’s longstanding tradition of political impartiality.

We saw this coming. From the conservative Fox News desk to his confirmation hearing, Hegseth’s willingness to inject political rhetoric was on full display. During his hearing and in an exchange with Senator Tuberville (R-AL), Hegseth explicitly targeted civilian professors at the military service academies, arguing that the academies need more uniformed instructors and not “more civilian professors that came from the same left-wing, woke universities that they left, and then try to push that into service academies.” (Ironic side note: Hegseth himself is a product of the same “left-wing, woke universities” (Princeton/Harvard) and taught almost exclusively by the same civilian professors that he decries in this statement).

Hegseth’s statement is blatantly partisan. It implies “left-wing” ideology has no place in DOD and that “woke” civilian professors are the source of institutional rot within the academies, poisoning the minds of future military officers. Effectively, it brands anything other than right-leaning politics and perspectives as disallowed inside the defense establishment. This is an objectively partisan political statement made by – then – a nominee for a strictly nonpartisan political appointment. And nobody said anything.

This exchange signaled ideological conformity, not merit or expertise, will be required under Hegseth’s DOD. While not officially a government employee at the time, Hegseth’s testimony did not violate the Hatch Act. It did, however, signal Hegseth’s willingness to inject partisan politics into the military and indicated the trouble to come. This was not an isolated rhetorical misstep. Hegseth showed his cards. He is on crusade to cleave defense culture of a particular partisan perspective, and it didn’t stop there.

On a recent Fox News appearance, Hegseth directly blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for the government shutdown. He called it a “Chuck Schumer special,” decried Democrats’ “dumb games,” and urged Congress to act to “let the troops get back to what they do best.” These are not general statements about budget constraints; they are influential partisan barbs directed at a specific party and its leaders.

Using the authority of the defense portfolio to lob partisan blame clearly veers into Hatch Act violation territory: a government official making political statements while on duty aimed at the success or failure of a political party. Similarly, DOD rules warn against conduct that implies sponsorship or approval of partisan political agendas. Hegseth’s unequivocal derision of the democrat party casts the left as an enemy to DOD and implies DOD sponsorship of the right, in clear violation of DOD Directive 1344.10.

Some may argue that Hegseth is a presidential appointee and not a career civil servant, so the rules are looser. This is a misconception: Senate-confirmed, presidentially appointed officials remain bound by much of the Hatch Act’s restrictions, and are relieved of these restrictions only if “the costs associated with that political activity are not paid for by money derived from the Treasury of the United States.” Hegseth’s latest rant was a public address, while on duty; in other words: paid for with Treasury dollars.

We should not treat this as a trivial rhetoric quibble. The military must remain a nonpartisan instrument. DOD military and civilians alike pledge an oath to defend the Constitution—not to enforce a party line. Their careers must rest on merit, not political loyalty or ideological purity.

If Hegseth is allowed to continue converting his office into a platform for political crusades, the damage is structural. As with any organization, those working within the halls of DOD have varying political views. Hegseth’s wedge-driving of political partisanship into DOD sews the seeds of dissent and division among the ranks. Those known to their peers to have ‘misaligned’ political views will be ridiculed and cast away. Morale will fracture. Dissent will harden. Careers will rise and fall based on whether one looks, acts, and sounds like the right kind of conservative for today’s military.

Left unchecked, we will progress to a Pentagon where doctrine, promotions, and command assignments are filtered through political loyalty tests first; competence and merit a distant second. Junior officers and enlisted will toe the preferred party line to survive. Secretary Hegseth’s pattern of partisan rhetoric and blame from the podium deserves scrutiny under current law and policy. If civilian control and a nonpartisan military mean anything, we must enforce law and policy now. If not, we need to ask ourselves: to whom does the military answer – to the Republican Party or to the Constitutional Republic?

Principled Professor

P.S. the author is a professor at a military service academy; a graduate of an elite “left-wing, woke university,” a registered republican; and a veteran military officer – like many other civilian professors at the service academies. The author writes under a pseudonym due to risk of reprisal.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Department of Defense.