defense companies backed by venture capital receive less than 1% of defense contracts. as we know, the pentagon still cannot pass an audit. the department must simplify and streamline its bureaucracies so that it can respond to innovation. staffs have ballooned. organizations are top-heavy. civilian leaders have promised time and again this limb down the bureaucracy, and perhaps genuinely hoped to. every day men and women in uniform make tremendous contributions to u.s. security. they and the american people deserve a pentagon that does the same. today's department of defense is no longer prepared for great power competition. it is not a national defense institution ready to achieve and sustain technological supremacy across the range of operations. admittedly, this nomination is unconventional. the nominee is unconventional, just like that new york developer who rode down the escalator in 2015 to announce his candidacy for president. that may be what makes mr. hegseth an excellent choice to improve this unacceptable status quo that i just described. he is a decorated p

look at missile defense.ith examples from 2024 including a successful demonstration of ballistic missile defense and successful tests by multiple services using hyper velocity gun weapons systems projectiles to intercept missiles and drones at much lower cost per shot ratios. for munitions, we embraced a diverse portfolio of long-range fire including subsonic, supersonic, hypersonic and newer, lower cost long-range munitions. we do not treat munitions as a voltaire. when you compare the last four defense budgets at aggregate munitions investments grew by over 30%. with bipartisan support for multiyear procurement of munitions we expand limits maximizing procurement of munitions most relevant for the indo pacific, tomahawk's come long-range antiship and joint air to surface missiles and much more. additionally, we continued our long-term investments in modernizing america's nuclear triad. that is important. strategic deterrence is a no field mission. we have also focused on complementing our exquisite, world-c

writing a book is different than being secretary of defense. and i look forward to leading the men and women of our military. and my comment there, senator, was about the burdensome rules of engagement that members of our of our generation, men and women, have seen on the battlefield. and one thing president trump changed in meaningful ways that led to meaningful developments on the battlefield. when president trump took control in the first term, isis was raging across iraq. and as someone who spent a lot of time there with, with, with other men and women who invested in that mission, it was a very difficult moment to see the black flag of isis fly. and what president trump did, i appreciate untie the hands of war fighters today. he changed the rules of engagement, untied the hands of war fighters and allowed them to complete their mission and crush isis. it has not just tactical implications, operational and strategic implications, how you allow war fighters to go about winning and fighting their wars. president trump understands that. and wi

defense. two months ago, 77 million americans gave president trump a powerful mandate for change. to put america first at home and abroad. i want to thank president trump for his faith in me and his selfless leadership for our republic. the troops have no better commander in chief than donald trump. as i've said to many of you in private meetings, when president trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me was to bring the warrior culture back to the department of defense. he, like me, wants a pentagon laser focused on lethality, meritocracy, warfighting accountability, and readiness. makes us better prepared to fight their own. >> guys. and. money to try and. >> you may continue, sir. >> returning the pentagon back to warfighting. that's it. that's my job. >> mr. hegseth, suspend your remarks. let me just say this. the capitol police are going to remove immediately individuals that are disrupting the hearing. i see a pattern of attempted. to be inflicted on the committee. a

answer the main -- >> defense arrangements. nato might be one that you're referring to. >> status of forces agreement would be one of them. >> status of forces agreement. i've been a part of teaching about status of forces agreement. >> 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 are security agreements. you can't mention that. you've done none of those. you talked about the indo-pacific a bit, and i'm glad that you mentioned it. can you name the importance of at least one of the nations in nations in asean and what type of agreement we have with the nations and how many nations are in asean. >> i can't tell you -- >> no, you don't. >> we have allies in south korea and in japan and aukus with australia trying to work on submarines with them. >> mr. hegseth, none of those countries are in asean. >> none of the countries are i

budget and defense capabilities. so they're having to choose between the political prerogatives of the civilians who are demanding more dei and crt and gender quotas and the readiness of their forces. and i believe this pentagon is prepared because of our commander in chief for a secretary of defense. should i be confirmed? that focuses laser focuses on these issues and they're ready to respond. they want to pack their rucksacks and go train because they understand we live in a dangerous world. >> i think that's an important point, a key point, because months later, while the priority of the biden austin led pentagon was on dei and woke training, one of the biggest embarrassments in american history happened when we lost 13 of our heroes in botched withdrawal from afghanistan. secretary austin testified before the house armed services committee a couple of years ago, and, responding to a question from me, said he had, quote, no regrets about what happened in afghanistan. i wonder, what do you make of that, senator? >

defense companies backed by venture capital receive less than 1% of defense contracts. as we all know, the pentagon still cannot even pass an audit. the department must simplify and streamline its bureaucracy so it can respond to. innovation. staffs have ballooned. organizations are top heavy. civilian leaders have promised time and again to slim down the bureaucracy and perhaps genuinely hoped to. every day, men and women in uniform make tremendous contributions to u.s. security. they and the american people deserve a pentagon that does the same. today's department of defense is no longer prepared for great power competition. it is not a national defense institution ready to achieve and sustain technological supremacy across the range of operations. admittedly, this nomination is unconventional. the nominee is. unconventional, just like that new york developer who rode down the escalator in 2015 to announce his candidacy. candidacy for president. that may be what makes mr. hegseth an excellent choice to improve this unacceptable status quo that i just described. he is

pete hegseth to be secretary of defense. in light of the continued suffering and death in and around los angeles california -- los angeles, california, i will ask my colleagues and those in the audience to observe a moment of silence. amen. . thank you. i want to take this opportunity to thank my good friend, ranking member jack reed. this is my first opportunity to chair this committee and congress. i want to sank -- thank senator reed. he cares deeply about national security and about the united states of america. particularly, the men and women who stand watch here and around the world to protect united states. i want to thank you for the many courtesies you have extended to meet in the past and i look forward to working with you again in a bipartisan fashion in this congress. it is appropriate to recognize and welcome three senators attending their very first senate armed services committee hearing as members. senator banks of indiana, senator sheehy of montana and senator slotkin of michigan. we are excited to have you

it now fields advanced western air defense capabilities. and it produces and operates state-of-the-art unmanned systems. all of this position's ukraine to defeat russian aggression today and to deter russian aggression tomorrow. and so our work has changed the course of history. now i am deeply proud of the assistance that the united states has provided to ukraine and president biden's support for ukraine is never flag and ukraine has also had strong bipartisan support in congress. since february of 2022 we have stayed laser focused on providing ukraine's defenders with the capabilities that they have needed at each stage of the fight. first artillery and rockets have been fundamental to this war. since 2022 the united states has provided ukraine with more than 2 million artillery round in more than 20,000 rockets all while maintaining the readiness of our own forces. second, we relentlessly pushed to provide ukraine with air defense systems and missiles to defend the skies it cities and civilians. third, the department is working to suppor

we can't tolerate it at the department of defense. that's an organization with a budget of $850 billion. not ten or 15 million, which was the case at those two organizations. and it has command responsibility for 3.4 million americans, the highest number that you managed in those two organizations was maybe 50 people. let me ask you, how many men and women now serve in the united states army? >> senator, i would like an opportunity to respond to the impugning of that organization. concerning veterans of america. i appreciate your service on the v.a. committee. the v.a. accountability act and the mission act were all brain childs of concerned veit veterans for america. used donor money focused to create policy that better evidence the lives of veterans. >> i'm asking you a very simple question. how many men and women currently serve in the united states arm eave? >> the united states army, 450,000 on active duty. >> how many in the navy? >> navy is 425, sir. >> 337 this year. how many in the marine corps? >> 175,000, sir. >> 172,300. t

we have to invest in its modernization for the defense of our nation. >> former secretaries of defense have stated that nuclear deter earns is the highest priority. we haven't seen that translated into budget requests. or using the tools like the defense production act. you've spoken about increasing lethality. you have spoken about getting programs done faster. how would you actually implement a culture change so that we can see these delivery schedules move forward, be rewarded? i can tell you in most every briefing we have, the schedules were on or too late. what would you do? >> focus first on the things that are most important, as we have discussed, senator, nuclear triad, understanding whether it's the b-21 or minute man to the sentinel. columbia class, submarines, ballistic missiles. what are the pry or tifs that need to be focused he on and insure in those cases the defense production act, emergency powers. if we are at a place where our nuclear capabilities are perceived to be not what they are, that's an emergency and we have an ally in our incoming commander-in-chief in pres

, budget and defense capabilities. so they're having to choose between the political prerogatives of the civilians who are demanding more dei and crt and gender quotas and the readiness of their forces. and i believe this pentagon is prepared because of our commander in chief for a secretary of defense. should i be confirmed? that focuses laser focuses on these issues and they're ready to respond. they want to pack their rucksacks and go train because they understand we live in a dangerous world. >> i think that's an important point, a key point, because months later, while the priority of the biden austin led pentagon was on dei and woke training, one of the biggest embarrassments in american history happened when we lost 13 of our heroes in the botched withdrawal from afghanistan. secretary austin testified before the house armed services committee a couple of years ago, and, responding to a question from me, said he had, quote, no regrets about what happened in afghanistan. i wonder, what do you make of that, senato

you have not earned place as secretary of defense. you say you care about keeping our armed forces storm and you like better armed forces is a meritocracy, then let's not the lower the standard. you are a no go. >> thank you. senator duckworth. i would like to submit for the record a letter submitted by mr. grimes marriott that says anyone who would claim that pete mismanaged fund at that separate is the good of the facts. without objection it will be permitted to the record. senator budd. >> thank you, chairman wicker and congrats on your chairmanship for this committee. thank you for your leadershipf and handling of this picky doing a great job. so i want to also submit for the record a letter submitted by mr. daniel california operations manager for veterans of freedom. his letter states mr. hegseth and he conducted weekly meetings to meticulous review every dollar that organization spent. his hands on approach and dedication to financial responsibility insureds that's for free to operate within the budget. his letters also states

defense. so please explain these types of statements because they're brutal and they're mean, and they disrespect men and women who are willing to die for this country. >> well, senator, i appreciate your your comments. and i would point out i have never disparaged women serving in the military. i respect every single female service member that has put on the uniform, past and present my critiques, senator, recently and in the past and from personal experience have been instances where i've seen standards lowered. and you mentioned 11 alpha, 11 bravo, mos places in units and it the book that has been referenced referenced multiple times here, the war on warriors. i spent months talking to active duty service members, men and women, low ranks, high ranks, a combat arms and not combat arms. and what each and every one of them told me, and which personal instances have shown me, is that in ways direct, indirect, overt, and subtle standards have been changed inside infantry training units, ranger

remember, bill, term, obama cut defense spending by 25%. crushed military readiness and president trump came in working with republican senators and we rebuilt the military. joe biden has done the same thing, four years in a row despite a very dangerous world joe biden has put forward inflation adjusted defense department cuts and president trump ran on peace through strength. that's what we are going to do with him and pete hegseth. i think that's what the american people want. it is a dangerous world. we don't need a woke military, we need a lethal and stronger military. >> dana: president biden gave a speech yesterday he is leaving president trump a really good situation on the world stage. watch him here. >> president biden: kamala and i took office our nation had become stronger at home, stronger in the world and now america is more capable and i would argue better prepared than we've been in a long, long time. over the next administration that is what we're handing it to. even so it's clear, my administration is leaving the next admin

our defense capabilities second to none. we've lost in our foreign policy the character of the american people. we've ignored or excluded the american people and the congress from participation and shaping of the foreign policy, it's been one of secrecy and exclusion. in addition to that, we've had a chance to become now contrary to our longstanding beliefs and principles, the arms merchant of the whole world. we've tried to bind success from our enemies and at the same time excluded from the process the normal friendship of our allies. in addition to that, we've become fearful to compete with the soviet union on an equal basis. we talk about day detente. the soviet union knows what they want and have been getting it and we don't know what we want and on every stance. our defense, we've got to be a nation blessed with the capability that's efficient, tough, capable, well-organized, narrowly focused, fighting capability. the ability to fight if necessary is the best way to avoid the chance for or the requirement to fight. and

it now feels advanced western air defense capabilities. and it produces and operates state of the art unmanned systems. all of this positions ukraine to defeat russian aggression today and to deter russian aggression tomorrow, our work has changed the course of history. now, i am deeply proud of the assistance that u.s. provided to ukraine. president biden support for support for ukraine has never flagged and ukraine had strong bipartisan support in congress. since february 2022, we have stayed laser focused on providing okay, you's defenders -- ukraine's defenders with capabilities they need, artillery and rockets have been fundamental, united states provided ukraine with more than 2 million artillery rounds more than 20 thousand rockets and maintaining readiness of our own forces. second, we pushed to provide ukraine with air defense systems and missiles to defend the skies, its cities and civil yaps, department is working to support ukraine drone industry. and we other capability to ukraine. high mars, ground combat vehicles, javelins a

our defense capability is second to none. we have lost in our foreign policy, the character of the american people. we have ignored or excluded the american people in congress from participation in shaping our foreign policy. it has been one of secrecy and exclusion. in addition to that, we had a chance to become, contrary to our long-standing beliefs and principles, the arms merchant of the whole world. we are trying to buy success from our enemies. at the same time we have excluded from the process, the normal friendship of our allies. in addition to that, we have become fearful to compete with the soviet union on an equal basis. soviet union knows what they want and they've been getting it. we have not known what we have wanted and we have been out traded in every instance. the other point i want to make is about defense. we have to be a nation blessed with a defense capability that is efficient, tough, capable, well organized, narrowly focused. the ability to fight if necessary is the best way to avoid the chance -- the l

of defense to tell me what to be done if we were going to reduce the defense budget by three to $5 billion. a few days later he came back and said if we cut the defense budget by 3-5,000,000,000 dollars we will have to cut military personnel 250 thousand. civilian personnel by 100,000. jobs in america by 100,000. we would have to stretch out our aircraft procurement, we would have to reduce our naval construction program. we would have to reduce the research and development for the army, the navy, the air force and marines. we would have to close 20 military bases in the united states immediately. that is the kind of defense program that mr. carter wants. let me tell you this straight from the shoulder. you do not negotiate with mr. brezhnev from weakness and the kind of defense program that mr. carter wants would mean a weaker defense and a poorer negotiating position. >> mr. truitt, a question for president ford. >> my question really is the other side of the coin from mr. frankel. for a generation the united states has had a foreign policy based on the containment of communism. yet we h

we cannot tolerate that at the department of defense. that is an organization with a bunch of $850 billion, not 10 million or 15 million which was the case at those two organizations. it has commander responsibility for 3.4 million americans, the highest number that you managed in those two organizations was maybe 50 people. let me ask you, how many men and women now serve in the united states army? mr. hegseth: i would like the opportunity to respond. concerned veterans for america. you are on the v.a. committee and i appreciate your service. the v.a. accountability act and the mission act were brainchild of concerned veterans for america. we used our donor money very intentionally and focused to create policy that bettered the lives of veterans. >> mr. hegseth i am asking you a very simple question. how many serve in the united states army? >> 450,000 on active duty. >> how many in the navy? >> 425. >> 327 this year. how many in the marine corps? >> 175,000. >> 172,300. those numbers dwarf any experience you have by many multiples. i d

but we begin tonight with the job of the secretary of defense. now, you would be forgiven if you've never given much thought to what exactly the job entails. so a little explanation is in order. the secretary of defense manages a staff of more than 3 million active duty, reserve and civilian employees of the department of defense, and controls a budget of around $900 billion. the secretary of defense oversees things like america's nuclear weapons command and what forces are deployed, where and when, as well as the staff and equipment at 500 military bases in the u.s. and some 750 american military installations abroad. in short, it's a big job, not just some figurehead ceremonial position. just take a look at some of those who have recently served in the position. current defense secretary lloyd austin commanded troops in iraq and afghanistan. president barack obama had leon panetta, whose resume included serving as cia director, white house chief of staff and a member of congress, as well as senator chuck hagel, the only vietnam veteran and the

these are ammunition air defenses. things that so lensky and ukraine have been asking for time and time again. and things that the us and europe have indeed supplied, but should do so in larger numbers. the other thing that you mentioned is economic sanctions. economic sanctions, specifically, you know, russia's banking and financial sector sector earlier in 2024. the u. s. sanction gas prom bank. the country's largest bank, along with 50 other smaller financial institutions. they could expand these to include all russian banks. perhaps they can also expand the scope of secondary sanctions, those that cover 3rd parties that do business with sanctioned entities. so chinese companies supplying rushes were machine. and then finally some also argue that the trumpet administration should expand sanctions to cover russian oil providers and their subsidiaries. something that's been avoided thus far because of concerns over price increases for europe. now you mentioned here, defense systems, and we know that's a lensky is due

contractors to serve as defense secretary's. when he said he would be a change agent and restore the warrior ethos in the military why did democrats take issue? pentagon recruitment struggles are real. why not a different approach? sen. duckworth: the fact of the matter is he is asking us to lower the standards for him. listen, i have dust on my boots as well. in fact, my boots are still in iraq where i left them 20 years ago when my legs were blown off in combat. the effect of the matter is, the man is not qualified to serve as secretary of defense. it's not about being a change agent. it is about not being confident. i asked him to name three ways that the secretary of defense negotiates national security or security treaties with our allies. he could not name a single one. i asked a very basic questions that every secretary of defense should be able to answer. he could not answer a single one because he hadn't bothered to do the homework. he is focused on being a culture warrior. he is preventing what the job is, to be head o

contractor executives to serve as defense secretaries.that he'd be a change agent and would restore the warrior ethos in the military, why did democrats take issue with that? the pentagon's recruitment struggles are real. why not try a different approach? sen. duckworth: well, the fact of the matter is, he's asking us to lower the standards for him. listen, i have dust on my boots as well. in fact, my boots are still in iraq, where i left them 20 years ago and my legs were blown off in combat. so let's talk about dust on our boots. the fact of the matter is, this man is not qualified to serve as secretary of defense. it's not about being a change agent. it's about not being competent. i asked him to name three different ways that a secretary of defense actually negotiates national security or security treaties with our allies. and he couldn't name a single one of them. i asked very basic questions that every secretary of defense should be able to answer. and he couldn't answer a single one of them, because he did not bother to do the home

government and defense contractors. this really frees us it offer a clear unbuy why issed view of the policy. host: is this unusual? are most think tanks taking money from one of those they places? guest: absolutely. we are on unisland we are surrounded by other think tanks had do take money from foreign governments, u.s. government and defense contractors. many think tanks take a considerable amount of funding from those. host: what is the any tank funding tracker? guest: to me it is a labor of love something we have been been working on a website where anybody of your viewers friends in the media and congress can go to find out how the top think tanks are funded. it provides details about the funding, what year it was received. if a fortune government, which branch of the government and whenever opinion the exact dollar amount. host: what should viewers know in the atlantic council? guest: many things. i think what they can find in about that is they are helpful furnisheded by fern governments. when fond at the receiv

have you been involved -- you are about to be the secretary of defense potentially. have you been involved in discussions about using the active-duty military inside the united states? mr. hegseth: senator, i am not yet the secretary of defense. if confirmed, i would be party -- sen. slotkin: but you have not been in any of these conversations? mr. hegseth: would not reveal what i discussed -- sen. slotkin: no, have you been in conversations? you will be in charge of 3 million people. the active-duty that i believe you care about. have you been in conversations about using the active-duty in any way, whether it is setting up detention camps, policing dangerous cities? have you been involved in any of those conversations? mr. hegseth: certainly i've been involved in conversations relating to doing things this administration has not, which is secure the southern border and not allow floods of illegal -- sen. slotkin: ok -- mr. hegseth: through an invasion that threatens the american people -- sen. slotkin: ok, i got it -- do you believe -- mr. hegseth : at the border r

the defense base needs to be bolstered.ed innovation and new actors coming into that space beyond the big three. he has all these great ideas and i think he's going to bring them to the department of defense. host: 15 minutes until that starts at the senate armed services committee. the room starting to fill up. you can see some of the action plan concerning pete hegseth later on today. ron up next, republican line. he's in vermont. caller: good morning. i would like to say that there have been certainly more than a couple presidents. i can think of kennedy and bill clinton who had questionable discussions, sexually or whatever. i really liked what they did for the country. i don't believe anything like that should really enter into qualifications for the job. guest: i think he will be able to respond to those questions in committee today. the democrats will be asking those questions. they have made statements to the press talking about that issue. he will be able to address them for the american people and for the senators

munitions and armored vehicles as well as efforts to enhance the defense industrial base. following the meeting secretary austin will have a conference. turning to the middle east today usn to command forces conducted multiple precision strikes against iranian backed houthi underground advanced conventional weapons facilities within houthi controlled areas of yemen. the houthis use these facilities conduct attacks against a u.s. navy ships in merced merchant vessels. this strikes stretch of parts and comes effort to degrade the iranian backed houthi attempts to threaten regional partners and vessels in the region. switching gears that on the transition the department intends to execute a smooth and professional transition at daily interactions with the present select agency review team. as the baby him today members have participated. hundred six meetings with dod officials in the transition task force has responded to 81 requests forof information. and last but she probably just saw the present governor newsom and other received a briefing on the devastating wildfires in

by the way, department of defense is 3.5 million. but in both of those earlier encounters where he's run an organization, he ran both of them into the ground financially and was asked to leave. so any one of those would have been enough to say no. and then, you know, if you watch the rest of it, when you listen to someone like elissa. slotkin asked him very reasonable questions about the oath to the constitution. and if donald trump asked you, any president asked the secretary of defense to do something that is unlawful, like use military force against a civilian population, would you say no? the right answer here is really clear. you would say, no. he couldn't say no when he was asked about the geneva convention by senator angus king, he couldn't say that he actually supports america's full participation and support for the geneva convention. i mean, so substantively, he would be disqualified, but item by item by item in how he has lived his life. but right now, donald trump and the republicans are pushing him through as fast as the

artillery defense systems as well as efforts to enhance the defense industrial base. following the meeting, secretary austin will participate in a press conference. turning to the middle east, today, u.s. central command forces conducted multiple precision strikes against two iranian-backed houthi underground advanced conventional weapons storage facilities within houthi controlled arias of yemen. the houthi use these to conduct navy ships in the southern red sea and gulf of aden. this is part of the effort to degrade these attempts to threaten regional partners and military and commercial vessels in the region. switching gears, on the transition, the department continues to execute a smooth and professional transition with daily interactions with the president-elect's agency review team, or a.r.t. as of 8:00 a.m. "today," a.r.t. members have parties payed in 106 meetings with d.o.d. officials and the task force has responded to 81 requests for information, r.f.i.'s. finally, there were briefings on the wildfires in california. the department will provide additional f

has there been a conversation between defense secretary austin and pete had seth -- hegseth? maj. gen. ryder: no conversations to date and i don't have anything to announce. >> the question on lebanon, israel carried out strikes saying they had raised issues of the cease-fire agreement to the monitoring mechanism, but those were not addressed. does the u.s. believe, were you aware of issues that israel had raised with the cease-fire monitoring mechanism? do you believe there are issues with the cease-fire monitoring? maj. gen. ryder: what i would say is that from our perspective the cease-fire continues. i will not speak for israel in terms of their operations. i know that major general jeffers and the team implementing the mechanism, we are working hard to ensure that cease-fire holds and understand with the lebanese armed forces needs are as they take over security and implement that cease-fire. i'm confident they are staying in close communication with the israelis and others in the region to do that work. i will leave it there. >> the cease-fire monitoring mechanism will conti

defense secretary.fox news contributor joe concha joins us now. did the mainstream media see and hear the same hearing that you and i and carley and everybody else saw? >> it was prewritten the reactions beforehand, todd, right? they were going to react that way no matter how pete hegseth had performed yesterday and he performed, i think he crushed it, quite frankly. this was the theater of the absurd. both from democrats, who were questioning pete, and from the media reaction that we saw yesterday and last evening. i mean, at that hearing, the constant interruptions by democrats, the pious elections, some senators literally screaming at pete. he kept his composure. he was poised. he didn't take the bait. he was confident in himself and steadfast in his admission as the next u.s. defense secretary. that mission is restoring the lethality of our military as a former soldier, cleaning house at the dod. getting rid of these people who are only working their own interest or they are beholden to the defense

these attacks have nothing to do with the right to self defense. they are nothing other than military aggression by the collective west against a sovereign state. there's 2 of us as a bid farewell to tony tony and full, we really focus on the pivotal story is that defined the yeah. on to say i was in the covers the escalating crisis between yeah, man and the west. the gems tuesdays and the supports for the palestinian people have been hammering israel with long range attacks on a weekly basis from ballistic missiles, targeting cities like tele fees. and the poor to fly, lots to jerome schools hitting is riley results. the pattern is k, i the who's these are intensifying that strikes on israel on some of the design that role in the middle east conflict. but here's the catch. there's a whole year spun between those headlines, which means the blue, the face retaliation from israel. and this western allies has so far been to no avail. the washington institute for near east policies, marital him attack truck recently tallied a 106 confirm who the strike

what does it take to be the secretary of defense general? >> well, i've watched a lot of very close range. one of the most inspirational, competent people i've ever met in my entire life was secretary bill perry, you know, phd in mathematics, stanford professor, entrepreneur, author, draftee, buck sergeant. and they not all of them had those qualifications. and we've had college professors only manage ten graduate students. we have had house congressmen who managed nine people. so i don't think that was the most fruitful line of attack. i think the problem is, look, this is a provocative appointment. there's no question about it. he's been spouting a lot of things over the last decade that aren't going to withstand scrutiny in modern law based america, and he had to walk away from it. so, again, the enduring challenges, i think he's going to get confirmed one way or the other. he's very articulate, very quick, did a splendid job this this morning at the hearing. but the problem is going to be alcohol abuse. and the president of the united st

the subject of which is foreign and defense issues. the questioners tonight are max frankel, associate editor of the new york times. henry all truitt, diplomatic correspondent of the baltimore sun. and richard valeri on a, diplomatic correspondent of nbc news. the ground rules tonight are basically the same as they were for the first debate two weeks ago. the questions will be alternated between candidates. by the toss of a coin, governor carter will take the first question. each question's sequence will be as follows. the question will be asked and the candidate will have up to three minutes to answer. his opponent will have up to two minutes to respond. and prior to the response, the questioner may ask a follow-up question to clarify the candidate's answer when necessary, with up to two minutes to reply. each candidate will have three minutes for a closing statement at the end. president ford and governor carter do not have notes or prepared remarks with them this evening, but they may take notes during the debate and refer to them.

and within that they put their defenses up.nd it's just trying to get to where they need to get to as quickly as they can to prevent a wildfire from sparking another massive urban fire. >> yeah. and just to see the work that these firefighters are doing while also at the same time concerned about their own families, their own homes. i know you spent time today with the one firefighter in altadena who had lost his home after he evacuated with his wife and their two kids. what was his just i mean, how is he processing all of this? >> you know, caitlin was interesting. he talked about how as a firefighter, you see other people's trauma all the time. you know, their emt, you know, they see loss and they see death all the time. and he said, we detach from that. we go in, we do our jobs. and of the fire, he was sitting with his family having dinner. they saw the fire in the distance here in altadena. he gets called to work. he goes to work 16 hours later, off of a shift of trying to desperately save homes, a fire, by the way, he and

department of defense budget to support ukraine. most of that money has gone into american contractors to build the weapons to give to ukraine. in terms of -- i am not trying to be cold-blooded, hearing about money and lives, but that investment has resulted in the near destruction a couple times over. the ukrainians have done the fighting. no americans involved, no nato troops involved in the fighting. as a matter of practicality, that is something we need to do but it is much bigger than that. ukraine is not just about ukraine for the united states. it's about how world war ii ended and what world war ii was fought about which was the so-called rules-based international order. it is written into the very first paragraph of the united nations charter. at the end of world war ii, we americans wrote, as you are jamie diamond say, we wrote the rules that has made us prosperous and safe for the last eight decades. those rules are under incredible stress. they are under stress in europe, to be sure, by the attack of russia into ukraine.

most of those days, more than 50 you a, these were down by ad defenses. some of the strikes did manage to inflict damage to industrial facilities will impact in, in this, our 12 regional sparking of fire at one of the sites and cars on a gas time kick 90 to offer a nice that you a, the, a task on this a piece of the under the to the region, a drone exploded rise above a civilian building, shattering windows and damaging toms outside. no casualties to people who a spiral of drugs strikes comes off to ukraine's attack on the tug stream pipeline . that's still pumping russian gas to europe most go stays, drones would downs be full, they could hit a compressor station in the cross in the region over the weekend. greensboro, minnesota sloan's keeps saying this like targeted the e u countries, software and turks stream pipeline is indispensable in the natural gas supply and hungry and central europe, security of energy supply as a sovereignty matter. therefore, every action that threatens the security of our energy supply must be considered an attack against so

and to change the department of defense.hink he is going to be a major change agent to bring the department of defense back to its core mission of supporting the war fighter, of being prepared, if necessary, to defeat and kill our enemies. and under joe biden and the democrats, the department of defense has run down every woke rabbit trail of whatever the political agenda of the moment is. instead of focusing on the war fighter, i'm going to make a prediction for you, jesse. when pete hegseth is confirmed as secretary of defense, we are going to see enlistment numbers rise and rise dramatically because young men and women who want to fight to defend the country, they don't want to be part of some woke mind experiment from the democrats, but they do want to be heroes defending america. and that's what pete hegseth is fighting to defend and get us back to. >> he was inspiring today. there's no doubt about that. what are the things that are the most critical to tackle on day one? if pete takes over the pentagon? >> look, the pe

he's the passing game coordinator, defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach of the lions. but it just seems like they did the first moves to satisfy the rooney rule. having interviewing two external candidates. minority candidates. so i would think kyle shanahan will want to move quickly because now one spot as far as nfl head coaches has been filled. and you know the mike vrabel with the patriots now will want to start filling his vacancies on that coaching staff. so yeah i would think that kyle shanahan learning from you know the past would like to get ahead of this. absolutely i think the faster they get a guy in there, the faster they can start deciding how they want to format the defense. you know, whether they want to make some changes, how they want to approach the draft. i mean, all of that stuff becomes so important early on. and the fact that the 49ers have not been able to do hiring this way until well into, you know, after the super bowl is over or the nfc championship game is over, i think has been you know, i think it it doesn't give them an advantage,