Hegseth's Patriarchal Vision Will Make the U.S. Military Less Effective

In a major and unprecedented shakeup to the U.S. military's leadership, U.S. President Donald Trump removed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Brown in late February, while announcing his intention to replace Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the head of the U.S. Navy. The personnel changes have been framed as part of an effort to eradicate "woke ideology" from the U.S. military. It is not a coincidence, then, that Brown is Black and Franchetti is the first woman ever to command a U.S.
military service branch.
But the Trump administration's attack on efforts to address historical injustices for minorities and women - known as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI, initiatives - goes beyond purging people of color and high-ranking women officers from the chain of command. As part of this agenda, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has also proposed a radical departure from the U.S. military's approach over the past decade.
Though a slow-moving institution that is far from progressive, the Defense Department has undertaken a series of reforms to be more representative of the country it serves. That has included things like adopting a plan to implement the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, updating its harassment policies and protecting its employees from discrimination.
Since taking over as defense secretary in late January, Hegseth has articulated his commitment to "restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military, and reestablishing deterrence." Along those lines, he announced the creation of a Restoring America's Fighting Force Task Force charged with "overseeing the Department's efforts to abolish DEI offices and any vestiges of such offices that subvert meritocracy, perpetuate unconstitutional discrimination, and promote radical ideologies related to
systemic racism and gender fluidity." This task force and other envisaged reforms are all aimed at eradicating "wokeness" from the U.S.
military and Defense Department.
This agenda reflects Hegseth's retrograde and patriarchal vision of the U.S. military. But his justifications for all of these measures are often invented or based on false premises. These misrepresentations are aimed at portraying the U.S. military as hamstrung by politically correct overreach. In both his public comments and his highly critical book about the U.S. military, Hegseth has castigated "woke" generals and policies that, he argues, undermine the military's effectiveness.
For example, during his Senate confirmation hearings in January, Hegseth cited personal interviews conducted while writing his book to assert that commanders are expected to "meet quotas" in order to increase the number of women in the ranks. That practice, he added, was one of many "direct, indirect, overt and subtle" ways that the U.S. military has changed its standards to accommodate women recruits.
Hegseth had previously asserted that women should not be present in ground combat operations, stating in November, "It hasn't made us more effective. Hasn't made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated." Hegseth's statements make it seem as if women have been coddled by the military in order to goose their numbers, to the detriment of readiness.
Hegseth's remarks play well to Trump's base, but they aren't just for public consumption. They have real implications for the well-being of U.S. servicewomen, as well as for women in countries where the U.S. military is active.
On both counts, however, he is demonstrably wrong. As Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand pointed out during his confirmation hearing, there are no quotas for women in the infantry. That is a politically expedient lie for Hegseth and his allies. With regard to standards, for instance, retired Army Lt. Col.
Ellen Haring told NPR, "Not only have standards not been lowered, but when they first decided that … they were going to open combat jobs to women, the services were given three years to actually set standards because up until that point in time, standards had...