Pete Hegseth: Fox News host, ex-Army veteran is Trump's new Defense Secretary

US President-elect Donald Trump has picked Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and military veteran, as his choice for defence secretary, continuing his trend of selecting loyalists in key positions.

"Pete has spent his entire life as a warrior for the troops and for the country. Pete is tough, smart, and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America's enemies are on notice—our military will be great again and America will never back down," Trump said in a statement.

WHO IS PETE HEGSETH?

Hegseth began co-hosting a Fox News weekend morning talk program on a regular basis in late 2016.

Hegseth has also played a key role in the network’s expansion into streaming and live events, hosting the Fox Nation “Patriot Awards” each year since 2019. The event, the network’s answer to a Hollywood awards show, honours first responders, military, and police personnel.

Before joining Fox News, Hegseth was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and also ran for Senate in Minnesota in 2012.

Hegseth joined the US Army Guard as an infantry officer in 2003 after completing his studies at Princeton. In 2004, he and his unit were deployed to Guantánamo Bay, where he served as an infantry platoon leader, according to his Fox News biography. He later served in Iraq, earning a second Army Commendation Medal, a Bronze Star, and a Combat Infantry Badge, the biography said.

After Iraq, he was sent to Afghanistan along with the Minnesota Army Guard in 2012. He worked as a senior counterinsurgency instructor in Kabul.

Hegseth has written several books, with his latest titled The War of Warriors, which, according to Fox News, describes “the kind of men prepared to face the dangers that the Left pretends don’t exist.”