WASHINGTON — Peter Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s (R) intended nominee for Secretary of Defense, was questioned Tuesday by a Senate committee about his fitness for the role, including his knowledge of the U.S. nuclear weapons enterprise.
Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), whose state houses the silos for the ground-based strategic deterrent, asked whether Hegseth, a former television presenter on Fox & Friends and Army National Guard officer, supported the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM) program.
Hegseth said, “as of right now, Senator, based on what I know, I do,” but said he would need to “look under the hood” at classified information and how it measures up to “enemy capabilities.”
“What I know on the nuclear side is Russia and China are rushing to modernize and build arsenals larger than ours,” Hegseth said. “We need to match threats to capabilities.”
Fischer, who has spoken in the past about her frustration with delays in scheduling for Sentinel and the triad, also asked Hegseth how he would deal with scheduling delays.
Hegseth said he would be “focused first on the things that are most important” and “what are the priorities that need to be focused on?” Answering his own question, Hegseth said priorities would be “the nuclear triad” and shouted out the B-21, the Columbia-class submarine, and the Minuteman to Sentinel transition.
Hegseth did not elaborate on how he would speed up scheduling and how he would prioritize different parts of the triad.
Hegseth said he agreed with Trump’s 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, and agreed with Fischer that “our deterrence, our survival is reliant on… the perception and the reality of our capabilities of the triad. We have to invest in the triad for the defense of our nation.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to vote on Hegseth’s nomination the evening of Monday, Jan. 20, hours after Trump’s inauguration.
