Former defense secretary Leon Panetta sharply criticized Pete Hegseth for injecting politics during his fiery speech Tuesday to top military brass while questioning his ability to lead.
Panetta, who led the Department of Defense for two years during the Obama administration after running the CIA, said Hegseth and President Trump had “every right” to address hundreds of military commanders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, but accused the pair of delivering a misguided message.
“It’s also important that they respect the military for their role in protecting our security and defending our country,” Panetta told Newsweek following the Quantico summit. “That’s their primary role; that’s what our military is about. When you use either political words or political attacks of one kind or another when addressing the military, I think that is frankly the wrong place. You ought to respect the fact that our military is not to be political.”
Panetta, 87, accused Hegseth, 45, of politicizing his position as defense secretary during his 45-minute speech that attacked “woke” culture within the military.
“It isn’t about trying to make sure that the military somehow avoids political correctness because frankly, it isn’t about political correctness,” he said. “It’s about injecting politics in your message. I think you have to respect the fact that military is not political and should not be political. It should be entirely focused on protecting the country.”
Hegseth also vowed to fix “decades of decay” within the military Tuesday while declaring an end to “woke” ideology and policies. He also announced more rigorous physical standards for troops using the “highest male standard” only, which Panetta derided as not inclusive.
“Well, he’s obviously long held that viewpoint, that somehow women ought not to be part of our military,” Panetta said. “I think it’s wrong. Women are a part of our military; they have performed very well in helping to defend our country. I have always felt strongly that as long as women meet the standards for combat duty that they’re entitled to be a part of our combat forces.”
In 2013, Panetta revoked the Pentagon’s ban on women serving in ground combat units. In a podcast last year, Hegseth said he opposed that policy shift.
“The standard we have now, whether you call a male standard or just a human standard of some kind — whatever that standard is — women know that they’ve got to meet that standard,” Panetta said. “And if they do, they can become part of our military. If this is kind of an approach that would somehow try to limit women’s participation, I think that’s a bad mistake.”
Hegseth insisted during his remarks that the U.S. military is not seeking to prevent women from serving, but Panetta questioned the approach altogether.
“There’s not much question what kind of message he’s trying to get across, which is that somehow women are not up to the same standard as men when it comes to combat,” Panetta said. “That’s the wrong assumption and it’s not true. The fact is women have performed up to the standard — that’s what’s required now — and as far as I know, they have performed very well in combat and alongside our military wherever they are.”
Panetta said the nearly 200,000 women in the military had performed as well or better than their male counterparts during his experience as defense secretary.
“What we want to be doing is encouraging women and for that matter, others who want to serve in our military,” he said. “We ought to be encouraging that service, not discouraging.”
Hegseth, who promised in a post on social media to “end the war on warriors,” also criticized “politically correct and toxic ideological garbage that had infected” the U.S. military.
“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses,” Hegseth said Tuesday. “No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris. As I said before and will say again, we are done with that shit. I’ve made it my mission to uproot the obvious distractions that made us less capable and less lethal.”
Hegseth’s speech concluded with a prayer and a direct challenge to his detractors.
“If the words I am speaking today are making your hearts sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign,” Hegseth said. “We would thank you for your service. But I suspect, I know, the overwhelming majority of you feel the opposite. These words make your hearts full. You love the War Department because you love what you do — the profession of arms. You are hereby liberated to be an apolitical, hard-charging, no-nonsense constitutional leader that you joined the military to be.”
Panetta, who insisted Hegseth missed the mark again by “threatening people” during Tuesday’s speech, said he lacks confidence in Hegseth’s ability to oversee the military eight months after taking the role.
“I still have very real concerns about the quality of his leadership and how he’s operating the Pentagon,” Panetta said. “There are too many stories about the difficulty of people to be able to do their job and also a lot of difficulties about the type of leadership that’s being provided by the secretary.”
Panetta called on President Trump and his administration to notice to warning signs he sees in Hegseth’s behavior.
“‘There are a lot of red flags going up with regards to his overall behavior and I just think it’s really important for the president to watch it very carefully,” Panetta told Newsweek. “Whatever he does that involves the military depends a great deal on the integrity of the secretary of defense. I just think there are concerns that have to monitored to make sure that we are not undermining the morale or the role of the military in terms of protecting our security.”
Panetta said he believes Trump attended Tuesday’s speech to ensure that the “right message” be delivered.
“It’s something you got to watch closely because in the end, this is really about our national security,” Panetta said of Hegseth’s role. “You don’t want to just kind of hope that people are going to show up. You want to be damn sure that people are capable and exercising the right kind of leadership.”
Panetta has previously questioned Hegseth’s readiness to serve as defense secretary. In December, prior to Hegseth being narrowly confirmed by the Senate, Panetta said reports of Trump’s nominee being forced out of previous roles for financial mismanagement and repeated intoxication while working as the president of Concerned Veterans for America would scuttle most picks to lead the U.S military.
“He’s got problems on both fronts,” Panetta told Newsweek late last year. “It’s hard to discipline the military if you can’t discipline yourself.”
Panetta also said he was troubled by reports that Hegseth previously entered a settlement with a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017 and an email penned by his mother in 2018 claiming he had abused women for years.
“The bottom line is there’s an awful lot of issues that the Senate has to pay attention to when it comes to deciding whether this is the right guy for the job,” Panetta said in December.