Can Pete Hegseth Can Take Down the Military Industrial Complex?
Maybe the perpetually drunk dude is the answer
Sorry, my fellow inhabitants of the encroaching dystopia, but I think Pete Hegseth might be the perfect candidate for Temporary Defense Secretary.
Many of us have dreamed for decades about the fall of the military-industrial complex. Or, at a minimum, an end to endless wars. And you think Hegseth isn’t the man for the job?
Under his watch, the Defense Department is likely to fall apart faster than a wildly raucous and inspiring American presidential campaign led by a woman of color.1
The Defense Department has 2.87 million employees. Its budget is more than $840 billion per year. Pete Hegseth, TrumpCon’s nominee for Defense Secretary, has never managed a group larger than a small nonprofit he drove into the ground.2 3 His only other semi-accomplishment4 was as a propaganda mouthpiece for the far-right on Fox News. And, most famously, he has a documented drinking problem5 and appears to be, like Trump, a serial predator.
Chances are, Hegseth will be a placeholder before he self-destructs. There’s no chance he will be able to run a place that massive.
Although the fallout is probably nothing to joke about, believe it or not, the predator-elect sort of was on to something when he chose Hegseth: The Defense Secretary should not have a background with defense contractors.
You might be surprised to learn that Defense secretaries primed with full caskets of defense contractor blood are fairly recent.
Dwight Eisenhower famously warned America about the military-industrial complex shortly after World War Two, when America discovered what a big, beautiful economic engine it was. But he didn’t install a military guy as his first Defense Secretary after becoming president. He installed a car guy — the fellow who ran GM during the Second World War’s industrial apex.
Of course, we now know that Ike’s warnings were never heeded, just like we know America laughed off Al Gore’s silly warnings about global warming.
America’s military-industrial complex is so thoroughly embedded into America’s soul that one of the nation’s largest military contractors, Raytheon, is, essentially, currently in control of the Defense Department. Biden’s defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, merrily waltzed into his job directly from the board of directors at Raytheon.
Austin received a tidy $1.7 million or so for that waltz:6
Retired General Lloyd Austin, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for defense secretary, may get as much as $1.7 million in payments tied to the board seat he’d be giving up at defense contractor Raytheon Technologies Co.
Raytheon has made an enormous sum building the most lethal killing machines on the planet:7
Raytheon — whose 195,000 employees make fighter jet engines, weapons, high-tech sensors and dozens of other military products — spent the past several years selling billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and radar systems to allies in the Middle East, some of which were used to fight a war in Yemen.
Wait. Is there more? Oh, hell yes:
Raytheon is not General Austin’s only link to military contractors. He has also been a partner in an investment firm that has been buying small defense firms. And his move from the weapons business to a leadership role in the Pentagon continues a pattern begun by President Trump in recent years.
Mr. Trump picked James N. Mattis, also a retired four-star general who then served on the board of General Dynamics, another major military contractor, as his first defense secretary. Mark T. Esper, a former Raytheon chief lobbyist, succeeded Mr. Mattis.
You might think, well, isn’t it normal for Defense Department honchos to be from defense contractors?
Well, no.
But one thing they all had in common was a general vibe of competence. Even the most loathsome Defense secretaries, like Donald Rumsfeld and Dick (the Dick) Cheney had impressive resumes. Hegseth is alone in his unique combination of drunkenness, sexual abuse, and dearth of qualifications.
The first to have ties to the commercial defense industry was an Obama appointee, Ashton Carter, but only as a consultant.
Before that, Defense secretaries had only nominal ties to defense contractors, even if they were deeply enmeshed in one of the armed services branches.
Here’s a full list of Defense secretaries before Ashton Carter.8 You’ll see that full ownership of the Defense Department by defense contractors is a new phenomenon:
Chuck Hagel: Barack Obama Administration
February 27, 2013 — February 17, 2015
One of the only combat veterans to lead the Defense Department, Hagel spent most of his career after a long stint at the CIA making money. His highlight from a defense standpoint was fighting for veterans to get some compensation for the notorious Agent Orange from the Vietnam era.
Leon E. Panetta: Barack Obama Administration
July 1, 2011 — February 26, 2013
Another CIA guy, and a congress critter after that.
Robert M. Gates: George W. Bush / Barack Obama Administration
December 18, 2006 — June 30, 2011
Yet another CIA guy, and later the President of Texas A&M University and Interim Dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M from 1999 to 2001.
Donald H. Rumsfeld: George W. Bush Administration
January 20, 2001 — December 18, 2006
Congress critter and businessman, including Chairman of G.D. Searle & Co. Fun fact: He oversaw the rollout of Aspartame (aka Nutrasweet), a rather foul sugar substitute that, some studies concluded, led to anal leakage(!). Those who followed his diplomatic career (especially his cheerleading role in the Iraq carnage) would say that his distribution of an anal leakage product to an unsuspecting public was a fitting legacy. This was his second time in the defense role.
William S. Cohen: William Clinton Administration
January 24, 1997 — January 20, 2001
Lawyer, Mayor of Bangor, Maine, and congress critter.
William J. Perry: William Clinton Administration
February 3, 1994 — January 23, 1997
Math guru with a PhD in Mathematics from Penn State, and director of the Electronic Defense Laboratories of Sylvania/GTE in California from 1954 to 1964. From 1964 to 1977 he was president of ESL, Inc., an electronics firm he helped found. You can argue that he had a background in the defense industry, but it was really on the periphery compared to a guy like Austin.
Leslie Aspin: William Clinton Administration
January 21, 1993 — February 3, 1994
Officer in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968, and Congress critter after that.
Richard B. Cheney: George H.W. Bush Administration
March 21, 1989 — January 20, 1993
Also known as Dick. Bureaucrat and congress critter who helped create Liz Cheney, a conservative congress critter herself who hates Trump almost more than we do.
Dick Cheney is most famous for promoting the illegal invasion of Iraq that led to the decimation of that nation’s population and infrastructure, which led to ISIS, which Republicans successfully blamed on Obama.
Frank C. Carlucci: Ronald Reagan Administration
November 23, 1987 — January 20, 1989
Harvard grad, Navy guy (but not a big shot), and career diplomat.
Caspar W. Weinberger: Ronald Reagan Administration
January 21, 1981 — November 23, 1987
Winner of the Best Names Award Among Defense Secretaries, a career diplomat and bureaucrat, and legal beagle/vice-president at the Bechtel Group of Companies in California, a construction firm that often did business with the defense establishment. Not really a big enough guy in any of those scenarios to raise eyebrows, though.
Harold Brown: James Carter Administration
January 21, 1977 — January 20, 1981
Brainiac who earned three degrees, including a Ph.D. in physics when he was 21(!). Research scientist at the University of California Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley. He was also the Director at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at Livermore, California. Eventually, the radiation must have gotten the best of him because he eventually joined the government and had a stint as Secretary of the Air Force.
Donald H. Rumsfeld: Gerald Ford Administration
November 20, 1975 — January 20, 1977
Yep, him again. This was before he went completely to the Dark Side and before half his brain was sliced off in a Lightsaber battle, a brain injury that led to weirdness during round two as a Secretary of Defense under Dubya. Was a congress critter and ambassador to NATO. As defense secretary, he became the lead cheerleader for the kinds of munitions that can kill a few hundred thousand people with one blow.
James R. Schlesinger: Richard Nixon / Gerald Ford Administration
July 2, 1973 — November 19, 1975
Doctorate in Economics, he spent time with the Rand Corporation, which is a non-profit think tank that teaches people how to convince the public that war is fun. Okay, that’s mean and an exaggeration. But I like the line so I’m keeping it. I love me a little hyperbole. I don’t deny it.
Elliot L. Richardson: Richard Nixon Administration
January 30, 1973 — May 24, 1973
Legal beagle who cut his teeth with two of the greatest names (from an etymology standpoint) in American legal history, Justice Learned Hand of the U.S. Court of Appeals and Justice Felix Frankfurter.
My God, I’d give up a year’s worth of my career’s highest salary to work with names like that. As a consolation prize, I’d totally settle for Frank N Furter.
Richardson served as defense secretary during the tail end of the Vietnam War, a thankless job at the time.
Melvin R. Laird: Richard Nixon Administration
January 22, 1969 — January 29, 1973
Congress critter. Vietnam.
Clark M. Clifford: Lyndon Johnson Administration
March 1, 1968 — January 20, 1969
Legal beagle, political consultant. Vietnam.
Robert S. McNamara: John F. Kennedy / Lyndon Johnson Administration
January 21, 1961 — February 29, 1968
Air Force lieutenant, President of Ford Motor Company. Really Vietnam. Like, big time. This complicated his legacy, because he did some good stuff before then, such as nixing an anti-ballistic system in the U.S. and pushing back on the idea that nukes should be used against cities in any future final death match.
Thomas S. Gates, Jr.: Dwight Eisenhower Administration
December 2, 1959 — January 20, 1961
Fought in WW2. Primarily an investment banker before joining the Department of Defense, where he reached the pinnacle of the growing defense establishment.
Neil H. McElroy: Dwight Eisenhower Administration
October 9, 1957 — December 1, 1959
Marketing(!) guy, rose to the top of the Proctor & Gamble food chain. Keep in mind that Ike was the guy who warned us about the military-industrial complex. Best to leave that office to a guy whose expertise is toothpaste. For realz.
Charles E. Wilson: Dwight Eisenhower Administration
January 28, 1953 — October 8, 1957
Head of General Motors who oversaw that company’s war production. Not to be confused with Tom Hanks’ Charlie Wilson, who was a congress critter from the 1980s.
Like Austin, he had a money conflict. Congress made him divest $2.5 million worth of GM money, which would be worth a few trillion these days (I may be exaggerating).
His most famous quote was, “For years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa.” He’s probably the closest among the early defense secretaries to being someone who had ties to the defense industry (although GM did other things). Maybe that’s why Ike later gave the job to a toothpaste guy and warned us about the “military-industrial complex.”
Robert A. Lovett: Harry Truman Administration
September 17, 1951 — January 20, 1953
Yawn. Began his business career as a clerk at the National Bank of Commerce in New York. Uncontroversial career businessman. Double yawn. The lack of interesting things to say about him makes me want to say that he was the best of the bunch.
George C. Marshall: Harry Truman Administration
September 21, 1950 — September 12, 1951
The best of the bunch. Big-time army guy, member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during WW2. Instituted the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after the war. Yay, George!
Louis A. Johnson: Harry Truman Administration
March 1949— September 1947
State legislator, army officer during WW2, then lawyer. His claim to fame was that he had to deal with the first in a long line of crazy North Korean dictators.
James V. Forrestal: Harry Truman Administration
September 17, 1947 — March 28, 1949
The first Defense Secretary! Financier and career government official, including undersecretary of the Navy.
None of this is to say that defense contractors haven’t always had long lobbying tentacles. But today, it’s just too easy for them.
As is sometimes the case with the Orange Pestilence, he stumbled upon a solution for the problem of defense contractors owning the Defense Department.
But there will probably be a mighty price. Hegseth is a guy who isn’t familiar with basic treaties that bond the United States to other nations, and spent much of his time during his confirmation hearings fending off serious charges about sexual abuse. Stories about drunken escapades abound, too. His only accomplishment in life, aside from his early years as an infantryman, is as a talking head for a right-wing propaganda outlet that had to pay $800 million to a voting machine manufacturer for defamation.
Hegesth’s mother once wrote this email to him:9
“I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”
I’d like to see the outlandish growth of the military-industrial complex tamed, not destroyed by a man wielding a bottle and a lust for attacking women, especially from the pinnacle of power.
I’m not willing to give the Orange Puffalo any credit for stumbling upon this non-defense nomination. He chose Hegseth to punk us. It’s that simple.
If anything good comes of this, it will be that Hegseth will probably self-destruct within months of starting his term. We can only hope he doesn’t bring a lot of people down with him.
When he’s gone, Americans should hold the predator-in-chief to the principle he stumbled upon when he named Hegseth his nominee: replace him with someone not beholden to the defense industry. That’s how things like Gaza and other Mideast wars happen.
The predator-in-chief frequently talks about endless wars. He’s not wrong when he does this. It’s everything else he does that is terrible. But maybe we can use the Hegseth appointment to clarify, once and for all, the need to end America’s dependence on a war machine to maintain its economy.
Hegseth’s well-documented problems, in fact, point to the callous nature of America’s endless wars. As a soldier in Iraq, he won a Bronze Star and other accolades. Hegseth is a poster child of all that is wrong with America’s endless war policy. As President for Concerned Veterans for America, he rolled into the town of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and, according to eyewitnesses, fell into a drunken stupor and began yelling, “Kill All Muslims! Kill All Muslims!”
America refuses to address the horrors of the wars we send our young people to. We do nothing to help them recover from the psychological toll. Some of them turn into killers and mow through crowds of people with pickup trucks. Others shoot dozens of people in mass killing events. Some just live unknown lives of misery, drunk and alone, and often homeless.
At least one of them became a Fox TV host and began a trajectory of misogyny, malice, and racism. But war does that to people. America would rather assign a broken man the tasks of running an $840 billion organization designed to unleash more such warriors onto the American landscape than actually help them cope with what happened to them.
If Hegseth helps add this to the conversation, even through a brief path of destruction, perhaps some good can come of it.
Thanks for reading!
It is always worth reminding everyone that only in America, among all the countries that hold free elections, could a highly qualified and personable candidate like Kamala Harris lose an election to someone like Trump.
Last, Jonathan V. 2025. “Vice Is a Moat.” Thebulwark.com. The Bulwark. January 14, 2025. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/vice-is-a-moat
Mayer, Jane. 2024. “Pete Hegseth’s Secret History.” The New Yorker. December 2, 2024. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/pete-hegseths-secret-history.
That’s harsh, and I’m sorry. He was a reasonably successful soldier, winning a Bronze Star as an infantry platoon leader in Baghdad and Samarra during the Cheney/Bush Iraq War.
“Drinking problem” isn’t a phrase I use lightly. Alcohol Use Disorder is not something we should shame people for — unless they want to manage America’s military and defense establishment.
Capaccio, Anthony, and Bill Allison. 2021. “Biden Defense Pick to Get up to $1.7 Million from Raytheon Role.” Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. January 10, 2021. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-10/biden-defense-pick-to-get-up-to-1-7-million-from-raytheon-role.
Lipton, Eric, Kenneth P Vogel, and Michael LaForgia. 2020. “Biden’s Choice for Pentagon Faces Questions on Ties to Contractors.” Nytimes.com. The New York Times. December 9, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/us/politics/lloyd-austin-pentagon-military-contractors.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pU4.0UHM.zmJRfh5glD4l&smid=url-share.
“Historical Office > DOD History > Secretaries of Defense.” 2025. Defense.gov. 2025. https://history.defense.gov/DOD-History/Secretaries-of-Defense/.
Crowley, Kinsey. 2024. “Who Is Penelope Hegseth? What to Know after Pete Hegseth’s Mother Addresses Leaked Email.” USA TODAY. December 5, 2024. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/12/05/pete-hegseth-mom-penelope/76792635007/.
Frank N Furter! 😂😂😂. Outstanding column… learned a lot and laughed along the way. 👏👏👏
I understand what you’re saying and it makes sense, even if I don’t want to imagine the repercussions of a drunken Rambo-esqe character being in charge of our military. Thanks for the history lesson as well.