Pete Hegseth narrowly wins confirmation to become US defence secretary

Pete Hegseth narrowly secured enough votes on Friday (Jan 24) to become the next US defence secretary, a major victory for President Donald Trump after fierce opposition from Democrats and even some Republicans to his controversial nominee.

Hegseth was confirmed after a 50-50 vote in the Senate, when Vice President JD Vance came to the chamber to break the tie in his role as president of the Senate, after three Republicans joined every Democrat and independent in voting no.

Hegseth, a former Fox News personality and decorated veteran, is promising to bring major changes to the Pentagon. But his leadership will be under intense scrutiny after a bruising confirmation review that raised serious questions about his qualifications, temperament and views about women in combat.

"We have not had a secretary of defence like Hegseth before," said Jeremi Suri, a University of Texas, Austin, history professor and presidential scholar. Hegseth is the most divisive

It was only the second time in history a Cabinet nominee needed a tie-break to be confirmed. The first was also a Trump nominee, Betsy DeVos, who became secretary of education in 2017.

The three Republican senators who voted against Hegseth were Senators Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell, who was the party's leader in the chamber until this month.

McConnell said Hegseth had failed to demonstrate that he had the ability to effectively manage an organisation as large and complex as the military. "Mere desire to be a ‘change agent’ is not enough to fill these shoes," McConnell said in a statement.

The top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, said in a statement he would watch Hegseth "like a hawk" and "demand accountability".

Hegseth will lead 1.3 million active-duty service members and the nearly 1 million civilians who work for the US military, which has a nearly US$1 trillion annual budget. Hegseth told lawmakers that, up until this point, the largest group he had managed was 100 people and the largest budget was US$16 million.

His nomination was rocked by a series of accusations, including one this week by his former sister-in-law, who said he abused his second wife to the extent that she hid in a closet and had a code word to use with friends if she had to be rescued. Hegseth strongly denied the accusations and his wife had previously denied any physical abuse.

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Suri said the vote demonstrated the extent of Trump's power at the start of his second term in office.

"It means certainly that Trump has enormous leverage over the Republican Party and over members of the Senate," he said.

Ahead of Friday's vote, Trump had admonished two fellow Republicans, Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, who voted against Hegseth in a procedural test vote on Thursday.

"I was very surprised that Collins and Murkowski would do that," Trump told reporters on Friday morning.

But most Senate Republicans fell into line to defend the nominee who they said would restore a "warrior" mentality to the US military.

Hegseth has criticised diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the military, and, in his latest book, asked whether the top US general has the job because he is Black. Reuters has previously reported about the possibility mass firing among top brass, something Hegseth repeatedly refused to rule out during his confirmation process