Pete Hegseth has failed to provide Donald Trump with an accurate assessment of the war in Iran, instead resorting to "dangerously exaggerated" claims of a US military triumph, a senior Democrat told a Capitol Hill hearing on Thursday.
Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, confronted Hegseth, the defense secretary, asserting that far from victory, American citizens are bearing the costs of a war they never supported through increased fuel prices.
"American families are bearing the cost of a war they wanted nothing to do with and have gained nothing from, and yet, Secretary Hegseth, you declared victory a month ago," said Reed, a senator from Rhode Island.
The comments came at the opening of the second consecutive day of congressional testimony from Hegseth and Dan Caine, chair of the US armed forces' Joint Chiefs of Staff, who are testifying on the Pentagon's record $1.45 trillion military budget request.
As with the previous day's appearance before the House of Representatives committee, the hearing quickly devolved into confrontation over the war with Iran, which has become stalemated after eight weeks of fighting and seen the regime in Tehran close the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.
Protesters briefly interrupted the hearing as Hegseth made his opening statement. Shouts of "war criminal" and "despicable" were heard before the protesters were removed and proceedings resumed.
Reed immediately went on the offensive, accusing Trump of going to war without a "coherent strategy" while declining to "make a case to the American people or consult Congress."
But his statement reserved the harshest personal criticism for Hegseth, who he accused of failing to give Trump essential information or advice while pursuing a personal agenda as service personnel were injured or killed in battle.
"The problem with your statements, Mr. Secretary, is they are dangerously exaggerated," Reed said. "Iran's hardline regime remains in place. It still retains stockpiles of enriched uranium, and its nuclear program remains viable.
"I am concerned that you have been telling the President what he wants to hear instead of what he needs to hear. Bold assurances of success are a disservice to both the commander in chief and the troops who risked their lives based on them. Our military has performed heroically, but military force without a sound strategy is a path to long-term defeat."
Reed also seized on Hegseth's often bellicose rhetoric, in which he has disparaged the need for rules of engagement and vowed to pursue Iranians with "no mercy."
"Too often you have made dangerous statements that are counterproductive to the mission you boasted about," he said. "Quote, 'no stupid rules of engagement,' just days after hundreds of Iranian schoolgirls were tragically killed in a missile strike, you have made troubling statements about showing no mercy and no quarter to the Iranians—orders that would constitute war crimes."
He said that while US forces were in harm's way, Hegseth had devoted his time to personal priorities, including overhauling the Pentagon's chaplain corps and services, cancelling flu vaccine requirements, and barring service personnel from attending certain universities.
Reed also criticised Hegseth's decision this week to invite the singer and rapper Kid Rock to an army base for what he called a "joy ride" on an Apache helicopter, as well as firing multiple senior commanders—frequently on the basis of race or gender—and blocking the promotions of others.
"You are hollowing out our military defensive experience and highest-performing senior officers while making young officers wonder if they should continue to serve," he said.
Hegseth reprised criticisms he had made of Democrats and "some" Republicans at Wednesday's hearing, when he had called critics of the war effort "reckless, feckless and defeatist."
"As I said yesterday, and I'll say it again today, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless naysayers and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans," he said.
He dismissed critics as "defeatists from the cheap seats who two months in seek to undermine the incredible efforts that have been undertaken and the historic nature of taking on a 47-year threat with the courage no other President has had, to great success and great opportunity for preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon."
Hegseth later clashed with two other Democrats, Kirsten Gillibrand and Richard Blumenthal, over his claims that the war had widespread public support and had achieved its goals in militarily defeating Iran.
Gillibrand, a senator from New York, told him: "I don't know if you fully appreciate how much the American people do not support this war. It's an unauthorized war ... Why do you continue to prosecute a war that the American people aren't behind?"
Hegseth replied: "I believe we do have the support of the American people."
Opinion polls have repeatedly indicated that a majority of the US public opposes the war, with many concerned about its economic consequences and the risks of a broader conflict.
Blumenthal, a senator from Connecticut, said: "I know you have characterized this war as an astonishing military success, but the American people aren't buying it. One point is irrefutable: America never succeeds in war unless the American people are behind it, and if what you're seeing as success now is winning, I would hate to see what losing looks like."
He then tried to change the subject, asking Hegseth if he agreed with an assertion by Trump on Thursday that Ukraine had been "militarily defeated" by Russia.
However, the defense secretary sidestepped the question and instead appeared sufficiently stung by Blumenthal's criticism to admit that public support for the Iran campaign was less solid than he claimed—for which he blamed Democrats and the media.
"The negative nature in which you characterize the incredible and historic effort in Iran is part of the reason, senator, why the American people view it the way they do," Hegseth said.
