| HEGSETH: 'YOU GOT TO FIRE THE CHAIRMAN': The first black general to lead a military service — elevated to Air Force chief of staff by then-President Donald Trump — is facing an early retirement from his current post as the nation's top military officer, if Trump's pick to be the next defense secretary is confirmed by the Senate, or installed without "advice and consent" by way of the recess appointment workaround demanded by the president-elect. Trump campaigned on the promise to fire "woke" generals at the Pentagon, as well as any senior officers who "touched" the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal. He found the perfect hatchet man in Pete Hegseth, a decorated Army veteran and Fox News celebrity known for his outspoken disdain for the current military leadership, which he's labeled "feckless" for failing to stand up to "social justice wokesters." Charged with cleaning house, Hegseth, in a pre-Election Day interview before apparently knowing he would be nominated to lead the Pentagon, casually indicated Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. should be the first to go. "First of all, you got to fire, you know, you got to fire the chairman of joint chiefs," Hegseth told host Shawn Ryan, when asked how Trump, if elected, might "course correct" at the Pentagon. "Any general that was involved in any of the DEI shit has to go." BROWN: 'APPRECIATE THE VALUE OF DIVERSITY': Unlike his voluble predecessor, the loquacious Army Gen. Mark Milley, Brown has kept a low profile since his 2023 selection by President Joe Biden to serve as chairman. Taciturn by nature, Brown made a rare first-person video testimonial following the killing of George Floyd in May of 2020, reflecting on his emotions following Floyd's death, the protests that followed, and the discrimination he faced as a black man in the U.S. military. "Thinking of my own experiences that didn't always sing of liberty and equality," said Brown, at the time commander of U.S. Pacific Air Forces. "I'm thinking about my Air Force career, where I was often the only African American in my squadron or, as a senior officer, the only African American in the room." "I think about wearing the same flight suit with the same wings on my chest as my peers, and then being questioned by another military member, 'Are you a pilot?'" Brown said, a stern expression fixed on his face. "I'm thinking about the pressure I felt to perform error-free, especially for supervisors who I perceived as expecting less from me as an African American." Brown said his historic nomination to be chief of staff of the Air Force came with a "heavy burden." He said while he couldn't fix racism in the military nor "decades of discrimination that may have impacted members of the Air Force," he was "thinking of how I can make improvements, personally, professionally, and institutionally so that all airmen, both today and tomorrow, appreciate the value of diversity and can serve in an environment where they can reach their full potential." That kind of talk got Brown sideways with Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who voted against Brown's confirmation as chairman last year, complaining that Brown's efforts to recruit and promote racial minorities were "destroying our military from within." "Our military is not an equal opportunity employer," Tuberville said. "We're looking for the best of the best to do whatever. We're not looking for different groups, social justice groups." 'WHAT A BUNCH OF GARBAGE': Hegseth waged a war on diversity and argued the U.S. military does not have a race problem. "Men don't give a shit what your skin color is, as long as you get the job done," writes in his bestselling book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free, published earlier this year. "Equality is our bedrock, lethality our trademark. There is no black and white in our ranks," Hegseth writes. "We are all green. Our strength is not in our diversity, but in our unity and in our love for each other, our families, and, most of all, our nation." "The dumbest phrase on planet Earth in the military is our diversity is our strength," Hegseth told Shawn Ryan in his podcast interview. "The Pentagon likes to say 'our diversity is our strength,'" Hegseth said on Fox in June. "What a bunch of garbage." "When I think about my career in uniform, in almost every instance where there has been poor leadership or people in positions they're not qualified for, it was based on either the reality or the perception of a 'diversity hire,'" he wrote. "I could tell you stories but will spare the guilty the unnecessary shame; all were good men, they just were not qualified leaders." "Only the most racist passenger would be offended to discover that his pilot is black, but no passenger would be happy to know that their pilot was flying their plane because of a program that allowed lesser qualified individuals into the pilot's chair in the name of 'inclusion,'" he writes at another point. PETE HEGSETH PENTAGON PICK IS CONTROVERSIAL, BUT HIS RESUME IS MORE THAN JUST FOX NEWS HOST Good Thursday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre's Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Christopher Tremoglie. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn't work, shoot us an email and we'll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP OR READ BACK ISSUES OF DAILY ON DEFENSE NOTE TO READERS: Beginning next week Daily on Defense will be on an extended Thanksgiving break from Nov. 18-29. HAPPENING TODAY: President Joe Biden is headed to Lima, Peru, this morning, where he will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. However, the highlight of the trip is set to occur on the sidelines. Biden will meet face-to-face with China's President Xi Jinping, the third in-person meeting between the two leaders since Biden has been president. Now a lame duck, Biden is expected to reassure Xi that the transition to the Trump administration need not worsen the already tense relationship between the two nations. "Transitions are uniquely consequential moments in geopolitics. They're a time when competitors and adversaries can see possible opportunity," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said yesterday. "And so part of what President Biden will communicate is that we need to maintain stability, clarity, predictability through this transition between the United States and China." RUBIO WINS BIPARTISAN PLAUDITS: While the nominations of Pete Hegseth, Matt Gaetz, and Tulsi Gabbard have alarmed Democrats, and even some Republicans, the choice of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to be Trump's secretary of state is drawing broad, bipartisan praise. "I have worked with Marco Rubio for more than a decade on the Intelligence Committee, particularly closely in the last couple of years in his role as Vice Chairman, and while we don't always agree, he is smart, talented, and will be a strong voice for American interests around the globe," Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said in a statement. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) praised Rubio's "unwavering commitment to upholding democracy and freedom in the face of rising authoritarianism from our adversaries." "President-elect Trump made an outstanding decision selecting Sen. Rubio as America's top diplomat," Turner said in a statement. "I'm confident he will bring the same dedication to promoting American diplomacy as the next U.S. Secretary of State." Rubio pledged to "work every day" to carry out Trump's foreign policy agenda in his statement. "Leading the U.S. Department of State is a tremendous responsibility, and I am honored by the trust President Trump has placed in me." "As Secretary of State, I will work every day to carry out his foreign policy agenda. Under the leadership of President Trump, we will deliver peace through strength and always put the interests of Americans and America above all else. I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the U.S. Senate so the President has his national security and foreign policy team in place when he takes office on January 20." WASHINGTON REACTS AFTER TRUMP TAPS GAETZ FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL: 'SHOCKED' RUSSIA'S DESPERATE OFFENSIVE: Russian President Vladimir Putin appears intent on reclaiming territory lost to Ukraine in the Kursk region, assembling a large counteroffensive force with orders to push Ukrainian troops out before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, according to Western analysts. "Augmented by 10,000 North Korean servicemen, the Russian military has amassed 50,000 troops for a large-scale counteroffensive to reclaim the Russian region of Kursk from Ukrainian forces," Can Kasapoglu, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute wrote in a military situation report published Wednesday. "Open-source intelligence suggests that the campaign has already begun — at an overwhelming operational tempo." "According to Ukrainian officials, the North Korean contingent, divided into an assault detachment and a group of supporting forces, is engaged in combat operations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov have stated that Pyongyang's troops have already suffered casualties," the assessment states. "Ukraine's accumulated gains in Kursk have significant strategic implications and provide Kyiv with considerable diplomatic leverage," Kasapoglu wrote. "If United States President-elect Donald Trump seeks to impose a ceasefire and bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table, Kyiv will be able to use the Russian territory it holds as a bargaining chip. The Kremlin is working to expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk to deprive Kyiv of this leverage before the new U.S. administration takes office." "The Kremlin is attempting to dictate the terms of any potential 'peace' negotiations with Ukraine in advance of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration," the Institute for the Study War says in its latest war assessment. "The manner in which the Kremlin is trying to set its terms for negotiations strongly signals that Russia's objectives remain unchanged and still amount to full Ukrainian capitulation. The Kremlin does not appear any more willing to make concessions to the incoming Trump administration than it was to the current administration." BLINKEN PROMISES 'FIRM RESPONSE' TO NORTH KOREAN SOLDIERS FIGHTING IN UKRAINE VOLKER: 'YOU HAVE TO CONVINCE PUTIN TO STOP': Kurt Volker, the former U.S. ambassador to NATO, says the only way for Trump to end the war with what he would consider a "fair peace" is to get tough with Putin. "What he has said is he wants to end the war, and he wants there to be peace, and he wants it to be a fair peace. Those are pretty much the only quotes he has said, other than, of course, to say that this would never have happened if he was president, which is kind of a poke at what he sees as weakness in the Biden administration," Volker said on CNN this week. "In order to end the war, you have to convince Putin to stop. The only reason there is a war is that he's attacked Ukraine, and he keeps attacking. And the only thing that will cause Putin to stop is the clarity in Putin's mind that there will be enough force ahead of him and it will take long enough and it will be so costly for Russia that he needs to stop," Volker argued. "And that's what we have to try to put together, a way of stopping Putin because he concludes that it's too costly and then a peace and then to try to turn that peace into a permanent peace, which I would say ideally is through NATO membership for Ukraine." TOM ROGAN OPINION: HOW TRUMP CAN DEAL EFFECTIVELY WITH PUTIN CABINET WATCH: With three more announcements Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump continues to move quickly to nominate his Cabinet, and appoint key officials to his administration. Here's the line-up so far. - Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), secretary of state
- Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense
- Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Attorney General
- Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence
- John Ratcliffe, CIA director
- Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL), national security adviser
- Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD),secretary of homeland security
- Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) ambassador to the United Nations.
- Mike Huckabee, ambassador to Israel
- Steven Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East
- Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff
- Stephen Miller, deputy White House chief of staff for policy
- William McGinley, White House counsel
- Tom Homan, 'border czar'
Former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), EPA administrator TRUMP CABINET PICKS: WHO THE PRESIDENT-ELECT HAS CHOSEN FOR KEY POSTS IN HIS ADMINISTRATION THE RUNDOWN: Washington Examiner: Pete Hegseth Pentagon pick is controversial, but his resume is more than just Fox News host Washington Examiner: Washington reacts after Trump taps Gaetz for attorney general: 'Shocked' Washington Examiner: Byron York Opinion: What the Hegseth nomination means Washington Examiner: Trump taps Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence Washington Examiner: Tom Rogan Opinion: Senate GOP must stop Tulsi Gabbard from getting keys to intelligence castle Washington Examiner: CIA official charged with leaking classified documents about Israel's military Washington Examiner: Trump national security picks: Loyalty, America First, and staunchly pro-Israel Washington Examiner: Blinken urges Israel to 'end the war' after accomplishing its 'strategic goals' in Gaza Washington Examiner: Blinken promises 'firm response' to North Korean soldiers fighting in Ukraine Washington Examiner: West Point effort to hide DEI campaign called out Washington Examiner: Jack Smith to resign and wind down cases against Trump before inauguration Washington Examiner: Tom Rogan Opinion: How Trump can deal effectively with Putin Washington Examiner: Tom Rogan Opinion: Biden shows Trump how to lose patriotically Military.com: ‘It Could Be Very Hard to Do Our Job’: Top Military Officers Brace for Trump’s Potential Loyalty Review Boards Washington Post: U.S. Will Rush Support To Ukraine Before Trump Takes Office, Blinken Says AP: Ukrainian soldiers focus on keeping Russian advances at bay and brace for storm to come from US Wall Street Journal: The 'Deathonomics' Powering Russia's War Machine Reuters: US Concerned by Russia-North Korea Ties and Technology Exchanges Fox News: U.S. Forces Target Houthi Weapons Storage Facilities In Yemen Over The Weekend: CENTCOM Business Insider: Every Kind Of F-35 Has Now Seen Combat After A Carrier-Based Stealth Fighter Struck The Houthis Reuters: Beirut Bombing Victims’ $1.68 Billion Iran Judgment Overturned By U.S. Appeals Court Defense News: Pentagon Announces New Batch of Drones for Replicator Program Defense One: Air Force Ordering More Robot Wingmen for Its Experimentation Unit SpaceNews: Trump's Second Term Could Push Space Force to Take Bolder Stance USNI News: Naval Reactors: Virginia-Class Will Extend To Block VIII, SSN(X) Start In 2040s Wall Street Journal: Former Pentagon Official on UFOs: 'We Are Not Alone' AP: Israel's West Bank settlers hope Trump's return will pave the way for major settlement expansion Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force: First CCA Models Pass Critical Design Review as Future Plans Being Debated Air & Space Forces Magazine: USAF's New Force Design, Still a Secret, Will Be 'Fiscally Informed' Air & Space Forces Magazine: 'The United States Needs More Air Force': Allvin Makes the Case for More Funding Air & Space Forces Magazine: USAF Will Withdraw A-10s from Final Overseas Base in Korea in 2025 Air & Space Forces Magazine: Could Military Orders Via Tweet Return In Trump's Second Term? THE CALENDAR: THURSDAY | NOVEMBER 14 7 a.m. 2799 Richmond Hwy., Arlington, Virginia — Naval Submarine League Symposium and Industry Update: “Posture for the Future,” with Rep. Robert Wittman (R-VA); Rear Adm. Douglas Adams, program executive officer, Undersea Warfare Systems; and Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe, director, Strategic Systems Programs https://navalsubleague.org/events/asiu 8:45 a.m. 999 Ninth St. NW — American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security 34th Review of the Field of National Security Law Continuing Legal Education Conference: "National Security Law in the Era of Great Power Competition,” with former Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI); retired Adm. James Winnefeld, chair, President’s Intelligence Advisory Board https://events.americanbar.org/event/cbc 9:30 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: "What to Expect from Trump 2.0 for Korea?” with Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Washington Post Tokyo bureau chief; Jeongmin Kim, NK News lead correspondent; Victor Cha, CSIS Korea chair; and Mark Lippert, CSIS nonresident senior adviser https://www.csis.org/events/what-expect-trump 9:30 p.m. — Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies virtual discussion: “The U.S. Election – Where Does It Leave Europe?” with Majda Ruge, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations; Nathalie Tocci, director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali; and Renaud Dehousse, SAIS Europe rector https://sais.jhu.edu/campus-events 10 a.m. — Middle East Institute virtual discussion: “Rethinking the U.S. Response to Iran’s Levers of Destabilizing Regional Influence,” with Nadwa Al-Dawsari, MEI non-resident scholar; Robert Ford, MEI senior fellow; Charles Lister, senior fellow and director of the MEI Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism Program; Paul Salem, MEI vice president for international engagement; and Patricia Karam, MEI non-resident scholar and senior adviser https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register 10 a.m. — Wilson Center Global Europe Program virtual discussion: “Surviving and Thriving: Ukraine’s Economy During and After the War,” with former Ukrainian Minister of Finance Natalie Jaresko; Artem Gergun, adviser to Rada Economic Affairs Committee Chairman Dmytro Natalukha; and Mariana Budjeryn, senior research associate, Harvard University Belfer Center Project on Managing the Atom https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/surviving-and-thriving-ukraines-economy 12 p.m. — New America virtual book discussion: Illusions of Control: Dilemmas in Managing U.S. Proxy Forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, with author Erica Gaston, Columbia University adjunct professor https://www.newamerica.org/future-security/events/illusions-of-control 1 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion: “Readying the Navy’s Platforms: More Players on the Field,” with Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby https://www.csis.org/events/readying-navys-platforms 2:30 p.m.2247 Rayburn — Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe hearing: “Axis of Aggressors: Russia, China and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Against Ukraine,” with Peter Mattis, Jamestown Foundation president; Claire Chu, principal analyst for geoeconomic threat intelligence at Janes; Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Center for a New American Security senior fellow; and Behnam Ben Taleblu, FFD senior fellow https://www.youtube.com/live 4 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW — Atlantic Council discussion: “Putting AI to Work for National Security," with acting Navy Chief Technology Officer Justin Fanelli, technical director of PEO Digital; Caitlin Dohrman, CEO of Tangram Flex; Mihai Filip, CEO of Oves Enterprise; and Sean Moriarty, CEO of Primer.ai https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/putting-ai-to-work FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 15 10 a.m. — Henry Stimson Center virtual discussion: “Post U.S. Election: Compromise or Confrontation with Iran?” with Fatemah Aman, Middle East Institute nonresident senior fellow; Nicole Grajewski, fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Nuclear Policy Program; Naysan Rafati, International Crisis Group; Iran senior analyst; and Behnam Ben Taleblu, Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior fellow https://www.stimson.org/event/post-u-s-election 9 a.m. 999 Ninth St. NW — American Bar Association Standing Committee on Law and National Security 34th Review of the Field of National Security Law Continuing Legal Education Conference: “National Security Law in the Era of Great Power Competition,” with former Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), chairwoman of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy; White House Special Adviser on Artificial Intelligence Ben Buchanan https://events.americanbar.org/event 10 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW — Wilson Center Cold War International History Project discussion: “Triggering the Cold War: New Perspectives on Misperceptions and Misjudgments,” with Zhihua Shen, director of the East China Normal University at Shanghai’s Center for Cold War International History Studies https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/triggering-cold-war 11 a.m. 1957 E St. NW — George Washington University Institute for Korean Studies Korea Policy Forum: “Perspectives on the U.S.-Republic of Korea Alliance after the U.S. Presidential Election,” with former ROK Foreign Affairs Minister Park Jin https://calendar.gwu.edu/event/korea-policy-forum 12:30 p.m. 1957 E St. NW — George Washington University discussion: “The 2024 Elections in Europe and the U.S.: Implications for Democracy and Foreign Policy,” with William Drozdiak, global fellow at the Wilson Center Global Europe Program; Idrees Kahloon, Washington bureau chief for The Economist; and Kimberly Morgan, GWU professor of political science and director of GWU’s European and Eurasian Studies Program https://calendar.gwu.edu/event/the-2024-elections-in-europe 4 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW — Center for Strategic and International Studies book discussion: Threat Multiplier: Climate, Military Leadership, and the Fight for Global Security, with author Sherri Goodman, former deputy Defense undersecretary for environmental security; former Deputy Defense Secretary Rudy de Leon; and retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro https://www.csis.org/events/threat-multiplier-climate-military-leadership WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 20 10 a.m. — House Committee on Homeland Security hearing: "Worldwide Threats," with testimony from DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas; FBI Director Christopher Wray; and Bret Holmgren, acting director, National Counterterrorism Center https://homeland.house.gov/hearings MONDAY | NOVEMBER 25 11 a.m. — Brookings Institution virtual book discussion: Bombing to provoke: Rockets, missiles, and drones as instruments of fear and coercion, with Michael O'Hanlon, senior fellow, Brookings; Sarah Kreps, Cornell University; Bruce Riedel, nonresident senior fellow, Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings; and Jaganath "Jay" Sankaran, nonresident fellow, Brookings https://www.brookings.edu/events/bombing-to-provoke | | | | "I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated." | | Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, in a podcast interview, before President Donald Trump announced his nomination. |
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