Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark: New Defense Secretary Hegseth Faces ‘Steep Learning Curve’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
Dean: “I do want to get your thoughts on those military planes being used to deport migrants in a moment. But first, I do want to go back to the Pentagon. It now has its new leader in place, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He has to get to work now. What do you see as what he needs to be doing and what he needs to be focusing on?”
Clark: “Well, he‘s got some big challenges ahead and he‘ll have the support of the men and women in uniform. And he‘s got to prove himself. But they‘re going to automatically support him because he‘s the secretary of defense. He‘s got to work the budget that‘s the first thing. He‘s got to participate in policy decisions foremost on what to do about the aid to Ukraine and also assistance to Taiwan. He‘s got to participate as the president‘s directing him in sending troops to the border. He‘s got to look longer term at how he reforms the U.S. defense acquisitions process. We‘re way behind in terms of being able to repair our ships, in terms of getting new equipment out there, in terms of the way we do contracting. There‘s a whole lot of legal stuff on this. And of course, the budget. Now, Senator Roger Wicker, who‘s the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wants to double the defense budget. So what‘s that money going to go into? How quickly can we get it in there? What about the strength of the armed forces and recruiting? The army‘s down to 435, it‘s the lowest it‘s been. We know it‘s hard stretched to cover Asia and Europe and whatever‘s going to be required in Central America and on the border. So we‘ve got multiple problems here. He‘s going to have some able assistance not only from the uniform but from the service secretaries and the deputy secretary of defense. But it‘s going to be a very steep learning curve. It‘s going to be tough.”