Pete Hegseth takes over as US Defense Secretary

Washington, Jan 25 Pete Hegseth on Saturday took the oath of office as secretary of defense saying his mission will be to rebuild the US military and establish deterrence.

Pete Hegseth was confirmed by the Senate on Friday in a 50-50 vote with Vice-President J.D. Vance breaking the tie with his vote.

Three Republican senators voted against Hegseth's confirmation, with all 47 Democrats.

Republicans control the 100-member Senate with a 53-47 majority.

Vance's tie-breaker vote put Hegseth over the finishing line, making him the third member of President Donald Trump's Cabinet to be confirmed, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA director John Radcliffe.

Rubio and Hegseth complete the US delegation for future 2+2 ministerial meetings with India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

“We will bring peace through strength,” Hegseth said after being administered the oath of office by Vice President Vance.

"And the three principles I talked about are what we will bring to the Pentagon, restore the warrior ethos in everything that we do, rebuild our military and reestablish deterrence. We don't want to fight wars. We want to deter them, as you said, and we want to end them responsibly. But if we need to fight them, we're going to bring overwhelming and decisive force to close with and destroy the enemy," he added.

During his confirmation hearing, Hegseth had said the US will "work with allies to deter aggression in the Indo Pacific from the Communist Chinese. And finally, we will responsibly end wars to ensure that we prioritise our resources to reorient to larger threats".

During questioning by Senators, Hegseth said the threat from China will be "front and center" for him.

He was introduced at the hearing by Mike Waltz, who is Trump's National Security Adviser, a known anti-China hawk and a co-chair of the India Caucus of the House of Representatives.

Hegseth is a graduate of Princeton University, and has a Graduate Degree from Harvard University.

He served as an army combat veteran who served in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He was decorated with two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

Source: IANS