r/politics • u/T_Shurt • 19h ago

Possible Paywall Hegseth Announces Elon Musk and Newt Gingrich Will Help Lead Military

https://newrepublic.com/post/216045/pete-hegseth-elon-musk-newt-gingrich-help-lead-military
22.5k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

4.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

104

u/gmrussell Michigan 19h ago

Pete’s unqualified for his position, but at least he was actually in the military. Musk is a foreign-born citizen with no military experience and Gingrich doesn’t have any, either. None of the three are qualified to be involved in high-level planning, especially with mapping the trajectory of wars, domains, and technologies. 

A skeptic might see this and think “well, Elon has a top secret clearance—so he must be familiar with military technology, right?” To that, I’d answer that clearances involve both the requisite clearance and the need to know. Elon might be aware of certain technology that relates to Space X, but he has no business knowing anything about many of the systems we use stateside or deployed. He’d have no experience with any of that, or even knowledge of it. So, any of that experience shouldn’t in any meaningful way qualify him for this role. Moreover, it means almost certainly giving a foreign-born drug addict access to even more military secrets (this isn’t a dig at foreign-born people or drug addicts in general—just Musk).

Hegseth introduced the autonomous warfare command, a unit focused on robotic, artificial intelligence and drone warfare

Oh perfect. That’s just what we need. Let’s give AI access to our drones and whatever other systems they decide to make autonomous. Surely it won’t ever hallucinate and strike an American citizen in America, or maybe destroy another school filled with children. 

42

u/elite0x33 19h ago

His military career is more of a detriment to his position as SECEF. He was a company grade officer that never held command because senior leaders determined he was an insider threat. He then promoted to MAJ while on inactive reserve (IRR) and has essentially zero field grade officer experience.

He hasn't proven them wrong.

4

u/Unlucky_Topic7963 18h ago

Oh he definitely was on a g-series avoid list.

3

u/cytherian New Jersey 16h ago

That's 100% correct. Hegseth is the first SecDef to serve with really no relevant experience for the role. He's so inept and that was clearly confirmed with this pathetic war he started at Trump's behest (who was pressured by Netanyahu to commence).

1

u/Zombie_John_Strachan Foreign 17h ago

How do you get promoted on inactive reserve? I've never heard of that happening up here in Canada. Once you are on the Supplementary Reserve you stay at your rank.

1

u/gmrussell Michigan 17h ago

It happens here in the states. I haven’t ever heard of it happening for my branch but I have a marine friend who was promoted during IRR

•

u/impulsivepatience 7h ago

Ooo0oh I've never heard the inside threat bit before! Interesting

33

u/sad_cosmic_joke 18h ago

A skeptic might see this and think “well, Elon has a top secret clearance

Top secret clearance is below what would be needed for this kind of work. 

He's not even allowed to be involved in Space-X military operations!

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/why-elon-musk-doesnt-have-access-all-spacexs-top-secret-work-report

There's also an FOIA lawsuit asking clarification on his 'top secret' clearance as that would require a special waver given his public drug use and relationships with foreign nationals.

13

u/Choice-Tiger3047 18h ago

And then there’s the fact that he cheated on his student visa…

1

u/Unlucky_Topic7963 18h ago

Technically a TS is the highest, but then there’s SCI, CI, FSP, and ESS designations. Even then, it depends on the materials, they might be in need to know status, read in, or some materials designator like TRIDENT, etc.

I had a TS/SCI w/ FSP.

5

u/MetallicGray 18h ago

Pete was a major in the NG…  If the joint chief of staffs chair is the CEO of Walmart, Pete would’ve maybe been like a front end supervisor at a random Walmart in Idaho. 

He served, but he was still basically a grunt. 

1

u/gmrussell Michigan 17h ago

I’m well aware of his experience and his lack of qualifications. I was in the military myself, so this isn’t an area I’m unfamiliar with. Which is why I said he’s unqualified for his position.

3

u/Zombie_John_Strachan Foreign 17h ago

I'd argue that previous military experience isn't terribly relevant to the role of SecDef - government experience is. The SecDef needs to set priorities, get the money and exert oversight of the department. That means knowing how Washington works.

Military experience can give some street cred and empathy, but it's a very different set of skills.

1

u/faptastrophe 16h ago

It's also important to have any sort of experience relevant to running a trillion dollar bureaucracy with millions of employees and a global logistics chain which kegbreath definitely lacks.

1

u/Rashere 17h ago

Being in the military doesn't qualify you to lead it. My brother was in the military. I wouldn't let him lead a paintball team.

1

u/gmrussell Michigan 17h ago

Well, I didn’t say that being in the military qualifies anyone to lead it, did I? I was in the military and I’m not qualified to lead it. I’m simply pointing out that these appointees have no experience in the military whatsoever—and that Hegseth’s own experience is quite minimal. Hence why I argue none of them are qualified for their roles.

1

u/Flower-Power-3 13h ago

Elmo don't need experiences, it's Elmo.