DIGGING DEEPER: Minnesota native tapped to lead Dept. of Defense

FOREST LAKE, Minn. (KTTC) – President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Defense hails from the Twin Cities suburb of Forest Lake.

Pete Hegseth, 44, is an Army veteran and Fox News host.

Trump described Hegseth as "a tough, smart and true believer in America First."

According to the Associated Press, Hegseth's selection could bring sweeping changes to the military.

He has made it clear on his show and in interviews that, like Trump, he is opposed to "woke" programs that promote equity and inclusion.

He has also said female soldiers should not be allowed to fight on the front lines.

"I'm straight up just saying that we should not have women in combat roles," Hegseth said on a recent podcast. "It hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated."

The Pentagon first opened all combat roles to women in 2015, a historic policy shift meant to reflect the changing attitudes of gender-based barriers within the military. Women are more than 17% of the military's active duty force, according to the Defense Department.

The department has a budget exceeding $800 billion, with about 1.3 million active-duty troops and another 1.4 million in the national guard, reserves and civilian employees based worldwide.

If confirmed, Hegseth would face a daunting array of global crises, from the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine and the expanding alliance between Russian and North Korea to the growing competition with China.

As for Hegseth's military service, according the Army, he served in the guard from 2002 to 2021 as an infantry officer, but is not currently serving. He deployed to Iraq in 2005, Afghanistan in 2011 and to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2024. He has two Bronze Stars.

He has been a contributor since 2014 for Fox News, developing a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on his show.