Donald Trump puts Fox News host Pete Hesgeth in charge of world's most powerful military

The president elect worried Washington insiders with his decision to appoint the untested TV anchor as head of the Department of Defence with a budget of £800billion and over 2.5 million employees

Donald Trump has caused alarm by nominating a Fox News host with no political experience to be head on the US armed forces.

He worried Washington insiders with his decision to appoint the untested TV anchor as head of the world ’s most powerful armed forces.

Pete Hegseth, an Army National Guard captain, co-hosts Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend,” on which Trump has appeared multiple times.

Many in Washington and the Pentagon have expressed concern at Trump’s choice, passing over many more experienced candidates for the TV personality, while others called Hegseth’s combat experience an asset or said he was “tremendously capable”.

The Fox News host has made clear on his show that he is deeply opposed to “woke” programs to promote equity and inclusion. The 44-year-old has also previously said that allowing women to serve in combat makes the US military less lethal.

“Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat, that means casualties are worse,” Hegseth said during an interview on “The Shawn Ryan Show” podcast.

Trump has praised Hegseth as “tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” however others have pointed out his lack of experience, with some suggesting he could be Pentagon chief in name only as the Trump White House runs the department.

Trump passed over a number of candidates with extensive national security experience in favour of Hegseth. Retired generals, the former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and former Pentagon officials were overlooked.

“There is reason for concern that this is not a person who is a serious enough policymaker, serious enough policy implementer, to do a successful job,” said Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Meanwhile Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Hegseth’s lack of experience at a senior level would make it harder to get the senate to confirm his appointment.

“I think Trump was tired of fighting with his secretaries of defence and picked one who would be loyal to him,” Cancian said.

A senior military officer, speaking anonymously, said Hegseth’s selection is raising concerns about whether he has the practical experience to manage a large department with an enormous budget. The Defense Department gets $800 billion in funding and is in charge of 1.3 million active-duty troops and another 1.4 million in the National Guard, Reserves and civilian employees based worldwide, the Associated Press reports.

Adam Smith said while Hegseth’s experience of combat is a bonus, he questioned if he had the ability to govern an organisation the size of the pentagon. “What’s your plan? What are you going to do? ... How can you assure us that that lack of experience, you know, isn’t going to make it impossible for you to do the job?” Smith said. “I think those are questions that need to be answered over the next couple of months.”

Hegseth became friends with Trump after the president-elect appeared on his Fox News show multiple times. In a statement Trump said: “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.”

“Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy.”