Hegseth may not be the least qualified Trump nominee. I'd give that "honor" to the just defeated one term member of the House, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who has been nominated to be Sectretary of Labor. She was mayor of Happy Valley, a city in the Portland suburbs with a population of about 26,000. Critics said this was an example of someone falling upwards in their career.
Hegseth was a reserve Army major. Army majors usually serve as specalized executive or operations officers for battallion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers. His being promoted to someone with authority over generals is a far bigger example of falling upwards than Chavez- DeReemer.
I point this out because RawStory published this with the title "The least qualified Trump Cabinet pick ever." They should have used the HaakeTake title, "Hegseth's thin line between lethality and legality." Sabrina Haake's title in HaakeTake was "Hegseth's thin line between lethality and legality." Heseth is unqualified, but what is important is that he is a danger to democracy. He wants to turn the miliary into a version of the SS.
Hegseth said he “thought very deeply about the balance between legality and lethality,” and that when it comes to “destroying the enemy,” i.e., killing people, the law “should not be getting in the way” should have led to Democrats and any Republicans with integrity on the committee saying "well, this hearing is over and walking out.
There is no thin line between legality and lethality in the military. Adding the word "line" to the two words make a nice alliteration. However, only with Hegseth and other itchy trigger fingered soldiers like him, some of whom have been convicted of war crimes, is that this line is thin to the point of being nonexistent. The military addressed the "line" in overseas combat when it comes to deliberately killing civilians. When it comes to targeting civilians when engaged in operations in the United States there are rules too. They are similar to the rules of police and other law enforcement.
It is both instructive and chilling to read "The DoD quietly reissues Directive 5240.01 expanding the use of lethal force against U.S. citizens. "
Quick Summary
- New provisions: The updated directive expands the circumstances under which the DoD can assist law enforcement, including the use of lethal force.
- Assassination explicitly forbidden: While assassination is banned, the new language allows for lethal actions under “imminent threats.”
- Concerns about civil liberties: The expanded definition of “national security threats” is raising alarms, particularly given DHS’s broader definition of domestic terrorism threats.
- High-level approval required: Any intelligence-sharing that could lead to lethal force must be approved by the Secretary of Defense, but Component Heads can act immediately for up to 72 hours before obtaining approval.
Hegseth should have been asked about his familiarity with this directive and pressured to reveal what he thought about it. He should have been confronted with the possiblity of civilians being mowed down by machine guns only the military are able to use.
It should go without saying that the weapons that the U.S. military can deploy were never meant to be used against civilians whether foreign or domestic. In addition to this, as has been pointed out by others, the military has no training in domestic law enforcement.
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