Hegseth Expects Use of National Guard to Expand

"Your tenure as secretary has been marked by endless chaos," Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a heated hearing Tuesday. The House Appropriations subcommittee on defense hearing, one of four hearings scheduled over the next week, was the first time Hegseth had faced Congress. In early testimony, he disclosed that the cost of sending Marines and National Guard troops to Los Angeles will be $134 million. The hearing's main focus was budget issues and lawmakers didn't press Hegseth on controversies including Signalgate, reports the AP.

• "Do you have a plan?" The Washington Post reports that Hegseth responded to questions about funding for the Los Angeles deployment and submarine production with "defiant criticisms of Democratic policy decisions." On submarine funding already approved by Congress, DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, interrupted him to ask, "What is your plan for the future? Can we get that in writing and on paper so that we know where you're going? Because we don't have anything today. We have zip, nada."

• Use of National Guard expected to expand. Hegseth suggested there would be more deployments like the one in Los Angeles. "I think we're entering another phase, especially under President Trump with his focus on the homeland, where the National Guard and Reserves become a critical component of how we secure that homeland," he said, per the New York Times. On the LA deployment, he said troops are needed "because we want to ensure that those rioters, looters, and thugs on the other side assaulting our police officers know that we're not going anywhere."
• Drone strikes. Hegseth said that after the Ukrainian strike on Russian airfields, the Pentagon is reviewing drone defenses "so we are not vulnerable to a threat and an attack like that," the AP reports. He said the US is learning from Ukraine—but funding for the country's military will be cut in the next budget. "This administration takes a very different view of that conflict," he said. "We believe that a negotiated peaceful settlement is in the best interest of both parties and our nation's interests."

(More Pete Hegseth stories.)