‘Profound Fear and Anxiety Among Women in Uniform’: Pentagon Reacts to Allegations Against Hegseth

The release of a police report with graphic details of sexual assault allegations against Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Defense secretary, is stoking concerns among current and former Defense Department officials that the agency could backslide on efforts to put an end to those abuses in the military.

Officials fear that Hegseth, whose nomination had already caused controversy due to his opposition to women serving in combat, could also hurt efforts to recruit women into the military.

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Katherine Kuzminski, director of the Military, Veterans, and Society program at the Center for a New American Security, a left-leaning think tank, pointed out that women at the Pentagon are concerned over a number of policies that will be under fire in the Trump administration. They include rules around women serving in combat and the litany of diversity programs within the department.

All of those efforts “are all DOD policy, not law, and so would be within [Hegseth’s] control,” she said. “The question then, is the impact that that might have on specifically the Army and the Marine Corps, given the opening of combat positions to women and just the overall culture within the services.”

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