A military expert dismissed defense secretary Pete Hegseth's focus on "warfighting" as "macho nonsense."
President Donald Trump tapped the combat veteran and former Fox News host as the U.S. military's civilian leader, but author Thomas Ricks published a column for Politico explaining that Hegseth doesn't seem to understand how to effectively conduct a war.
"The more you know about military operations, the more you understand that you don’t want to focus on fighting," wrote Ricks, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. "That gets people killed — like your kids or grandkids."
The three most important aspects to winning a war are producing the equipment needed to fight, getting those items to where they're needed and then training people to use that stuff, he said.
"During World War II, the United States didn’t prevail by sending troops to die," Ricks wrote. "It won by churning out tanks, trucks, airplanes, ships and ammunition for the Soviets, British and others to use. And to die while using."
Hegseth has complained there are too many officers at large military command centers, but Ricks said those smart, well-trained staff officers are essential for creating and revising war plans.
"A classic example of this was the Casablanca conference of January 1943, at which the American officers were caught short by British preparation," he wrote. "The Brits arrived with rough drafts of a variety of war plans. Indeed, they literally sent a shipload of staff officers to the summit meeting, aboard the HMS Bulolo. Those well-educated, nimble-minded soldiers stood ready to churn out position papers on any subject the Americans raised."
Educated officers are also necessary to setting forth an effective strategy that carries out the will of the military's civilian leaders, Ricks wrote.
"Great tactics without an effective strategy are useless, like a Ferrari without a steering wheel," Ricks wrote. "Yes, that might sound boring on the campaign trail or evening news. But remember that knowing how to actually wage war alongside allies is the way to victory. Not this macho nonsense Hegseth is peddling."