President-elect Donald Trump announced he’s nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be his secretary of defense, an unexpected selection that sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill.

The announcement was met with initial surprise, but quick acceptance, from congressional Republicans. Hegseth’s name had not been floated in any public reporting about the role and he reportedly was not contacted about the job until Monday. Hegseth’s selection marks a significant departure from the rest of Trump’s national security team, which has largely drawn from current and former members of Congress.

Hegseth is an Army National Guard officer who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay; a major in the Army Reserve; a Princeton and Harvard graduate; a two-time Bronze Star recipient; a longtime conservative and veteran activist; and a short-lived U.S. Senate candidate. But he’s best known for his role on Fox News, where he’s currently a weekend host.

Hegseth has no apparent leadership experience at the scale of the massive agency and no known experience in policy making or analysis, apart from a brief stint at the Manhattan Institute.

He was reportedly an adviser to Trump on military issues in his first term, particularly urging the pardons of service members accused of war crimes, and was considered to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Several lawmakers told Jewish Insider they weren’t familiar enough with Hegseth to offer their respective opinions.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) called the pick “interesting” without commenting further.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) responded, “Wow,” and said she was surprised.

Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) said, “I don’t have a sense of his background or his vision for the department.” He did not elaborate.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), told by reporters about the pick, said, “Oh really? … I’d have to think about that.”

But Senate Republicans, who were meeting to discuss their next majority leader when Hegseth’s nomination was announced, appeared to quickly warm to the choice, indicating that Hegseth has a strong chance of confirmation.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) told JI, “I think he’s going to be a very strong secretary of defense.” Pressed on his qualifications, Ernst said, “he served in the 34th infantry division which is also based out of Minnesota and Iowa.”

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) told JI that “the combo of Mike Waltz and Pete Hegseth is going to be powerful,” adding, “these guys are focused on lethality and peace through strength, and going after our real adversaries. Read his bio, it’s going to be a good combo.”

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said he was going to consider Hegseth’s nomination while acknowledging that he did not know much about the Fox News host. 

“I’m going to look at his bio, but most certainly, it sounds to me like it is very impressive at this stage of the game. I’m excited to go back and meet with him, talk with him, but I think so far the president has made some excellent choices,” Rounds told JI.

“We’ll do our due diligence, but I’m not going to start out by complaining,” Rounds continued. “I want to find out more about him as well, but he sure looks like he’s got a good background, and one that would serve. We need some energy over there in the Department of Defense and we clearly have to have a different direction than what we’re going right now.”

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said he was “surprised” by the news of Hegseth’s nomination, adding that he intended to reach out directly later Tuesday evening and was excited by the pick. 

“I was surprised. I haven’t talked to him. I’m going to text him as soon as I get out of here. I think he’s right in line with the whole peace through strength and Donald Trump’s America First way of negotiating every situation through strength,” Cramer told JI. “He’s consistent with the rest of the picks. I think he’s great. He’s going to need help. He’s going to manage a really, really, really big, diverse, tough department, but he’s got that Trump doctrine down, that’s for sure.”

“I like Pete. I’m grateful for his service and strong leadership,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said. 

After being asked by JI about Hegseth’s nomination, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) responded: “That’s the first I’ve heard of it, so I’d have to think about it. I’ve seen him on TV. I don’t know that much about his background. Obviously, he’s a veteran, one of the finest among us, so it’s not a bad deal.” 

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, whose name had been floated for the job, said he didn’t know Hegseth and had never met him.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the Armed Services ranking member, said he had “no earthly idea who [Hegseth] was” before the pick was announced, that Hegseth’s “lack of experience is concerning” and that he was concerned “that he does not seem to have a particular background around DoD, but I guess we’ll see what he has to say.”

Smith added that Hegseth appears to lack the managerial experience to run “the biggest bureaucracy in the world” and has no apparent relationships with overseas partners, something Smith said would be critical given the multiple global conflicts currently raging. He said that Hegseth’s military experience is “helpful,” but also emphasized the principle of civilian control of the military and said that the skill-set involved is significantly different.

Hegseth has advocated for an aggressive approach to Iran, encouraging Trump in early 2020 to threaten attacks on Iranian infrastructure, oil facilities, nuclear facilities and potentially cultural sites if they are being used to store weapons.

“If we’re going to fight to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, this regime, then we need to rewrite the rules that are advantageous to us,” he said, suggesting that international laws are “rigged to help [Iran] so that we can’t win.”

Hegseth said more recently that the U.S. should allow Israel to attack Iran and remove any restrictions placed on it.

In an interview with the Jewish Press in 2016, Hegseth emphasized his evangelical upbringing and said that his service in the military taught him “where Israel fits and where antisemitism comes from” and to appreciate the Jewish people and Israel. 

“I understand how geopolitically we are linked and how critical it is that we stand by such a strong ally,” he continued. 

He offered praise for Israel’s “pervasive sense of purpose” and said there is much the U.S. can learn from its ally.

“God’s people in the state of Israel understand their role,” Hegseth continued. “That understanding fortifies their ability to defend free people, democracy, and self-governance – all the bedrock principles of the West. When I look at Israel, these are the principles I absorb and say we need to remind America of.”

Hegseth expressed concern at the time about antisemitism being tolerated and promoted in higher education and recently hosted a Fox streaming series about the issue, investigating antisemitic campus protests.

Hegseth has been a critic of U.S. funding for Ukraine, accusing the administration of ignoring domestic issues. On Fox in 2022, Hegseth said that the war in Ukraine “pales in comparison to the crime I see in my streets, to the wokeness I see in my culture, to the inflation I see in my pocketbook, to the real border I care about, which is the southern border, which is wide open.”

He’s also been outspoken against diversity efforts at the Pentagon, and called for the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and any senior officers involved in diversity programs to be fired.

Leading voices in the conservative foreign policy space are also lining up behind the pick.

Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, called Hegseth a “great choice.”

Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at FDD who served on the National Security Council in the first Trump administration, said Hegseth is “a true patriot and great American. Aligned on views and values with the president and his other key senior national security nominees. Great instincts.”

Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, said, citing recent comments by Hegseth, that observers should “expect more U.S. support for Israel and covert action and sabotage operations,” calling Hegseth’s approach “Ayatollah Khamenei’s worst nightmare.”