<p><img src="/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2025/01/20/USAT/77836696007-2194353713.jpg?crop=4479,2521,x0,y231&width=660&height=371&format=pjpg&auto=webp" width="100%" /><p>This column really should be saved for April Fool’s Day, but current events pushed it up. I want to be the U.S. secretary of Defense.</p><p>Don’t laugh, hear me out.</p><h2>Hegseth's résumé: Fox News, think tanks</h2><img width="100%" /><p>The nominee for the secretary of Defense is Pete Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran and <a href="/story/news/politics/2024/11/12/fox-host-and-combat-vet-pete-hegseth-gets-nod-for-defense-secretary/76236081007/">a former TV host with a graduate degree</a> and experience working at <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine-special-section/3233947/meet-pete-hegseth-veteran-culture-warrior-picked-lead-us-military/">a think tank and nonprofit advocacy groups</a>. I think I can beat that résumé.</p><p>I was <a href="https://ballstatepbs.org/the-roundtable/">host of a syndicated public affairs TV show</a>. It was on PBS, not Fox News, so the viewership was smaller. My show also wasn’t as flashy as Hegseth’s. For example, on one episode, he <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fox-friends-co-host-faces-lawsuit-man-he-hit-axe-n883291">accidentally hit a soldier with an ax</a> during a Flag Day ax throwing demonstration.</p><p>Based on TV exposure, Pete Hegseth beats Mike Hicks. Of course, across the United States, there are tens of thousands of other people with more TV exposure than he has.</p><p>Hegseth is also an educated man, holding bachelor’s and master’s degrees. His senior thesis adviser was current <a href="https://x.com/PatrickDeneen/status/1856553167561150727">Notre Dame professor Patrick Deneen</a>, whom <a href="/story/opinion/columnists/2024/10/28/micah-beckwith-christian-nationalism-catholic-integralism/75885994007/">I’ve recently criticized for his anti-constitutional support</a> for Catholic Integralism in America. While Hegseth’s intellectual journey led him more toward Christian nationalism than Catholic Integralism, both are ideologies that reject the First Amendment in ways that are disqualifying for political office.</p><p><strong>Opinion:</strong><a href="/story/opinion/columnist/2025/01/15/hegseth-confirmation-hearing-trump-cabinet/77698826007/">Pete Hegseth is apparently the best Republicans have to offer. Wow.</a></p><p>I’m not going to belabor <a href="https://www.bsu.edu/-/media/www/departmentalcontent/cber/pdfs/vita/michael-hicks-vita-october-2019.pdf?sc_lang=en">my educational experience</a>. In this domain, Mike Hicks beats Pete Hegseth, leaving us tied 1-1. Here in Muncie alone, there are about 14,000 people with more academic credentials than Hegseth.</p><p>Hegseth has worked with a couple of think tanks. I’ve worked at a think tank and continue to publish work with at least two. <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/pete-hegseths-secret-history">According to The New Yorker</a>, "Hegseth was forced to step down by both of the two nonprofit advocacy groups that he ran ‒ Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America."</p><p>When it comes to the think tank experience, Mike Hicks beats Pete Hegseth. But again: There are a hundred thousand Americans with more experience than Hegseth in the think tank world – who haven’t been canned from their jobs for financial mismanagement.</p><p>That leads us to comparisons of military experience.</p><h2>Hegseth's military service is worthy of pride</h2><p>Hegseth was an infantry officer who <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pete-Hegseth">rose to the rank of major</a> in the National Guard. He was awarded <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/pete-hegseth-confirmation-hearing/card/what-is-hegseth-s-military-record--UkhIqh041E12Vw9Ue1Ar">two Bronze Stars and two Commendation Medals</a> for that service. He led a platoon (roughly 30 soldiers) and served in staff positions elsewhere, including tours in Afghanistan and Iraq as a Guard augmentee to regular Army units.</p><p>That is creditable military service, about which he should be proud.</p><a href="/picture-gallery/news/politics/2025/01/14/pete-hegseth-trump-defense-secretary-pick-confirmation-hearing/77697309007/"><img width="100%" /></a><p>I, too, was an infantry officer, who rose to the rank of <a href="https://www.bsu.edu/-/media/www/departmentalcontent/cber/pdfs/vita/michael-hicks-vita-october-2019.pdf?sc_lang=en">lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve</a>. I was awarded a single Bronze Star medal and two Commendation Medals for that service, along with a lot of other awards. I led a platoon, a company and commanded as a lieutenant colonel. My service included a peacekeeping tour and combat in Desert Storm, serving as a regular Army soldier in an elite Army division. My last staff position was as chief of plans of U.S. Army Japan.</p><p>I spent three times as long serving in the regular Army and twice as long in the Reserve forces – and qualified for retirement. I commanded 10 times more soldiers than Hegseth did before I was even promoted to captain.</p><p><strong>Opinion:</strong><a href="/story/opinion/voices/2025/01/14/trump-cabinet-confirmation-hearings-pete-hegseth-sexual-assault/77670798007/">Trump wants to stack his Cabinet with men like Hegseth. Is #MeToo history?</a></p><p>For the critical position of secretary of Defense, based on military experience, I easily beat Hegseth. That moves me to a commanding lead of 3-1 on the major résumé items for SECDEF.</p><p>All this comes with a caveat: I’m not remotely qualified to be Defense secretary. I am, however, smart enough to recognize that.</p><p>In fact, if I were to walk into the Pentagon today, about 80% of the men and women in that building would be more qualified than I am to be the SECDEF. For Hegseth, the number is closer to 100%. In fact, there about 300,000 current active-duty soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen who are more qualified than Hegseth.</p><p>Heck, there are even thousands of Space Force Guardians more qualified to lead the Department of Defense than the current nominee.</p><h2>Trump Cabinet qualifications that matter most</h2><p>Hegseth has two characteristics that make him perfectly suited to work for President Donald Trump.</p><p>First, he doesn’t give a whit about our Constitution. Indeed, he seems eager to fire generals based solely on their willingness to obey the legal orders of the reelected president. I wonder, though, if he knows that obeying legal orders (and disobeying illegal ones) is a job requirement for a military officer.</p><p>Second, Hegseth’s private life provides close parallels to those of the 47th president. That likely allows him a special connection to Trump. Unlike most Americans, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pete-hegseth-background-defense-secretary-confirmation-hearing-e160e10c86385a8beff110d9190fb34e">Hegseth has cheated</a> on at least two of his three wives, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/pete-hegseths-secret-history">divorcing two</a>.</p><p>Hegseth clearly lacks the character and judgment for any important leadership position, in government or the private sector. But even if that were not the case and his personal life was a model of sobriety and high character, he would still be the most unqualified person ever nominated for any Cabinet position in U.S. history.</p><p>This should’ve been an April Fool’s column, but this is January and the joke is on all of us.</p><p>Michael J. Hicks is the director of the <a href="https://www.bsu.edu/academics/centersandinstitutes/cber/about-us/staff/hicksmichael#:~:text=Room%3AWB%20149-,Michael%20J.,Research%20at%20Ball%20State%20University.">Center for Business and Economic Research</a> and the George and Frances Ball distinguished professor of economics in the Miller College of Business at Ball State University. This<a href="/story/opinion/columnists/2025/01/16/pete-hegseth-resume-trump-nomination-defense/77721020007/">column originally appeared in the Indianapolis Star</a>.</p></p>
This column really should be saved for April Fool’s Day, but current events pushed it up. I want to be the U.S. secretary of Defense.
Don’t laugh, hear me out.
Hegseth's résumé: Fox News, think tanks
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The nominee for the secretary of Defense is Pete Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran and a former TV host with a graduate degree and experience working at a think tank and nonprofit advocacy groups. I think I can beat that résumé.
I was host of a syndicated public affairs TV show. It was on PBS, not Fox News, so the viewership was smaller. My show also wasn’t as flashy as Hegseth’s. For example, on one episode, he accidentally hit a soldier with an ax during a Flag Day ax throwing demonstration.
Based on TV exposure, Pete Hegseth beats Mike Hicks. Of course, across the United States, there are tens of thousands of other people with more TV exposure than he has.
Hegseth is also an educated man, holding bachelor’s and master’s degrees. His senior thesis adviser was current Notre Dame professor Patrick Deneen, whom I’ve recently criticized for his anti-constitutional support for Catholic Integralism in America. While Hegseth’s intellectual journey led him more toward Christian nationalism than Catholic Integralism, both are ideologies that reject the First Amendment in ways that are disqualifying for political office.
Opinion:Pete Hegseth is apparently the best Republicans have to offer. Wow.
I’m not going to belabor my educational experience. In this domain, Mike Hicks beats Pete Hegseth, leaving us tied 1-1. Here in Muncie alone, there are about 14,000 people with more academic credentials than Hegseth.
Hegseth has worked with a couple of think tanks. I’ve worked at a think tank and continue to publish work with at least two. According to The New Yorker, "Hegseth was forced to step down by both of the two nonprofit advocacy groups that he ran ‒ Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America."
When it comes to the think tank experience, Mike Hicks beats Pete Hegseth. But again: There are a hundred thousand Americans with more experience than Hegseth in the think tank world – who haven’t been canned from their jobs for financial mismanagement.
That leads us to comparisons of military experience.
Hegseth's military service is worthy of pride
Hegseth was an infantry officer who rose to the rank of major in the National Guard. He was awarded two Bronze Stars and two Commendation Medals for that service. He led a platoon (roughly 30 soldiers) and served in staff positions elsewhere, including tours in Afghanistan and Iraq as a Guard augmentee to regular Army units.
That is creditable military service, about which he should be proud.
![]()
I, too, was an infantry officer, who rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve. I was awarded a single Bronze Star medal and two Commendation Medals for that service, along with a lot of other awards. I led a platoon, a company and commanded as a lieutenant colonel. My service included a peacekeeping tour and combat in Desert Storm, serving as a regular Army soldier in an elite Army division. My last staff position was as chief of plans of U.S. Army Japan.
I spent three times as long serving in the regular Army and twice as long in the Reserve forces – and qualified for retirement. I commanded 10 times more soldiers than Hegseth did before I was even promoted to captain.
Opinion:Trump wants to stack his Cabinet with men like Hegseth. Is #MeToo history?
For the critical position of secretary of Defense, based on military experience, I easily beat Hegseth. That moves me to a commanding lead of 3-1 on the major résumé items for SECDEF.
All this comes with a caveat: I’m not remotely qualified to be Defense secretary. I am, however, smart enough to recognize that.
In fact, if I were to walk into the Pentagon today, about 80% of the men and women in that building would be more qualified than I am to be the SECDEF. For Hegseth, the number is closer to 100%. In fact, there about 300,000 current active-duty soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen who are more qualified than Hegseth.
Heck, there are even thousands of Space Force Guardians more qualified to lead the Department of Defense than the current nominee.
Trump Cabinet qualifications that matter most
Hegseth has two characteristics that make him perfectly suited to work for President Donald Trump.
First, he doesn’t give a whit about our Constitution. Indeed, he seems eager to fire generals based solely on their willingness to obey the legal orders of the reelected president. I wonder, though, if he knows that obeying legal orders (and disobeying illegal ones) is a job requirement for a military officer.
Second, Hegseth’s private life provides close parallels to those of the 47th president. That likely allows him a special connection to Trump. Unlike most Americans, Hegseth has cheated on at least two of his three wives, divorcing two.
Hegseth clearly lacks the character and judgment for any important leadership position, in government or the private sector. But even if that were not the case and his personal life was a model of sobriety and high character, he would still be the most unqualified person ever nominated for any Cabinet position in U.S. history.
This should’ve been an April Fool’s column, but this is January and the joke is on all of us.
Michael J. Hicks is the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research and the George and Frances Ball distinguished professor of economics in the Miller College of Business at Ball State University. Thiscolumn originally appeared in the Indianapolis Star.
