Pete Hegseth holds a position within the Department of Defense.
Said by Joe Morelle, Checked Updated
- Sources
- 4 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 95%
IHIP NewsSep 20, 2026
Multiple tier1 and primary sources (the official Department of War leadership page, AP, The Hill, Congress.gov biography) show Pete Hegseth as Secretary of War (formerly Secretary of Defense, renamed Sept. 5, 2025) as of September 2026, so he held a position within the Department of Defense on 2026-09-20.
A guest makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post, and on the guest's own record.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… he's laying the groundwork for another one six, the danger here, the real danger, is the fact that he now has people in these positions that will be complicit with these government agencies, whether it's the Department of Justice, whether it's the FBI, uh, Department of Defense, even with Pete Hexeth. I mean, he's got all of these different agencies that will follow along with this, with this plan, and that's dangerous. He didn't have that before. He had to rely upon these one sixers on the ground. …
IHIP News · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. The official Secretary of War page lists HON Pete Hegseth as the head of the department, sworn in Jan. 25, 2025, as the 29th secretary of defense before the name change to Department of War.[2][3]
Supports. AP and The Hill reporting from late October 2026 describe Hegseth as the sitting Defense Secretary firing Pentagon officials and facing Senate scrutiny.[1][4]
Context. The post's own claim that Hegseth is among officials at the Department of Defense is consistent with sources; the department was renamed the Department of War in September 2025, which is a naming change rather than a change in the position.[2][3][5]
Sources
5 sources: 1 fact-checker, 2 primary, 1 tier 1, 1 not rated
- 1Hegseth fires the Pentagon's top military planner even as Trump considers new Iran strikesapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2Secretary of War | U.S. Department of Warwar.gov · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 3HON Pete Hegseth > U.S. Department of War > Biography | U.S...congress.gov · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 4Hegseth's future as Pentagon chief at center of lame-duck ...thehill.com · tier 1 · cited for: supports
- 5Who's Who in Defense: Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defensebreakingdefense.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Checked 3 times
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