🚨 ‘Profound fear and anxiety among women in uniform’: Pentagon reacts to allegations against Hegseth

[Tony]

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.

“To have someone who now at least has had a police investigation and paid a victim, enforced a [nondisclosure agreement] regarding a sexual assault sends a horrific message,” said a former DOD official. “It likely means that any progress the department has made regarding sexual assault, sexual harassment is going to be at best, repealed, if not completely eliminated.”