Duckworth to Hegseth: “Let the Military Get Back to Its Real Job Defending Americans, Not Policing Them”

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) excoriated Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for deploying American servicemembers to police and intimidate their fellow Americans in our nation’s communities, something that actively undermines the Secretary’s own self-proclaimed goal of strengthening our military’s warfighting capabilities and protecting Americans from real foreign threats. Duckworth underscored how misusing our military for domestic law enforcement matters diverts taxpayer dollars and our Armed Forces’ attention away from the combat training that servicemembers need to face foreign enemies abroad. Duckworth’s remarks can be found on the Senator’s YouTube.

“The unjustified, un-American misuse of the military in American cities pulls resources and attention away from our Armed Forces’ core missions to the detriment of the country, the warfighters and, yes, even the warfighting that Secretary Hegseth claims to love,” said Senator Duckworth. “The military should not be playing cop against their fellow Americans—and the longer they do, the less they’re preparing for real warfighting against real foreign threats to the American people. It’s time Mr. Hegseth let the military get back to its actual job and stop forcing them to do DHS’s. If he wants to be DHS Secretary, he can apply for it when he’s been fired from being Defense Secretary due to his incompetence.”

During today’s Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing, Duckworth noted that the Trump Administration’s deployment of American servicemembers to California is just the latest in a deliberate, systematic and dangerous politicized campaign to reorient our military away from warfighting and toward intimidating Americans in their own communities. On his first day back in office, President Trump directed U.S. Northern Command to revise its Unified Command Plan and add new planning requirements to combat “criminal activities.” Trump also signed a series of executive orders redirecting the Defense Department’s priorities toward supporting domestic law enforcement, including one in April that tells the Department to “use national security assets for law and order.” This is an egregious misuse of the military that undermines its core mission to protect and defend our nation from foreign threats, and thereby makes all Americans less safe.

Over the weekend, Duckworth joined U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) and the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in demanding that President Trump immediately withdraw all military forces from Los Angeles and cease all threats to deploy the National Guard or active-duty service members to American cities. And, while questioning the Commandant of the Marine Corps during a hearing last week, Duckworth slammed the Trump Administration’s deployment of 700 Marines into Los Angeles. The Senator said, “I don’t condone violence or property destruction, but using active-duty Marines this way sets a dangerous precedent that risks damaging public trust in our military and politicizing a military force that must remain mission-focused. President Trump is asking Marines to be away from their families for a situation that the President himself said yesterday was ‘simmering, but not very much.’”

Since he was first nominated and throughout his confirmation hearing, Duckworth has made it clear that Pete Hegseth is manifestly unqualified to lead our men and women in uniform as Secretary of Defense. After his egregious national security breach that needlessly put the lives of our troops in greater danger, Duckworth has demanded that Hegseth resign in disgrace or be fired immediately.

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