Pete Hegseth
Author, veteran and US defense secretary
Pete Hegseth is an American Army veteran, former Fox News host and author who has served as US secretary of defense since 2025.
1 summary 21 min of listening
American Born 1980 in Minneapolis, United States
About Pete Hegseth
Pete Hegseth was born in 1980 in Forest Lake, Minnesota, and studied politics at Princeton University. He later also attended Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 2003 he took an infantry commission with the Minnesota Army National Guard. He served at Guantanamo Bay and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and he holds two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman's Badge. After leaving Iraq, Hegseth held executive director roles at Vets For Freedom and at Concerned Veterans for America. He became a Fox News contributor in 2014 and co-hosted Fox & Friends Weekend from 2017 to 2024. He is a New York Times best-selling author, and Modern Warriors is one of his books. His other titles include In the Arena, American Crusade and The War on Warriors.