White House struggles to hire senior advisers to Pete Hegseth
Last edited Mon Jun 9, 2025, 02:08 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: NBC News
June 9, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT / Updated June 9, 2025, 11:42 AM EDT
WASHINGTON The White House is looking for a new chief of staff and several senior advisers to support Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after a series of missteps that have shaken confidence in his leadership, but it has so far found no suitable takers, according to four current and former administration officials and a Republican congressional aide.
Top Defense Department jobs, including the defense secretarys chief of staff, are normally considered prestigious and typically attract multiple qualified candidates. But at least three people have already turned down potential roles under Hegseth, according to a former U.S. official, the defense official and a person familiar with the matter.
Vice President JD Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles have taken an active interest in finding ways to help Hegseth after he abruptly suspended two handpicked senior aides in April, accusing them of leaking classified information in a Fox News interview. Soon afterward, Hegseth announced the removal of his chief of staff on Fox News and a senior press aide resigned, writing later that Hegseths office was in total chaos.
Vance and Wiles have been searching for candidates who could support Hegseth ever since, according to three current U.S. officials and a former U.S. official. So far, though, the administration has not had much luck identifying people who are either willing to work for Hegseth or who fit the bill politically. And the White House has rejected some people Hegseth wants to hire, while Hegseth has rejected some of the White Houses candidates. Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said, The anonymous sources cited in this article have no idea what theyre talking about."
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/white-house-struggles-find-qualified-people-willing-work-pete-hegseth-rcna211602
Article updated.
Original article/headline -
June 9, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT
WASHINGTON The White House is looking for a new chief of staff and several senior advisers to support Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after a series of missteps that have shaken confidence in his leadership, but it has so far found no suitable takers, according to four current and former administration officials and a Republican congressional aide.
Top Defense Department jobs, including the defense secretarys chief of staff, are normally considered prestigious and typically attract multiple qualified candidates. But at least three people have already turned down potential roles under Hegseth, according to a former U.S. official, the defense official and a person familiar with the matter.
Vice President JD Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles have taken an active interest in finding ways to help Hegseth after he abruptly suspended two handpicked senior aides in April, accusing them of leaking classified information in a Fox News interview. Soon afterward, Hegseth announced the removal of his chief of staff on Fox News and a senior press aide resigned, writing later that Hegseths office was in total chaos.
Vance and Wiles have been searching for candidates who could support Hegseth ever since, according to three current U.S. officials and a former U.S. official. So far, though, the administration has not had much luck identifying people who are either willing to work for Hegseth or who fit the bill politically. And the White House has rejected some people Hegseth wants to hire, while Hegseth has rejected some of the White Houses candidates. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Vinca
(52,169 posts)bamagal62
(3,929 posts)about qualified people?
Lonestarblue
(12,649 posts)Glorified baby sitter.
Katinfl
(365 posts)taxi
(2,310 posts)If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If youve got a business you didnt build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didnt get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we dont do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.
So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. Thats how we funded the GI Bill. Thats how we created the middle class. Thats how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. Thats how we invented the Internet. Thats how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and thats the reason Im running for President because I still believe in that idea. Youre not on your own, were in this together.
https://www.factcheck.org/2012/07/you-didnt-build-that-uncut-and-unedited/
Mea culpa.
Hegseth doesn't need help fulfilling his role in that position any more than he needs to support his staff. He can do it all. It shouldn't be a problem for him.
Ray Bruns
(5,253 posts)Captain Zero
(7,933 posts)Corruption is next.
That's the order of things
loyalty ushers in incompetence and incompetence breeds corruption.
Shipwack
(2,717 posts)I desperately need the cash and even if Im fired after a week itll let me catch up on bills. Im better qualified than he is because at least I know I know nothing
😉
Itlll be fun. I doubt hes ever had to deal with a submariner
mwb970
(11,841 posts)Me neither!
IronLionZion
(49,067 posts)no one else can compare.
DUI vs DEI in this administration.
Qualified people don't want to be a part of this shit show and have their names in the history books. One day they may be held accountable.
mwmisses4289
(1,223 posts)willing to be sufficiently loyal to trump above hegseth. hegseth wants loyalty to him, trump wants the military to be loyal him above all else. Wonder how many days it will be before hegseth is encouraged to "resign"?
Deminpenn
(16,816 posts)Of course there's always sending him duck hunting with Dick Cheney.
Javaman
(64,006 posts)
ananda
(32,012 posts)You know why.
Mawspam2
(959 posts)Captain Morgan
Jim Beam
Kid Berwyn
(20,607 posts)Seeing how Miller Lite quit, though, thems big shooze to fill.
Prairie Gates
(5,185 posts)
Marcuse
(8,474 posts)NotHardly
(2,102 posts)Eugene
(65,309 posts)________________________________________________
White House struggles to hire senior advisers to Pete Hegseth
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/white-house-struggles-find-qualified-people-willing-work-pete-hegseth-rcna211602