WASHINGTON TIMES: DAVID BOSSIE: Pete Hegseth: A 100-day report card

From the moment Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was sworn in, he has been laser-focused on confronting the failed status quo at the Pentagon that was allowed to fester under President Biden and implementing President Trump’s vision to make our military great again. Upon review of Mr. Hegseth’s first 100 days in office, there is no question he deserves an A+.

As Mr. Hegseth recently said, the Trump administration is “beginning a new golden age of America and a golden age of national defense.” To accomplish his part, Mr. Hegseth is getting back to basics, and it’s driving the Washington establishment crazy. First and foremost, he is on a mission to restore “the warrior ethos of our military.” As he articulated in a recent speech, the Department of Defense under his leadership is “leaving wokeness and weakness behind” and “refocusing on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards and readiness.” This is precisely the kind of common sense the American people voted for.

Mr. Trump’s reform-minded agenda is noteworthy compared with the decision-making of career Washington politician Joseph R. Biden. Upon his arrival at the Pentagon, Biden Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had to recuse himself from any decisions relating to a major defense contractor because he had served on its board of directors.

Mr. Hegseth, on the other hand, has no such conflicts. Mr. Trump tapped him simply because he was a fellow political outsider, veteran and patriotic American, as well as a talented advocate for the U.S. military.

The contrast could not be more evident when comparing Mr. Austin’s report on his first 100 days in office in 2021 to Mr. Hegseth’s. Mr. Austin said he was focused on ensuring that Defense Department personnel were vaccinated for COVID-19. Mr. Hegseth, on the other hand, recently said that “more than 8,700 service members were involuntarily separated for not taking an experimental COVID-19 vaccine” and that the Trump administration was “welcoming back former service members who were wrongly forced to leave the military.” What a difference four years make.

After announcing that COVID-19 was the Pentagon’s “most urgent challenge,” Mr. Austin said, “We condemned Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine and underscored our commitment to helping Ukraine’s forces better defend their country.” Nine months later, Russian ruler Vladimir Putin saw the weakness emanating from the Biden administration and invaded Ukraine to start the brutal war that continues today. Thankfully, Mr. Trump was reelected and works day and night to achieve peace.

There’s no doubt that the priorities of Messrs. Biden and Austin were dangerously out of place. Later in his first 100 days speech, Mr. Austin said, “We’re moving to tackle one of the very few truly existential threats that we face, and that’s the climate crisis.” This mind-blowing statement was met with absolutely no criticism from the biased mainstream media, and that should tell you all you need to know about the partisan attacks concocted against Mr. Hegseth.

It didn’t end with worshipping climate change in the Biden administration. Mr. Austin also made clear that the Pentagon was focused on implementing dangerous diversity, equity and inclusion policies in the military. “Diversity throughout the force is a source of strength,” he said.

Mr. Hegseth disagrees and instead believes in a system of merit. “Everything starts and ends with warriors in training and on the battlefield,” Mr. Hegseth has said repeatedly. “We are leaving wokeness and weakness behind. And refocusing on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards and readiness.” Infusing common sense back into the military is Mr. Hegseth’s overarching goal.

Less than four months before Mr. Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal caused 13 service members to be killed in a terrorist attack, Mr. Austin said, “We’re going to do everything that we can to make this drawdown deliberate, orderly and safe.” As it turns out, nothing could have been further from reality. Because of failures like Afghanistan, Mr. Hegseth, under the leadership of Mr. Trump, is helping to restore the successful peace through strength foreign policy that made the world more peaceful during the president’s first four years in office. One lesson from the Biden-Austin Afghanistan debacle is that domestic political objectives and radical left special interest groups shouldn’t dictate military decisions. Look no further than Mr. Trump’s decision to put troops on our southern border to help end Mr. Biden’s illegal immigration invasion.

Mr. Hegseth was spot on when he said, “Under this Defense Department, we get 100% operational control of our border.”

During Mr. Biden’s four long, painful years in office, headlines such as “America’s shrinking military is a cultural crisis” and “Military recruitment shortfall: Should U.S. bring back the draft?” became the norm. Now, thanks to Mr. Trump, the spirit has returned to our armed forces and recruitment is rising. Mr. Hegseth recently reported, “Over the last few months, the Army has had its best recruiting numbers since 2010. The Navy is on track to have its best recruiting year since 2002.” These numbers tell the world that the American military is gaining strength with each passing day.

Mr. Hegseth’s extraordinary success in the early months of his tenure doesn’t end with outstanding recruitment gains. For example, Mr. Hegseth said, “In Yemen, the Defense Department is executing lethal operations against Houthi terrorists. Our forces have struck hundreds of targets and decimated Houthi leadership, substantially reducing their capabilities and the threat to U.S. ships.” Recall that one of Mr. Biden’s first acts was to remove the Iranian-funded Houthis from the terrorist organization list, which turned out to be a consequential mistake.

Mr. Hegseth is working with the Department of Government Efficiency to cut billions of dollars in wasteful spending at the Pentagon by “prioritizing what works and cutting what does not.” As he trims fat from the Defense Department budget, Mr. Hegseth says the Trump administration’s goal is to “put the best systems in the hands of warfighters to … support what you need for maximum lethality.” Whether it’s shipbuilding, hypersonic missiles or the proposed “Golden Dome” defense system, our national defense will be second to none under Messrs. Trump and Hegseth.

Mr. Hegseth’s herculean efforts to reform the Department of Defense in his first 100 days are reason for optimism. Perhaps Mr. Hegseth’s observation sums it up best: “It’s a lot of change very quickly. Now, as you may have noticed, the media likes to call it chaos. We call it overdue.”

Well said, Mr. Secretary. Keep up the good work!

David N. Bossie is president of Citizens United. He served as deputy campaign manager for Donald J. Trump for President.