Post #35085 by albaby1 on the US Policy board

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I think the real point here - regardless of the thinking behind the question - is that Hegseth had no idea what ASEAN was. Rather than admit that (as I did up thread) he simply heard it pronounced close to "Asian" and named a couple of countries in that area who are generally friendly to the US.

Do we want a SedDef making wild guesses when under real pressure that matters to our military and to the country?

His actual response was:

“I couldn’t tell you the exact amount of nations in that, but I know that we have allies in South Korea, in Japan, and in AUKUS with Australia in trying to work on submarines with them — ”

I don't see that as mishearing it Asian and making a wild guess, but trying to pivot to a security alliance that he knew something about. Again, I understand Duckworth's point (Hegseth has no foreign policy experience whatsoever), but I understand a bit of the nitpicking coming back (Sec of Defense is a military role, not a broad foreign policy role like Sec of State). ASEAN isn't a military/national security alliance, so it's not as integral to SecDef's duties as would an organization like NATO or AUKUS would.

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