Pete Hegseth, born Peter Brian Hegseth on June 6, 1980, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is an American politician, Army National Guard veteran, author, and former television host who has served as the 29th United States Secretary of Defense since 2025.
He is of Norwegian descent and was raised in Forest Lake, Minnesota, by his parents Brian Hegseth, a high school basketball coach, and Penelope “Penny” Hegseth, an executive business coach.
He graduated as valedictorian from Forest Lake Area High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton University in 2003, and later completed a master’s degree in public policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2013.
Hegseth is married to Jennifer Rauchet and is the father of a blended family of seven children.
Siblings
Pete is the eldest of three brothers. He has two younger brothers, Phil Hegseth and Nathaniel Hegseth.
Phil has worked in media and podcast production and later took on a role as a senior adviser and Department of Homeland Security liaison at the Pentagon during his brother’s tenure as Secretary of Defense.
The brothers were raised in a Christian household in Minnesota, where faith and family played a central role in their upbringing.
Career
After graduating from Princeton, where he published the conservative student newspaper The Princeton Tory and participated in Army ROTC, Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry officer in the Minnesota Army National Guard.
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He served deployments at Guantanamo Bay, in Iraq as a platoon leader, and in Afghanistan as a senior counterinsurgency instructor, rising to the rank of major before leaving active service.
He later led veterans advocacy groups, serving as executive director of Vets for Freedom and then as CEO of Concerned Veterans for America.
In 2012 he briefly ran for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota before withdrawing.
Hegseth joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014 and became co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend from 2017 to 2024, where he built a national profile as a conservative commentator on military and cultural issues.
He has written several books, including In the Arena, American Crusade, Battle for the American Mind, and The War on Warriors.
In November 2024 President-elect Donald Trump nominated him as Secretary of Defense, and he assumed the office in 2025.
Accolades
Hegseth’s military service earned him two Bronze Star Medals, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Expert Infantryman Badge, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, and multiple Army Commendation Medals.
His books have achieved commercial success, with several reaching bestseller lists.
As a public figure he has received recognition within conservative and veterans’ circles for his advocacy work, though his civilian honors are primarily tied to his media presence and authorship rather than formal awards from government or academic institutions beyond his military decorations.
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