What can go wrong is going wrong.....

Hegseth allies campaign to put loyalist in Army secretary job

Pentagon officials are pushing spokesperson Sean Parnell for the position and launching attacks against other candidates.

By Paul McLeary and Jack Detsch

Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon allies are waging a behind-the-scenes campaign against administration officials vying for the Army Secretary job — an unprecedented effort to get the Defense secretary’s spokesperson nominated for the role.

They’re advocating for Sean Parnell — an Army combat veteran and unsuccessful Pennsylvania congressional candidate — over Army Comptroller Marc Andersen and Assistant Secretary for Special Operations Derrick Anderson, who the White House is also considering for the job, according to a defense official and an administration official.

The move would install Hegseth’s loyalists in the two most powerful Army positions. The Pentagon chief fired the service’s top uniformed leader, Gen. Randy George, in April and replaced him with Gen. Christopher LaNeve, Hegseth’s former military adviser. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned last month over concerns about the direction of the Pentagon.

“Everyone in the Pentagon knows that Secretary Hegseth’s preferred pick for secretary of the Army is Sean Parnell,” said the defense official. “The other Pentagon officials being floated in the media as potential candidates are just trying to up their public profiles so they can land big jobs when they leave the administration.”

It’s rare that administration officials would voice such contempt for presidentially-appointed, Senate-approved officials. Both the other two contenders have served without controversy and given no indication of publicly advocating for the Army job.

Parnell’s controversial past and lack of Pentagon experience would make a tricky path to confirmation. His then-estranged wife alleged that he abused her and one of their children, forcing Parnell to abandon his 2021 Senate bid. He has denied the allegations and now has shared custody of his children. He likely would also face backlash over Hegseth’s firing of George, who enjoyed strong support in Congress.

“He’s pretty unconfirmable,” said one person familiar with Senate thinking, who like others, was granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. “When people look at Secretary Hegseth, and you put Sean Parnell next to him, they have very similar issues. And there most certainly is buyer’s remorse when it comes to Secretary Hegseth.”

It’s also not clear whether the White House would support Parnell. Andersen, the Army’s top budget official, is the administration’s leading contender as he would likely preserve some of the service’s most ambitious modernization initiatives, according to a person familiar with the dynamics and the administration and defense official.

The White House referred questions to the Pentagon, which did not respond to requests for comment. Andersen declined to comment and Anderson did not respond to a request for comment.

Andersen, who was confirmed to be the Army’s comptroller job in October, would put a career business executive in the top spot rather than the kind of culture warrior Hegseth has favored for several other posts. He spent two decades in venture capital and consulting for tech firms, and would likely continue Driscoll’s efforts to steer the service toward the use of innovative drone initiatives and integration of AI.

But the administration official said that Andersen once supported “Trump’s fiercest critics,” including former Reps. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), and retiring Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.).

The person familiar and a third defense official said that Andersen has not met or supported either Bacon or Kinzinger. He disclosed his past donations to Comstock to the White House in the nominating process for his initial Army job, the official said.

The other contender, Anderson, would find his confirmation “dead on arrival” in the Senate, the administration official said, after reportedly keeping a political appointee in place who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

But that person, Elias Irizarry, was previously praised by a Pentagon spokesperson and Hegseth has not taken action against him since his hiring was first reported by The Washington Post in June.

Trump has appointed Adam Telle, the Army’s assistant secretary for civil works, to temporarily fill the top job.

Any administration nominee is likely to face questions from the Senate about Driscoll’s departure and Hegseth’s broader purge of senior leaders, including the Army’s well-regarded former commander in Europe and Africa, Gen. Christopher Donahue.

Such moves also are expected to put promotions in a holding pattern.

“The Senate’s going to be a little tougher on them than what they were two years ago,” said Bacon.“I don’t think they’re going to get a freebie.”