Here's Where Trump's Pentagon and National Security Nominees Stand Ahead of New Year

President-elect Donald Trump's nominees to lead the Pentagon and other key national security and veterans agencies face a pivotal month in January as the Senate gets to work in earnest on confirming Trump's Cabinet.

Perhaps in the most precarious position, Pete Hegseth, Trump's pick for defense secretary, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Jan. 14 for his confirmation hearing. It could be a make-or-break moment for the nominee, who has been dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse and mismanagement at previous jobs.

At least one other national security nominee is also facing an uphill climb to confirmation: Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's choice to be director of national intelligence. Meanwhile, the nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, former GOP Rep. Doug Collins, appears to be on a glidepath to confirmation, while Trump's choices for military service secretaries have been quietly toiling away on the confirmation process while the spotlight is on Cabinet-level appointments.

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In Hegseth's case, he spent much of December barnstorming the Capitol seeking to shore up support among senators. The efforts may have borne some fruit, as some Republicans seen as potential "no" votes have shifted their rhetoric after closed-door meetings with him. Still, with the thin margins in the Senate, how Hegseth answers publicly at his confirmation hearing could prove decisive.

"I obviously always wait until we have an FBI background check, and one is underway in the case of Mr. Hegseth, and I wait to see the committee hearing before reaching a final decision," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters Dec. 11 after meeting with Hegseth.

The new session of Congress that will usher in GOP control of the Senate starts Friday, ahead of Trump's inauguration Jan. 20. In the intervening weeks, the Senate is expected to focus on getting ready to confirm Trump's Cabinet as quickly as possible after he is sworn in.

National security nominees are typically confirmed within days, if not hours, of the inauguration. For example, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was confirmed two days after President Joe Biden's inauguration, and Trump's first defense secretary in his first term, Jim Mattis, was confirmed on Inauguration Day.

Hegseth faces far more uncertainty than either Austin or Mattis, who both garnered widespread bipartisan support.

Hegseth's prospects have been in doubt since he confirmed he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault in exchange for her signing a nondisclosure agreement. Later, police records revealed more details about the alleged assault.

The New Yorker also reported on allegations that Hegseth was repeatedly intoxicated on the job when he led conservative veterans group Concerned Veterans for America and mismanaged funds at another veterans group he led called Vets for Freedom. And NBC News reported that Hegseth's former colleagues at Fox News also expressed concern about his drinking.

Hegseth has vehemently denied the allegations against him, contending the lack of charges against him in the assault case means police "completely cleared" him and that the allegations of mismanagement at the veterans groups were leveled by "disgruntled people." He has also insisted he does not have a drinking problem, characterizing his drinking as typical of veterans even as he has pledged to stop drinking entirely if he is confirmed to lead the Pentagon.

"This is the biggest deployment of my life, and there won't be a drop of alcohol on my lips while I'm doing it," Hegseth, a National Guard veteran, said in an interview with conservative media figure Megyn Kelly.

Hegseth has also faced skepticism from senators about his opposition to women serving in combat roles. In recent weeks, Hegseth has softened his rhetoric on the issue and offered support to women in the military generally, though his comments have not directly contradicted his previous opposition to women in combat.

Amid the allegations and controversial past policy stances, some Republican senators have refused to publicly state their position on him. While it's not unusual for senators to be tight-lipped before a confirmation hearing, Hegseth can afford to lose only three Republican senators and still be confirmed, assuming all Democrats vote against him.

Some Republicans initially seen as possibly opposing Hegseth have shifted their comments about him in subtle yet noticeable ways after Hegseth's office visits, as well as an intense pressure campaign from Trump supporters that included threats of primary election challenges.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor who said after one meeting with Hegseth that she wasn't ready to support him, said after a second meeting with him that she will "support Pete through this process" and that she looks "forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who at one point called the allegations against Hegseth "very disturbing," similarly contended in a statement after a meeting with Hegseth that "the accusations being made regarding financial management of veterans service organizations and personal misconduct should only be considered by the committee if they are supported by testimony before Congress -- not anonymous sources."

Graham added in an interview with "Meet the Press" that Hegseth would release the woman accusing him of sexual assault from the nondisclosure agreement. Hegseth's lawyer has also said she's been released from the nondisclosure agreement, but threatened to sue her if she goes public.

Meanwhile, as Hegseth fights to be confirmed, the team that would work under him at the Pentagon is shaping up.

Trump has not yet nominated an Air Force secretary, but has chosen his Navy and Army secretaries. John Phelan, a financier and GOP donor, was nominated to lead the Navy and Marine Corps, and Dan Driscoll, a businessman, Iraq War veteran and adviser to Vice President-elect JD Vance, was picked to lead the Army.

While Phelan lacks any military policy experience and Driscoll has never led a large organization, no vocal opposition has emerged yet to either nominee. They have not attracted the entourage of cameras and reporters Hegseth's visits have, but the two have also been visiting senators to lock up support prior to their confirmation hearings in the coming weeks.

Trump has also nominated a smattering of Pentagon deputies, including businessman Stephen Feinberg as deputy secretary of defense; conservative national security hand Elbridge Colby for undersecretary for policy; first Trump administration alum Michael Duffey for acquisition chief; former Uber executive Emil Michael for undersecretary for research and engineering; and VA medical center director Keith Bass for assistant secretary for health.

Potentially also facing a rocky path to confirmation is Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who reregistered as a Republican earlier this year, who would oversee the intelligence community and produce the president's daily brief if confirmed as director of national intelligence.

Gabbard's troubles stem from appearing sympathetic to the now-toppled Assad regime in Syria and echoing Russian propaganda. While in Congress, Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, secretly met with Bashar Assad, said he "is not the enemy of the United States," and questioned U.S. intelligence that Assad carried out several chemical weapons attacks against his own people.

More recently, in 2021, Gabbard promoted the debunked conspiracy theory, pushed by Russia, that the U.S. was funding biolabs in Ukraine.

As with Hegseth, no Republican senators have explicitly come out in opposition to Gabbard. But former intelligence and national security officials have been lobbying senators to reject her.

On Tuesday morning, Trump used the social media platform he owns to urge Republicans to "BE SMART AND TOUGH" to get his nominees confirmed.

One nominee that so far appears to be breezing toward confirmation is Collins to be VA secretary. Despite some initial surprise around the pick since Collins did not focus on veterans issues during his time in Congress, lawmakers and veterans groups alike have given the Air Force Reserve chaplain positive reviews as he makes his own rounds in Washington.

"After hearing from Representative Collins and the transition team senior staff, it is clear to AMVETS that he has a firm understanding of how important the VA and its policies are to veterans and their families," AMVETS National Executive Director Joe Chenelly said in a Dec. 12 news release. "He has committed to safeguarding veterans' benefits and addressing the VA's key issues."

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