Who is Pete Hegseth - the Fox News host who will be defence secretary?

Pete Hegseth has spent the past eight years on the couch of a Fox News morning show defending President-elect Donald Trump and advocating for a conservative cultural shift in the US military, and he could soon be directing that agenda from behind the top desk at the Pentagon.

The Republican president-elect announced on Wednesday that Hegseth, a television host and veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, was his nominee for defence secretary - a role typically filled by senior civil servants, experienced politicians and high-level executives.

While Hegseth has little of the traditional experience expected for such an important cabinet position - he would be the second-youngest person to serve in the office - he could aim to transform the Department of Defense if confirmed by the Senate.

Just last week, Hegseth said on a podcast that the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff - the US's top military leader - should be fired, along with any "general, admiral, whatever that was involved in any of the DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] woke [expletive]”.

He also said that women should not serve in combat roles because he argued it had not made the military "more effective" or "more lethal".

"Over human history, men in those positions are more capable," he said.

He has also reportedly called for the Defence Department to be renamed the War Department and for a 10-year ban on generals working as defence contractors after leaving the military.

Those views have earned Hegseth many conservative fans, particularly those close to the president-elect. But some also question whether he is capable of running an agency that is considered one of the world's largest bureaucracies, with a budget of nearly $900bn (£708bn).

Hegseth has limited experience in politics beyond an unsuccessful run in 2012 for the Republican Senate nomination in Minnesota. Since then, he has largely turned to conservative activism and punditry.

He has advocated for privatising the US government's agency that aids veterans, but his greatest political success in Washington was during Trump's first term when he convinced the then-president to pardon several US service members accused of war crimes.

The two Army officers that Trump pardoned included one accused of killing a suspected Afghan bombmaker and another who was convicted of murder for directing men to fire upon three Afghans.

Still, Hegseth's appointment to lead the Pentagon marks a departure from previous Republican and Democratic administrations alike.

Leon Panetta, who served under former President Barack Obama, was a former CIA director and White House Chief of Staff. Robert Gates, who was appointed by President George W Bush and Obama, worked for the CIA for 27 years.

During his first term, Trump himself turned to those with more military and national security experience than Hegseth, such as Secretaries Jim Mattis and Mark Esper - who both served for decades in the military and were well known in Washington's defence community.

President Joe Biden chose to appoint a retired four-star general, Secretary Lloyd Austin, who served as the commander of US Central Command and faced some criticism from lawmakers for not informing the White House about undergoing medical procedures while in office.

Given the experience of past secretaries, many were quick to argue that Hegseth lacked the necessary credentials.

"A Fox & Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense," said Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who leads the Senate military personnel panel. She urged her fellow senators not to confirm him.

Others, however, rushed to Hegseth's defence.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said the conservative anchor was a "tireless advocate for America’s soldiers and veterans".

"[H]e brings a fresh perspective to a Pentagon that has lost sight of its mission under Joe Biden. Pete is dedicated to ensuring that our military is focused on lethality and readiness, not woke ideology," the speaker said.