Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s new defense secretary pick, has dismissed the role of women in combat roles within the US military. Speaking to the Shawn Ryan Show on 7 November, the Fox News host said women serving in the army hasn’t made it “more lethal” and has instead made fighting “more complicated.” “Over human history, men in those positions are more capable,” he added. In 2015, then-defense secretary Ash Carter Ash Carter announced that beginning in January 2016, all military occupations and positions would be open to women without exception for the first time in US military history.