Hegseth to testify before Congress for first time since start of Iran war

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is slated to testify before the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) at the end of next month, addressing the panel publicly for the first time since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran started, a source familiar with the matter told The Hill on Tuesday. 

The upcoming hearing, which is scheduled for April 29 and will focus on the Pentagon’s budget request, comes as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pressed the Trump administration for more information about the conflict in the Middle East, now in its fifth week. 

Gen. Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will also attend the hearing, the source said, adding that its date could still change.

The Hill has reached out to the Pentagon for comment. 

Last week, all HASC Democrats called on the chair of the panel, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), to call for a public hearing from Pentagon officials on the war after lawmakers were not satisfied with the information provided to them during a classified briefing on Capitol Hill. 

“We are deeply troubled by the lack of transparency from the Trump Administration and the Department of Defense and its failure to keep the Congress and the American people informed,” the committee’s Democrats wrote in a letter. 

Following last Wednesday’s HASC classified briefing, Rogers, who supported President Trump’s decision to authorize strikes against Iran, slammed the Pentagon for not providing more substantive answers about the U.S. military strategy and planning as the president mulls a potential deployment of troops inside Iran. 

“We want to know more about what’s going on, what the options are and why they’re being considered. And we’re just not getting enough answers on those questions,” Rogers told reporters at the time.

Hegseth’s upcoming testimony was first reported by MS NOW. 

Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), the top Democrat on committee, met with Hegseth and Caine at the Pentagon last week, the Washington state lawmaker said during his Monday appearance on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.” 

“They maintain not our plan, not what we’re going to do,” Smith said when asked about the prospect of placing troops on the ground in Iran. “But if the forces are being moved into the region, you have to ask the question, why?” 

The Pentagon has deployed thousands of Marines and Army paratroopers to the Middle East in recent days as the Trump administration bolsters its military presence near Iran. The U.S. military has continued to inflict damage inside the country, striking more than 11,000 targets in Iran since the war broke out, Caine said during Tuesday morning’s briefing at the Pentagon.

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