Sen. Tammy Duckworth criticized Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for what she called a period of "failure" during his time atop the Pentagon. Duckworth also decried the focus on renaming bases and warned against sending troops to police U.S. cities.

Ladda Tammy Duckworth[3] (born March 12, 1968) is an American politician and retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel serving since 2017 as the junior United States senator from Illinois. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented Illinois's 8th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2017.

It's time for Pete Hegseth to let the military get back to its actual job and stop forcing it to do DHS's.

If he wants to be DHS Secretary, he can apply for it once he's fired from the job he has due to his incompetence. pic.twitter.com/3qoQ6TeGE8
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) June 18, 2025

Duckworth to Hegseth: "You are blowing through money like my fellow cadets and I did in our first liberty after basic camp. Luckily I didn't end up with a questionable tattoo ... you're just an unqualified yes man who can't tell the president how to keep Americans safe." pic.twitter.com/uZYbHTssVW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 18, 2025

Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth excoriated Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth over what she called "incompetence," criticizing the diversion of resources to place military personnel on domestic missions. https://t.co/BY88KRT1Z8 pic.twitter.com/xFkee4Z3oy
— ABC News (@ABC) June 18, 2025