Washington, D.C. — Outgoing Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) didn’t hold back in a candid interview this week, describing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as “out of his depth” and “amateurish.” Yet despite the biting critique, Tillis said he does not regret voting to confirm the Fox News personality-turned-cabinet official.
In a CNN appearance with Jake Tapper, Tillis expressed deep disappointment with Hegseth’s leadership at the Pentagon, citing missteps in managing both military operations and communications with the White House. “With the passing of time, I think it’s clear he’s out of his depth as a manager of a large, complex organization,” Tillis said. “His actions have been amateurish.”
The North Carolina Republican, who recently announced he will not seek re-election in 2026, was particularly critical of Hegseth’s unilateral pause in weapons shipments to Ukraine—an act reportedly made without notifying the National Security Council. Tillis also referenced a separate incident in which Hegseth allegedly shared sensitive operational details in a private Signal group chat that included journalists.
“These are not rookie mistakes—they’re dangerous ones,” Tillis said. “And they show a lack of understanding of the gravity of the position he holds.”
Despite the pointed rebuke, Tillis said he stands by his January vote to confirm Hegseth. “If all I had was the information on the day of the vote, I’d certainly vote for him again,” he insisted. “But now I have the information of him being a manager, and I don’t think his probationary period has been very positive.”
Hegseth’s confirmation was contentious from the start. After the Senate Armed Services Committee advanced his nomination along strict party lines, the full Senate approved him by a razor-thin 51–50 vote, with Vice President J.D. Vance casting the tiebreaker. Tillis, who had initially expressed skepticism about Hegseth’s qualifications, ultimately sided with his Republican colleagues.
Asked whether the Senate had failed in vetting the nominee, Tillis admitted, “I think we were too generous in our assessment. We mistook confidence for competence.”
The senator’s criticism comes amid growing Republican unease over recent foreign policy moves by the Trump administration, as well as concerns over a pattern of appointing ideologically loyal but inexperienced figures to senior posts. While Tillis has been a consistent Republican vote throughout most of his career, his recent opposition to a Trump-backed budget bill and decision not to run again have positioned him as one of the more independent voices in the GOP’s upper ranks.
Even so, he remained steadfast in refusing to second-guess his confirmation vote. “I don’t regret it, because I took the process seriously,” Tillis said. “I met with Hegseth, I asked hard questions, and I believed he was being honest. But the job itself has revealed that he wasn’t ready.”
Secretary Hegseth has not publicly responded to the criticism, but sources close to the Pentagon say the Defense Department is internally reviewing its protocols for senior leadership communications and policy coordination following recent controversies.
For now, Tillis appears content to issue his warnings on the way out: “We should stop treating Senate confirmations like political loyalty tests,” he said. “They should be about competence—nothing more, nothing less.”
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