Former defense secretary pushes back on nominee's claim that women shouldn't serve in combat units

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is among those pushing back on past comments made by President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be the next defense secretary, who was critical of women being allowed to serve in combat units.

"I'm straight up just saying, we should not have women in combat roles," Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for defense secretary, said in a recent podcast interview that aired last week.

"It hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated," he said on the "The Shawn Ryan Show".

Hegseth's comments have raised concerns among former servicemembers with first-hand experience serving in integrated units, and from the former Defense Secretary Panetta, who in 2013 lifted the Pentagon's ban on women serving in ground combat units.

"Those kinds of comments come from a past era and I think it's important for him to take the time to really look at how our military is performing in an outstanding fashion," Panetta told ABC News in an interview.

"We've got the best military in the world, and the reason is because we have the best fighting men and women in the world who are part of it," he added.

"I just think that anybody who takes the time to really look at how women are performing in combat will come around and say that that's exactly where they belong," he said.

In the podcast interview, Hegseth said that the decision to allow women to serve in ground combat units has lowered the physical standards for those wishing to serve in those units.

Panetta recalled that in the lead-up to his decision, he pushed back on the notion that allowing women to serve in combat units would lower physical standards.

"We shouldn't lower the standards. We should require that women have to meet exactly the same standards as men do, and that's what they do," he says he argued at the time. "They wouldn't be in those positions if they weren't able to be able to meet the standards that are required."

Panetta said, "The mere fact that that has just not become an issue at all in terms of how the military has performed, is a reflection that the simple reason is because both men and women are living up to the same standards when it comes to fighting for America."

Of the more than one million active-duty military personnel, 17.5% are women according to the Pentagon's latest statistics.

The process of integrating women into combat units was a gradual one that began in 1993 when Defense Secretary Les Aspin issued an order that allowed women to fly in combat.

But women were not allowed to serve in ground combat units until 2013, when Panetta rescinded the ban that was subsequently enhanced in 2015 by Defense Secretary Ash Carter who cleared the path for women to serve in the jobs that were still limited to men, including some in special operations.

By 2019, more than 600 female Sailors and Marines were serving in combat arms units previously restricted to men, while more than 650 women held Army combat roles and over 1,000 had accessed Army combat specialties.

Currently more than 2,500 women serve in previously closed ground combat jobs, 152 women have passed the elite Ranger School test, and 10 of them serve as Rangers in the 75th Ranger Regiment, according to a review of military personnel information compiled by Retired Army Col. Ellen Haring, with the Service Women's Action Network.

Haring points out that the full integration of women into combat units actually occurred during President Trump's first term and that standards have never been lowered to accommodate women.

"Women have been serving in combat jobs for almost 10 years now and there is absolutely no evidence that women have harmed combat units," she told ABC News. "In fact, many standards had to be established when they were considering admitting women because they had previously been loosely defined."

"Those who claim they have been lowered have no actual knowledge of the training requirements or how women have been held to the exact same requirements," she said. "If they think standards have changed or are different for women then I challenge them to go to Fort Moore today and watch the execution of training."

Twenty years ago, Allison Jaslow headed a convoy security unit in Iraq that regularly came under smalls arms fire and was exposed to explosions from roadside bombs.

"Women have not only been in combat for some time, but many are tougher than many of their male counterparts. Need proof? Look at the women who've graduated from Ranger School, which is so grueling that around half of the men who enter it fail out," said Jaslow in a statement issued in her role as the CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

"Those women deserve a Secretary of Defense who is aware of that reality and also ensures that the culture in the military embraces that reality - especially as we still continue to confront a recruitment crisis," she added.

Garrett Jordan, a former Army captain, served in integrated combat units, and counts some of his female classmates at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as among those who are now Army Rangers or have commanded infantry and armor companies.

"Women have served in combat arms units, in both command and enlisted positions, and continue to do so and excel," he said.

As a former Army officer, Jordan said he is "well aware of the physical endurance, technical competence, and mental fortitude that it takes to serve in a tank unit and to perform the duties and responsibilities as a soldier in a combat arms branch."

Jordan said women in the training classes he commanded "maintained the standard, just as much as their male counterparts," he said.

"Ultimately, gender does not determine whether or not someone has the physical strength, or competency to serve in these units," said Jordan. "There is a standard, and if soldiers, regardless of gender are meeting it, then they should have the opportunity to serve in these units."