Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, revealed an embarrassing ignorance about a major geopolitical organization during his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Hegseth,

The 10-nation bloc, known as ASEAN, has been useful for the United States in countering China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific. Many member nations have territorial disputes with China, which has become increasingly assertive in pressing those claims.

In many respects, the choice of Fox News personality Pete Hegseth to become secretary of Defense was Donald Trump’s most precedent-defying second-term Cabinet nomination given the enormous magnitude of the job,

Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon endured fierce Democratic grilling over everything from his inexperience, alleged drinking and his past opposition to women in combat to emerge largely unscathed among Republicans at his confirmation hearing.