U.S. Secretary of Defense's extraordinary nomination..."Nightmare" and "Worst" are being criticized.

There is a backlash over U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's unconventional nomination of Fox News host Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.

CNN and Politico reported on the 13th that former and current U.S. military officials and military and security experts are embarrassed by the nomination of Hegseth.

Foreign media said that amid growing military tensions around the world, critics are critical of placing a retired major in his 40s with less military policy experience at a time when he has to coordinate relations with allies by leading a huge organization called the U.S. military.

"I'm shocked that a person who is known to be talking about social justice, but who has never done anything meaningful about national security since his military service, has risen to a formidable position," a former Pentagon official told Politico.

He added, "The Secretary of Defense is boring and difficult, and it has nothing to do with being on Fox News and condescending."

Another former official asked back, "If Hegseth runs Walmart, would he be able to trust it?" and pointed out, "That's about the number of employees at the Ministry of National Defense."

"President-elect Trump has given top value to loyalty," commented Eric Edulman, who served in a senior position in the Defense Department of the George W. Bush administration. "The best standard shows how much you defended Trump on TV."

A former four-star general also told CNN, "The common denominator is clearly loyalty," adding, "Slavery loyalty is dangerous. "If you look at the selection so far, one thought can manipulate everyone," he expressed concern.

CNN also reported that several former high-ranking military commanders responded angrily, including "ridiculous" and "nonsense nightmare."

When such an unexpected person was selected, the Pentagon quickly became busy finding out who Hegseth was.

An official from the Ministry of National Defense said, "We hardly know who he is," and "we are searching for a medical history on the Internet."

Defense officials are furiously Googling to figure out who will be their new boss, and diplomats in several countries ordered Hegseth's latest book as soon as he was named, Politico said.

External assessments are more straightforward.

"Who the hell is this XX," commented one defense industry lobbyist, while another commented, "It's Trumpian."

Paul Rickhoff, founder of the U.S. Independent Veterans Association, said in a post to X shortly after the nomination of Hegseth that he is "without doubt the most unqualified nominee in American history" and is "a blatantly political nomination." Now the United States must defend itself," he wrote.

"Shocking is not enough," said Max Bergman, a former Barack Obama administration member of the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. "We need to closely verify whether Hegseth is eligible in the Senate."

Hegseth needs to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be appointed as the actual secretary of defense.

Senator Mark Kelly, a former U.S. Navy colonel who also served in the Gulf War, told Axios that he was "unheard of until last night."

He was reticent about the possibility of Senate confirmation, but said the qualification includes experience in making and implementing policies in large organizations.

Democratic Representative Adam Smith, secretary of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, also noted that Hegseth does not appear to have any background in Pentagon policy at all, nor does he appear to have any relationships with allies abroad.

On the other hand, Senator Mike Rounds, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, "I will not look at him negatively right now because we need to find out more about his background and approach," adding, "President-elect Trump has been an excellent candidate in the right place."

Another Senate official also expected Hegseth to pass the Senate confirmation without difficulty.

However, Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican congressman who has been at Trump's opposition, sarcastically said, "Trump's choice of Hegseth is the funniest and predictably stupid thing."