Pete Hegseth was sworn in Saturday as the nation’s 29th secretary of defense, quickly joining President Trump’s Cabinet after a dramatic late-night vote in the Senate installed him as the Pentagon’s leader. Hegseth took the oath from Vice President JD Vance in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building with Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer Rauchet, at his side and Republican senators looking on. The ceremony came less than 12 hours after Vance broke a 50-50 tie in the Senate to narrowly seal Hegseth’s confirmation. In brief remarks, Hegseth outlined what he said were his guiding principles: “Restore the warrior ethos in everything that we do, rebuild our military and reestablish deterrence.” “We don’t want to fight wars,” he added. “We want to deter them … and we want to end them responsibly. But if we need to fight them, we’re going to bring overwhelming and decisive force to close with and destroy the enemy and bring our boys home.” He thanked Vance for his tiebreaking vote and joked that his children were happy their father “won in overtime.” “It is the honor of a lifetime, sir, to serve under you,” Hegseth said, in thanking Trump, who was in Las Vegas on Saturday. “We look forward to having the backs of our troops and having your back in executing peace through strength, in putting America first and in rebuilding our military.’’ Meanwhile, the Senate confirmed Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary on Saturday, putting the South Dakota governor in charge of a sprawling agency that is essential to national security and President Donald Trump’s plans to clamp down on illegal immigration. The bipartisan vote was 59-34. No Republicans opposed Noem’s nomination. (AP)