WASHINGTON – In response to often sharp questioning from House Democrats on June 10, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the Pentagon’s deployment of nearly 5,000 active-duty Marines and National Guard members to help police in Los Angeles quell sporadic unrest – at an estimated cost of US$134 million (S$172 million).

Mr Hegseth, a National Guard veteran, also suggested in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee that the use of the guard members, part-time citizen soldiers, for homeland defence would expand under President Donald Trump.

“I think we’re entering another phase, especially under President Trump with his focus on the homeland, where the National Guard and reserves become a critical component of how we secure that homeland,” Mr Hegseth told lawmakers.

Officials in Los Angeles, as well as other major cities across the country controlled by Democrats, have expressed concern that the military deployments in California could set a precedent and serve as a test run for other urban areas where the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement could prompt large protests.

Mr Hegseth’s appearance before the House Appropriations Committee – the first of three hearings he has on Capitol Hill this week – was widely anticipated by official Washington. It was his first congressional hearing since a Senate panel considered his nomination in January.

In recent months, Mr Hegseth has sought to fend off a series of contentious issues that threatened to undermine his credibility inside the Pentagon and, more important, inside the White House.

Perhaps most damaging were his disclosures on commercial chat app Signal of flight sequencing of American fighter jets in strikes on Yemen. Mr Hegseth has also seen the dissolution of his inner circle of close advisers. Four members of the team he brought to the Pentagon have left the department, three of them accused of leaking information and escorted from the building. A fifth – his chief of staff – has also departed his post.

Democrats on the committee immediately homed in on those issues.

“Your tenure as secretary has been marked by endless chaos,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the committee’s top Democrat.

“Your careless sharing of military secrets in a nonsecure Signal chat,” she added, “could have placed American airmen in danger.”

But Mr Hegseth did not engage the criticism, and the most contentious parts of ...