Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that “multiple operatives” had been killed in remote mountains in the country’s north.

The Pentagon joined the scramble by federal agencies trying to conform to President Trump’s war on diversity programs.

“Whatever is needed at the border will be provided,” Pete Hegseth, the new defense secretary, told reporters on Monday.

“Those who do not comply will no longer work here,” Pete Hegseth said in a handwritten notice saying diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives were not welcome at the Pentagon.

The new defense secretary’s goals run counter to the military’s apolitical tradition and efforts to build a force that mirrors America.

After being sworn-in by Vice President JD Vance, the Pentagon’s new leader addressed the Defense Department’s three million employees.

Senators Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell voted against confirming Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary. To Capitol insiders, their decisions weren’t surprising.

In 2017, Betsy DeVos barely survived her confirmation vote to become President Trump’s secretary of education.

With two G.O.P. senators opposed, Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s pick for defense secretary, can afford to lose only one more. If he is confirmed, it is likely to be by the smallest margin for that post in modern times.

Samantha Hegseth is contractually obligated not to speak ill of him, according to the terms of their divorce. A former sister-in-law has said Pete Hegseth was threatening and abusive toward Samantha Hegseth.

For the last 50 years, almost every nominee to lead the Pentagon has been a consensus pick who drew lopsided margins of support in the Senate. Pete Hegseth’s nomination has been a notable exception.

The settlement’s existence after a 2017 accusation had been documented before the defense secretary nominee’s confirmation hearing this month, but the amount had not been known publicly.

The removal of a portrait of Gen. Mark A. Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, from a Pentagon hallway was among the president’s early actions.

All but two Republicans voted to advance Pete Hegseth’s nomination as secretary of defense to a final vote, as Democrats raced to bolster fresh allegations about his personal conduct.

A woman once married to the brother of Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary nominee, submitted a sworn statement to the Senate in a late-hour complication to his confirmation. His lawyer denied her account.

President-elect Donald J. Trump has leaned heavily on familiar faces from the cable network as he fills out his second-term cast.

What kind of disruptions does America need? And what will Trump not actually follow through on?

In a hearing that stretched more than four hours, Democrats pressed Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick for defense secretary, on numerous allegations of misconduct, his views about women in combat and his ability to lead the department. Eric Schmitt, national security correspondent for The New York Times, explains a moment that stood out in the hearing.

The Iowa Republican’s decision dramatically increases the likelihood that Mr. Hegseth will have enough votes to be confirmed as President-elect Donald J. Trump’s defense secretary.