"I confess, I did not know who Pete Hegseth was until about 20 minutes ago," Smith told reporters.

"He does not seem to have much of a detailed background in [Department of Defense] policy. To the extent he's worked on any of that stuff, it has been on veterans policy, not on DoD issues. So the lack of experience is concerning," Smith said.

"Now I have not heard what his plans are, so we will see what his plans are," he added. "But it was surprising and is concerning, just given that lack of experience. You know, the Pentagon, biggest bureaucracy in the world. It's a hard thing to run, so I think it's going to be a challenge."