More than $66 billion flowed from the US government to Lockheed Martin during the fiscal year Jennifer Hegseth was paid by a consulting firm that counted the contractor among its clients. Her own fee remains undisclosed.
Politico’s Daniel Lippman reported Wednesday that the consulting work appears in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s annual financial disclosure. The filing identifies Watchtower Strategy but gives no payment amount.
What Watchtower says she did
A firm spokesperson said Jennifer Hegseth helped it navigate conservative television media. Watchtower called her a major former Fox News producer and said she neither dealt with clients nor advised it on defense matters.
“It should be no surprise that a public affairs firm would want to work with one of the biggest former star producers at Fox News, the nation’s preeminent conservative news outlet,” the spokesperson said.
The firm would not say whether she still works there. Jennifer Hegseth did not answer Politico’s request for comment.
Watchtower began in January 2025. Its Republican founders include Brian O. Walsh, Dan Conston, Arthur Schwartz, Jeff Miller and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. It sells strategic advice, advocacy and communications services.
The Lockheed connection
Lockheed Martin used Watchtower last year, according to Politico. A company spokesperson declined to discuss that particular relationship and said the contractor routinely works with “a number of companies.”
The disclosure does not show that Jennifer Hegseth performed work for Lockheed. Watchtower’s denial that she interacted with clients is central to its account of the arrangement.
Her family also has a Lockheed link. She is the daughter of a former executive at the company who died in 2009. Before that, she spent 18 years at Fox News as a producer.
An adviser without a Pentagon title
Associates have described Jennifer Hegseth as her husband’s “most influential” adviser, although she has no formal job at the Defense Department.
In late 2024, she attended private meetings with Republican senators before Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing, The New York Times reported. She also sat in on interviews with people being considered for positions beneath him.
Some officials and politicians interviewed by the Times called her access to sensitive defense discussions “not normal.” On Katie Miller’s podcast last year, Jennifer Hegseth recalled learning that her husband would become defense secretary: “We were ready to serve in any capacity.”
The Pentagon’s response
Sean Parnell, the department’s chief spokesperson, rejected suggestions of an ethics violation.
“Secretary Hegseth and his wife are in full compliance with all ethics laws and regulations, and their sole focus is serving our warfighters, President Trump, and the American people,” he said. In a later statement, he called contrary insinuations “ridiculous slander.”
Parnell said senior leaders are screened from issues involving former employers and private interests. He did not clarify whether Jennifer Hegseth had been screened for a security clearance.
Sources
- Report Reveals Pete Hegseth’s Wife Was Paid By Firm That Worked With Major Defense Contractor
- Hegseth Hit With Damning Report on Wifeâs Payday
- Pentagon Pete Busted Handing $400M to Fraud Firm
Photo: Molly Riley (Public domain (US government work))
