A Pentagon official credited with shaping Pete Hegseth’s religious agenda has been exposed as a conspiracy theorist who regularly shares racist and homophobic posts online.
Ryan Higgins, a senior adviser to the defense secretary, is part of the team helping Hegseth bring Christianity more prominently into military life.
But a damning CNN investigation published Tuesday has exposed that Higgins has an unsavory history that includes social media attacks on immigrants, gay couples and women.
Several sources told CNN that the adviser had helped shape the Pentagon chief’s religious messaging and played an important role in developing the new Office of Religious Affairs.
Higgins has rejected the idea of separation between church and state, while Hegseth has argued that military readiness requires spiritual strength.
His social media footprint is also riddled with bigotry.
When Trump circulated a video featuring the Obamas portrayed as apes in February, Higgins described it as “funny,” although he conceded it was in poor taste.
In March, Higgins warned about “the satanic cult of LGBTQ.” Two months later, he attacked adoption by same-sex couples, describing a male couple bringing up a child as “two dudes buying babies.”
Higgins has also denounced same-sex marriage and suggested transgender people need religious intervention.
He has also attacked immigrants and Muslims. In January, while discussing allegations of sexual violence involving migrants, Higgins wrote that immigrants were behaving like barbarians and sexually assaulting white women.
He has also claimed Islam promotes violence against nonbelievers and suggested Muslims might overthrow the British monarchy.
Women—and particularly female politicians—are another of Higgins’s regular targets.
He speculated, without evidence, about whether former Vice President Kamala Harris, 62, had undergone abortions, citing her age and making unsubstantiated allegations about her sex life.
He also argued that women cannot feel fulfilled through professional success in the same way as through motherhood.
The adviser also expressed questionable views on the legitimacy of the U.S. political system.
Following Trump’s 2020 defeat, Higgins rejected Biden’s election victory and boasted on social media about buying an assault rifle. During the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, he said electoral fraud—for which there was no evidence—meant the orderly transfer of presidential power was impossible.
These are apparently views he still holds. In June this year, ahead of next week’s midterms, he declared that he had no confidence in American elections and suggested the results were fabricated.
The Pentagon, however, is standing by its adviser. Chief spokesman Sean Parnell described Higgins as a valued member of Hegseth’s staff whose focus had been supporting troops’ spiritual welfare and developing the new office.
Two other sources speaking to CNN disputed the extent of his influence, describing him as one adviser in a larger team.
Parnell did not answer the outlet’s specific questions about the inflammatory statements, and Higgins did not respond to its requests for comment.
Parnell told the Daily Beast that CNN’s investigation was “a pathetic attempt to slander” Higgins and had been “designed to distract from the vital work that the Department is carrying out every day on behalf of President Trump, our warfighters, and the American people.”
