() Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday expressed strong support for Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, praising the combat veteran’s cautious approach to military intervention.

“I liked him because he was not only a combat veteran but someone who had a healthy respect for war and for not being eager to put people into combat and thinking of war as the last resort, not the first resort,” the Kentucky Republican told “The Hill on .”

Paul, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said he first met Hegseth about a decade ago through veterans advocacy work before Hegseth joined Fox News.

The senator indicated his views of the nominee remained positive following Tuesday’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

On military spending, Paul suggested he hopes Hegseth will help rein in the Pentagon’s growing budget, which has risen from $750 billion to over $820 billion in recent years. The senator argued that the U.S. can maintain military strength while spending less, citing the need to modernize and eliminate waste.

“We spend more as a country than the next 10 countries combined,” Paul said. “There’s a lot of waste in the military. There’s a lot of old-fashioned thinking fighting the last war and not the next war.”

Paul advocated for reforms including competitive bidding for military contracts, comparing it to how Elon Musk’s approach has brought down costs in space exploration.