Outgoing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a Nov. 20 interview that women and racial diversity are essential to the strength and success of the U.S. armed forces.

Austin made the remarks in an interview with NBC News as the former commander of the U.S. Central Command prepares to leave his position after four years as head of the Department of Defense.

“I have spent 41 years in uniform, three long tours in Iraq, one in Afghanistan, and everywhere I went on a battlefield, there were women in our formation,” Austin said.

“I would tell you that, you know, our women are the finest troops in the world. Quite frankly, some of the finest in the world.”

The interview followed President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Austin’s successor, Pete Hegseth, recently came under fire for past comments he made about women in combat. A former Army National Guard Major, Hegseth is a veteran of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, and has two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

In a recent podcast interview, Hegseth said the military “should not have women in combat roles” and “men in those positions are more capable. ”

According to a November 2023 Defense Department report, in 2022, women accounted for 17.5 percent of the U.S. military’s active-duty force and 21.6 percent of the selected reserve.

Austin said that women “do impact readiness.”

“They make us better. They make us stronger. And again, what I’ve seen from our women is quite incredible, and I’m not—this is not hyperbole. This is fact.”

In addition to removing women from combat roles, Hegseth suggested he would move to remove military officials who back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, which Republicans often criticize as weakening military readiness.

Austin declined to speculate on this but said the military values diversity despite being a meritocracy.

“We’re a diverse nation, and we’re going to remain a diverse nation. Our military is going to remain a diverse military,” he said.

Hegseth’s position requires confirmation by the Senate, which will have a GOP majority for the next two years. While Senate Republicans have not ruled out recess appointments, Hegseth could experience pushback after a 2017 police report went public on Wednesday detailing sexual assault allegations against him.

“The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared,” Hegseth told reporters at the Capitol on Thursday, describing the relationship in question as consensual.

Regarding Hegseth’s nomination to succeed him as the next secretary of defense, Austin said, “The president-elect has the opportunity to nominate anyone that he chooses for any position, and certainly, you know, we respect that.”

Regarding Trump’s stated plans to use the military to conduct widespread deportations of illegal immigrants living in the United States, Austin declined to discuss the president-elect’s intentions but added that the law defines “how we employ our military.”

“I have faith and confidence in our senior leaders that they will always make the right decisions and make the right recommendations to their leadership,” he said.

President Joe Biden appointed Austin, a four-star general, as defense secretary in 2021.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.