Fmr. Defense Official: Women Should Not Serve as SEALs

Women should not be in the Navy SEALs because of the extraordinary physical demands required, according to Seth Cropsey, the former Assistant to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.

"SEALs are an extraordinarily demanding job," Cropsey told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.  "Most of the men who enter into the training program don’t make it because of the physical and mental demands."

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that under Department of Defense plans, women could begin training as Army Rangers by 2015 and as Navy SEALs by 2016.

Cropsey, who was also a former Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy and is now a fellow at the Hudson Institute, added that does not mean that women can't hack combat.

"I have no doubt that there are some women who could probably pass the test. But it would alter the character of the units," he said. "The same kinds of problems between men and women that the large military has to deal with will not be helpful if included in the other large tactical problems that special operations already has to deal with."

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Cropsey is also concerned with the Obama Administration's plan to help Syrian rebels in the country's ongoing civil war, one some military experts warn could lead to a bloodbath. He believes the U.S. may have waited too long to act.

"When you wait this long, you lose the influence that you might have had and when you show by example that you want to disengage, people don’t take you seriously," he said.

"We've lost our military influence, we're losing our diplomatic influence, and what message do you think it sends to the world when you have a policy of finally arming the rebels, whoever they are?"

Cropsey, a fellow at the Hudson Institute, added that Syria isn't the only problem spot the U.S. has regarding its foreign policy.

"The backdrop is that this administration has mishandled its Middle Eastern policy from the get-go," he told Steve Malzberg. "Our relations with Israel have never been worse since the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948. We helped show [President Hosni] Mubarak the door in Egypt and what's the result? Muslim Brotherhood and an economy that is near collapse, right?"

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