Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s senior adviser for religious issues has shared scores of racist and homophobic posts, spread conspiracy theories, and repeatedly denigrated Islam and immigrants, a CNN investigation has found.

Ryan Higgins has become a key aide to Hegseth since joining the Pentagon, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN, particularly in shaping the defense secretary’s embrace of Christian nationalist themes in speeches and public appearances.

On his social media platforms, CNN found Higgins defended a video President Donald Trump shared depicting the Obamas as apes, said same-sex marriage was “abominable,” and speculated about how many abortions former Vice President Kamala Harris might have had, citing her age and claiming she had a “long record of sleeping around.”He’s also asserted that the “Separation of Church and State does not exist” and has posted extreme rhetoric about immigrants.

“They act like barbarians, killing and raping our white women,” he wrote in one post responding to tabloid coverage of sexual crimes allegedly committed by immigrants in Europe.

While many of the posts were made in his previous role as a conservative activist, Higgins has also continued sharing far-right views since joining the administration, including railing against “the satanic cult of LGBTQ,” criticizing gay adoption as “buying babies,” and calling abortion “Demonic human sacrifice packaged as ‘women’s healthcare.’”Higgins’ comments, which CNN found in a review of hundreds of social media posts, video streams and archived blog posts from the last decade, illuminate the views of a key figure behind Hegseth’s push to dramatically reshape the American military.

While some sources who spoke to CNN said Higgins had considerable influence on Hegseth’s rhetoric and positions on religious issues, two other sources downplayed his role, saying he is merely one of many advisers within the department.

Hegseth has faced increasing pushback over his culture war within the Pentagon, which has pushed out senior military leaders and subject matter experts, including women and Black leaders.

Higgins did not respond to requests for comment on this story. A spokesperson for the Department of Defense called Higgins a “valued member of the Secretary’s team” who “does an outstanding job serving as a senior adviser.”“He has been completely focused on the spiritual health of our troops and the historic establishment of the Office of Religious Affairs,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. Parnell did not respond specifically to detailed questions about Higgins’ posts reviewed by CNN.

Higgins, who spent years in conservative politics and evangelical activism, initially backed Ben Carson’s 2016 presidential campaign before joining Trump’s orbit, writing on his blog that Christians must fall in line to defeat Hillary Clinton.

During the pandemic, Higgins helped organize efforts opposing restrictions on churches and worked with conservative activist Charlie Kirk. He went on to serve in a senior faith-outreach role for Trump.

He joined the Pentagon as a senior adviser for faith matters, a role that had not existed in recent years. Hegseth has made his religious views a staple of his office and public engagement. The defense secretary began hosting monthly Christian worship services inside the Pentagon, inviting speakers including Doug Wilson, a pastor who has said he supports the repeal of women’s right to vote and that homosexuality should be criminalized. In February, Higgins thanked Wilson for encouraging “our amazing Pentagon family.”

Although few outside Washington and evangelical circles know his name, Higgins is one of several advisors who have played an instrumental role in shaping Hegseth’s messaging on key issues.

According to multiple sources, Higgins has contributed to Hegseth’s focus on culture war issues and has been responsible for some of the secretary’s most incendiary remarks, including his February address to a Christian media convention of the National Religious Broadcasters. That speech attacked what he called the “Godless left,” celebrated “Western Christian” values and cast the administration’s culture-war policies as a religious restoration of the military.

He also has a hand in policy issues; three sources familiar said Higgins is a primary part of the effort to establish a new Office of Religious Affairs at the Pentagon, which Hegseth announced in a speech last month.

“We are placing spiritual health at the same level as physical health,” Hegseth said in his speech at Marine Corps Base Quantico in September. “Our department is, you might say, is putting on the full armor of God. Because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual. God is good. Evil is not. America’s military must understand the difference.”Higgins has repeatedly denigrated Muslim countries and even Islam itself – a faith practiced by thousands of active-duty American troops.

In January, referring to a Daily Mail article about crimes allegedly committed in Europe by immigrants from Muslim nations, he wrote: “Violent illegal immigrants and even many ‘asylum seekers’ are destroying the entire planet… They act like barbarians, killing and raping our white women.”In February, he posted about a separate story on the topic: “Absolute animals… These people many times come from barbaric cultures which has no place in the western world.”In April, he queried about the UK, “How long until the monarchy is dethroned by Muslims?”

Previously, in 2025, he mocked King Charles for recognizing Muslims’ contributions to British society, later writing, “Islam teaches death to all who do not comply.”He also posted the U.S. must admit only those who “love our nation and wish to ASSIMILATE to OUR culture.”By contrast, Higgins has often argued Christians are being persecuted and victimized.

Earlier this year, Higgins posted “THIS IS A CHRISTIAN NATION” alongside a map of the United States. In June, he amplified Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s message from the Oval Office that the separation of church and state is not denoted in the Constitution. “Separation of Church and State does not exist,” Higgins wrote at the time.

Earlier this year, he implored Christians to vote en masse, proclaiming “Our nation has culturally declined because Christians sit by and allow it.”The same day, he responded to a post noting the decline of New York City’s White population by writing, “Insanity.”In March, he asked, “Why are Christians always the only ones punished for their beliefs?”In August, he alleged that the left harbors “a deep seated hatred for Christianity.”Higgins has also posted regularly about women’s role in society, gay rights and abortion.

In May, he replied “God was right all along” to a graphic posted by another user that argued “There is no good or logical reason for a woman to have sex before marriage.”Over the summer, he warned that Democrats want to “promote teen sex” and “fornicate en mass[e],” likening their views to that of Sodom and Gomorrah.

“No ‘career’ will ever give you the fulfillment you’re looking for that can only be found from being a mother,” he wrote in May in a post about women in the workforce. “Don’t believe the lies.”In July, in response to a video celebrating the “natural instincts” of womanhood, he wrote: “THIS is what living a joyful life looks like. Get married young and have more babies than you can afford.”In August, he described Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s decision to freeze her eggs as “a self-centered mindset. Me first. Career first.”

He has likened abortion to “human sacrifice,” and called for abortion-seekers to be tried for murder. “Who else loves human sacrifice? Satan & demons,” he tweeted in May, referring to “psychopaths” who support abortion. In August, he compared abortion to the Holocaust, posting it was like “saying Nazi concentration camps were ethnic end-of-life care.”

Higgins has also called same-sex marriage “abominable.”In 2022, he shared an Instagram post that read “two males cannot be Dads and two females cannot be Moms.”He repeatedly criticized the existence of Pride Month, saying he “hate[d]” that it fell over Father’s Day. He attacked transgenderism as a “mental disorder” and wrote in 2025, “Stop playing dress up, get some help, find Jesus, and learn to be a functioning human with sympathy and compassion.”

His attacks have continued since joining the Pentagon. In March, he warned against “the satanic cult of LGBTQ” and described a same-sex couple adopting a child as “two dudes buying babies” in a June post.

Higgins has also attacked liberals and Democratic politicians with vitriolic posts – at times employing misogynistic or racist rhetoric.

When Kamala Harris announced her candidacy for president, he claimed she “climbed the ranks because of immoral philandering” and was named VP “because of your gender & the color of your skin.”In a later post, he questioned how many abortions she might have had, writing that he found “it hard to believe that a woman of her age & her long record of sleeping around has never gotten pregnant.”He repeatedly referred to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as “Nasty Nancy” and posted in January that her appearance should serve as a warning against “fake” looks. He similarly denigrated Michelle Obama’s appearance in response to an unflattering photo, and speculated in 2013 that she obtained a facial procedure.

In February, he defended Trump’s Truth Social post depicting Obama and her husband as apes – which recalled centuries of racist caricatures of Black people.

“The video is funny, probably a little bad taste considering the Office, but I don’t understand why the Obama’s as monkeys is more racist” than others, Higgins said, adding, “He made Biden a monkey too.”Amid the racial tension of 2020, he wrote that there is “NOT a ‘systemic racism’ issue in the US” and frequently attacked George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protestors using extreme language.

In July 2021, he posted a story about a mural of George Floyd destroyed by a lightning strike, writing, “If this were the book of Daniel, we’d call this the finger of God.”Higgins has promulgated myriad conspiracy theories across the hundreds of posts reviewed by CNN – particularly around the pandemic and the 2020 election.

Higgins compared pandemic rules to Nazism, like when he posted in 2022: “If you believe the Plandemic is still a thing, they are controlling you… Forget not that Jews willing[sic] boarded box cars and willingly walked into gas chambers.”He also posted an image about the yellow Star of David that Jews were required to wear, and later shared an image beside a photo of wedding bands taken from Holocaust victims with the text “Sound Familiar?”In September of 2022, he accused then-President Biden of weaponizing “your SS.”Higgins was also an early adopter of the stolen election theory in 2020.

After the 2020 election, he said he had an “arsenal,” adding that he had bought an assault rifle the previous day and “maxed it out with all kinds of tactical gear.”He then said, “Biden, guess what? You didn’t win.”After the election, he wrote, “they can steal an election over my cold dead body.”

Amid the chaos at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, he asserted “you can’t possibly ask for a peaceful transmission of power when elections are being stolen and taken from us” and blamed antifa for the violence. Later, he asked why so many arrestees were “Democrat and BLM.”The day after the riot, he called for further escalation. “Today starts the day we start fighting like we’ve never fought before to take our country back… They for sure cheated.”

His attacks on the electoral process have not ceased since he joined the Pentagon. Heading into the midterms, he wrote: “I have exactly 0% faith in our elections… Time to fire them all…wait…we can’t because the elections are fake.”In August, he posted that media and “elected officials who covered up the crimes” of 2020 should be prosecuted.