Vice President JD Vance: “They got us a country where we fought many wars over the last 40 years, but haven't won a war about as long as I've been alive”

In was a first Vice President JD Vance interview since taking office with CBS (photo). Here are some of the highlights of his wide-ranging interview with "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that aired on Sunday.

Vance was forced to cast the tie-breaking vote to push through the controversial confirmation of Pete Hegseth as defense secretary. This came after three Republican senators voted against Hegseth's nomination, leading to a brief 50-50 Senate stalemate, the smallest margin of approval for a defense secretary since the position was created.

Hegseth's nomination had been questioned over allegations of alcohol abuse, sexual assault and financial mismanagement.

"I think Pete is a disrupter, and a lot of people don't like that disruption," said Vance of the tight vote.

"If you think about all of those bipartisan, massive votes, we have to ask ourselves, what did they get us?" he went on. "They got us a country where we fought many wars over the last 40 years, but haven't won a war about as long as I've been alive."

Vance said Hegseth's primary task will be "to fix the problems at the Department of Defense," which he said included increasing recruitment numbers and fixing an "incredibly broken" weapons procurement process.

"If you look at where we are with the rise of artificial intelligence, with the rise of drone technology and drone warfare, we have to really, top to bottom, change the way that we fund the procurement of weapons, the way that we arm our troops," Vance said.

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Mr. Trump's pick for director of national intelligence, has been oft-criticized for her contentious views on U.S. diplomatic issues.

Vance brushed aside the criticism Gabbard's nomination has received from some conservative media outlets, saying he is "confident" that she "will ultimately get through." He described her as a "career military servant who's had a classification at the highest levels for nearly two decades," and "a person who I think is going to bring some trust back to the intelligence services."

When pressed on how she will instill public trust in agencies – which Gabbard has expressed distrust of in the past — Vance responded that Gabbard "recognizes the bureaucrats have gotten out of control, and we need somebody there who's going to rein them in and return those services to their core mission of identifying information that's going to keep us safe."

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