During a recent “expletive-laden address” at the Army War College, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boasted, “We are laser-focused on our mission of warfighting.” The former Fox News host did not, however, note that he was apparently referring to a domestic culture war.
During his tenure, the beleaguered Pentagon chief has invested a considerable amount of time and energy in library books. And paintings. And scrubbing Defense Department websites of articles and images about Jackie Robinson and the Navajo Code Talkers. And renaming Navy ships. And leading a Christian prayer service in the Pentagon’s auditorium. And amplifying videos about denying women the right to vote. And creating new grooming standards.
But in case that weren’t quite enough, Hegseth has also carved out time to push back against the industry he ostensibly worked in before joining the Trump administration: the news media.
As The Associated Press reported, “The Pentagon this year has evicted many news organizations while imposing a series of restrictions on the press that include banning reporters from entering wide swaths of the Pentagon without a government escort — areas where the press had access in past administrations as it covers the activities of the world’s most powerful military.”
Late last week, these efforts took a dramatic turn for the worse. NBC News reported:
Journalists who cover the Defense Department at the Pentagon can no longer gather or report information, even if it is unclassified, unless it’s been authorized for release by the government, defense officials announced Friday. Reporters who don’t sign a statement agreeing to the new rules will have their press credentials revoked, officials said.
I’m mindful of the fact that Donald Trump and his team have launched a radical offensive against the First Amendment and its protections for the free press, but that doesn’t make the developments at the Pentagon any less ridiculous.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a military veteran and ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the restrictions “an ill-advised affront to free speech and freedom of the press.”
“Secretary Hegseth’s restrictions on the press are part of a broader attempt by this Administration to cover up missteps, stifle independent journalism, and obscure the truth,” Reed said. “American journalists are not, should not, and must not be mere stenographers for the party in power or the Pentagon itself.”
The senator’s use of the word “stenographers” was especially notable because it summarized the underlying problem nicely: Hegseth’s policy, for all intents and purposes, requires professional journalists to publish only what the Defense Department has approved for public release. That might very well make the secretary happy and improve his job security — Hegseth has been humiliated in recent months from revelations that emerged from sources within the Pentagon — but this isn’t how things are supposed to work in the United States. Even some Republicans acknowledged the absurdity of the demand. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, whose looming retirement seems to have made it easier for the congressman to speak candidly, wrote online, “This is so dumb that I have a hard time believing it is true. We don’t want a bunch of Pravda newspapers only touting the Government’s official position. A free press makes our country better. This sounds like more amateur hour.” Whether the pushback prompts a change in direction remains to be seen. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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