Hegseth brings warfighter mentality to media relations

The Hill

4 hours ago

The Defense Department's relationship with reporters has gone from bad to worse following a string of missives from Secretary Pete Hegseth and his office aimed at controlling the Pentagon press corps.
Hegseth's war on the media includes taking desks away from legacy outlets, locking the doors to one of the few places reporters have access to the internet in the Pentagon, and restricting their movement within the building.
Compounding the breakdown in media relations is a staffing shortage in the Pentagon's public affairs shop, with at least 12 officials in the office reportedly leaving in recent weeks. The office officially held 32 people at the start of the year.
That has left one of the government's largest agencies often unresponsive amid a steady stream of scandals and public relations snafus, though it maintains an active 'DOD Rapid Response' account on X, which posted on Saturday, 'we will always deliver on our promise of transparency.'
The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment on this article.
Hegseth often talks about bringing a warfighter mentality to the Pentagon. His hostile approach to the media comes at the detriment of the American public, said Jonathan Katz, senior director for the Anti-Corruption, Democracy and Security Project at the Brookings Institution.
'Americans need to understand what's happening in the Department of Defense because it's critical to U.S. national security and to their everyday lives,' Katz told The Hill. 'Right now it looks like the Pentagon, led by Mr. Hegseth, is doing everything it can do to not share critical information with the public. That is problematic.'
Since the start of President Trump's second term, the Defense Department has transformed how it typically engages with the press, largely shunning traditional media. Chief Pentagon spokesperson and senior adviser Sean Parnell has briefed the press on camera once since taking on the role in February, and Hegseth has yet to address reporters in the DOD briefing room.
When Hegseth does address the media, it's mostly from the White House alongside Trump or while he is traveling. But he has shaped how he is covered on those trips by limiting the number of reporters that come with him — on some trips hand-picking those from more right-leaning outlets that skew toward favorable coverage of the department.
When Hegseth traveled to Guantanamo Bay in late February, he took just one reporter, his former colleague, Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
Hegseth and Parnell have instead put out near-weekly 'situation reports,' video updates from the Pentagon that espouse positive headlines and commitments to 'transparency.' The DOD Rapid Response X account both plays up positive news about Hegseth and denigrates news stories and reporters that show him in a negative light.
Alex Wagner, a former Pentagon official turned public affairs professor at Syracuse University, said the channeling of all communication into 'easily retweeted videos that are highly scripted without any chance for questions' undermines servicemembers and confidence that defense leaders have their best interests at heart.
'It's absolutely critical that the people who are serving and sacrificing and their families understand not only what is happening to service members and their dependents, but also why it's happening,' Wagner told The Hill.
'I'm just surprised President Trump and his team are allowing it, given their repeated affirmations that they are running the most transparent administration in history,' he added, pointing to the contrast with the White House and State Department, where officials regularly brief the media.
Things are only getting worse for the Pentagon press corps.
Just working in the building has become arduous for many outlets after Hegseth's office in early February took away the desks of eight legacy media outlets: NBC News, the New York Times, NPR, Politico, CNN, The Washington Post, The Hill and War Zone.
The reporters had to vacate their spaces for outlets more sympathetic to the Trump administration, including One America News Network, the New York Post, Breitbart News, Newsmax, the Washington Examiner, the Daily Caller and the Free Press.
DOD called the shifts a 'media rotation program,' but the move was bashed by the Pentagon Press Association, which called it 'unreasonable.'
Later that same month, the Pentagon banned reporters from the press briefing room unless officials were holding a briefing — which has only happened once in more than five months. This barred media from one of the few places in the building that had access to wifi to file stories.
And last month, after a string of embarrassing headlines for Hegseth, including that he mishandled sensitive information in March when he relayed over Signal detailed plans to strike Houthi militants in Yemen — to a group chat that included a journalist — the Pentagon barred reporters from freely walking certain areas of the building.
Areas off limits now include Hegseth's office spaces and the Joint Staff office spaces 'without an official approval and escort from the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs,' according to a May 23 memo signed by the Pentagon chief.
The decision limits press access to hallways they have historically had access to under past Republican and Democratic presidential administrations, with Parnell on X calling the restrictions 'pragmatic changes to protect operational security.'
It also eliminates 'the media's freedom to freely access press officers for the military services who are specifically hired to respond to press queries,' the Pentagon Press Association said in a statement. The group further called the restrictions 'a direct attack on the freedom of the press and America's right to know what its military is doing.'
The National Press Club urged DOD to reverse course, as 'restricting access doesn't protect national security. It undermines public trust,' the organization's President Mike Balsamo said in a statement.
And a third press group, Military Reporters & Editors, said it was 'deeply troubled' by the restrictions, the likes of which hadn't been seen before at the Pentagon.
'This isn't meant to protect the republic, it is designed to impose a chill,' the organization said in a statement. 'It is a disservice to the American public, troops, veterans and families who rely on a dedicated free press to shine the light on matters of vital interest.'
Further limitations are likely coming, with Hegseth's memo alluding to reporters having to soon sign a pledge to protect sensitive military information or risk losing their press badge.
'It's as if there's a separate standard for transparency and accountability that the Pentagon is not upholding under Secretary Hegseth that they're asking others to uphold,' said Katz.
'This is disconcerting for the American public that relies on the media to understand in a transparent, accountable way what the Pentagon is doing. And right now, Americans are losing faith that one of the most important national security institutions is not being truthful,' he added.