Pentagon correspondent and Atlantic writer Nancy Youssef and virtually the entire pentagon press corps—even Fox News—have been expelled from the pentagon building by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, obviously hampering them from doing their jobs of reporting how the military spends close to a trillion dollars per year and how it manages and deploys nearly three million personnel.
Their crime? Declining to sign a pledge that they will only report what Mr. Hegseth allows and approves. Rather than become a shill for Hegseth, the pentagon press corps has abided by its journalistic duty to be an independent source of news coverage for the American people. To do otherwise would be to become the American version of Russia Today, the mouthpiece of the Kremlin, concerning military matters.
As for Hegseth’s juvenile response to the press corps’ collective decision—a decision ensuring that you will get a straighter take on what your military is doing with your money and our young men and women in uniform—Youssef notes that that response was to post an emoji with a hand cheerily waving goodbye.
It should be noted that all responsible journalism is very careful not to report matters of critical national security. I cannot think of a single instance in which a time-sensitive, vital national security matter was revealed irresponsibly by the press. By contrast, Hegseth himself HAS revealed extremely sensitive information when, like a ten-year old showing off his knowledge of a secret, he blabbed the specific war plans to attack Yemeni rebels on a commercial, non-secure Signal platform, potentially endangering American pilots. He should have been sacked for that alone.
Of course his boss is not much better: Last week Trump publicly stated that he was sending a nuclear submarine to the Caribbean, though at least he did not give latitude and longitude. Normally submarine movements would not be publicly mentioned at all—there is a reason they swim UNDER water.
The womanizing, sometimes sozzled, administrative novice and Fox News spin doctor turned “Secretary of Physical Fitness” (as retired Naval War College professor and Atlantic writer Tom Nichols calls him) invites scatological commentary, as in “he’s a walking, talking, load of…well, to be nice, that other four-letter word starting with s, scat.” But a better analogy might be that of a 20-year-old kid playing Call of Duty or Hell Let Loose video war games on his computer twelve hours a day. This epic nonentity, so concerned about wokeness and pushups, knows something about actual national security, alliances, strategic defense, and the capabilities of our adversaries? This little pipsqueak thinks he should lecture some 800 generals and admirals on ANYTHING? He’s not fit to shine their boots. Even three Republican senators, including Mitch McConnell, voted against him, and he was saved only because of the tie-breaking vote of J. D. Vance.
Maybe Trump was right when he told the generals and admirals that America’s greatest threat is from “within.” But that threat from within is not who he says it is—all he has to do is look in the mirror. And as for the threat from without, if you think Trump and Hegseth have made the nation more secure in a world where autocracy is on the march, think again.
John Rachal's Blog
The Preposterous Martinet
October 17, 2025 at 12:41 am (Political Commentary)
Pentagon correspondent and Atlantic writer Nancy Youssef and virtually the entire pentagon press corps—even Fox News—have been expelled from the pentagon building by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, obviously hampering them from doing their jobs of reporting how the military spends close to a trillion dollars per year and how it manages and deploys nearly three million personnel.
Their crime? Declining to sign a pledge that they will only report what Mr. Hegseth allows and approves. Rather than become a shill for Hegseth, the pentagon press corps has abided by its journalistic duty to be an independent source of news coverage for the American people. To do otherwise would be to become the American version of Russia Today, the mouthpiece of the Kremlin, concerning military matters.
As for Hegseth’s juvenile response to the press corps’ collective decision—a decision ensuring that you will get a straighter take on what your military is doing with your money and our young men and women in uniform—Youssef notes that that response was to post an emoji with a hand cheerily waving goodbye.
It should be noted that all responsible journalism is very careful not to report matters of critical national security. I cannot think of a single instance in which a time-sensitive, vital national security matter was revealed irresponsibly by the press. By contrast, Hegseth himself HAS revealed extremely sensitive information when, like a ten-year old showing off his knowledge of a secret, he blabbed the specific war plans to attack Yemeni rebels on a commercial, non-secure Signal platform, potentially endangering American pilots. He should have been sacked for that alone.
Of course his boss is not much better: Last week Trump publicly stated that he was sending a nuclear submarine to the Caribbean, though at least he did not give latitude and longitude. Normally submarine movements would not be publicly mentioned at all—there is a reason they swim UNDER water.
The womanizing, sometimes sozzled, administrative novice and Fox News spin doctor turned “Secretary of Physical Fitness” (as retired Naval War College professor and Atlantic writer Tom Nichols calls him) invites scatological commentary, as in “he’s a walking, talking, load of…well, to be nice, that other four-letter word starting with s, scat.” But a better analogy might be that of a 20-year-old kid playing Call of Duty or Hell Let Loose video war games on his computer twelve hours a day. This epic nonentity, so concerned about wokeness and pushups, knows something about actual national security, alliances, strategic defense, and the capabilities of our adversaries? This little pipsqueak thinks he should lecture some 800 generals and admirals on ANYTHING? He’s not fit to shine their boots. Even three Republican senators, including Mitch McConnell, voted against him, and he was saved only because of the tie-breaking vote of J. D. Vance.
Maybe Trump was right when he told the generals and admirals that America’s greatest threat is from “within.” But that threat from within is not who he says it is—all he has to do is look in the mirror. And as for the threat from without, if you think Trump and Hegseth have made the nation more secure in a world where autocracy is on the march, think again.
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