Hegseth’s press restrictions will backfire

OPINION:

In September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth published a new policy that imposes tight restrictions on reporters covering the Pentagon. (Mr. Hegseth isn’t secretary of war until Congress makes the requisite changes in U.S. law.)

Let’s set aside, for the moment, the possibly constitutional issues of restrictions on freedom of the press and free speech.

The restrictions require journalists to be escorted wherever they go in the Pentagon and agree not to publish anything that hasn’t been officially approved. If they do, they will lose their press badges, which entitle them to access in the Pentagon.

I have been on both sides of this fracas, first serving as a deputy undersecretary of defense in the George H.W. Bush administration and then, for the past 30 years, as a columnist for several news outlets, including The Washington Times, the American Spectator, National Review and Human Events.

On the basis of that experience, I assure you that it is impossible to report on anything newsworthy in the Pentagon or its environs without confidential sources.

There are responsible journalists, and there is the ravening horde of irresponsible journalists. I’m sure that, squirreled away in some forgotten corner of my brain, there may be information on “black” programs, those that are called “code word” programs. Those programs are not even acknowledged, and only a few people in Congress are even aware of them.

I would never, ever publish or even talk about anything classified, much less a “black” program, although there are some who would do so gladly and profit from it. New York Times reporter James Risen published his 2006 book, “State of War,” and a front-page story in The Times on the same day, reporting on a top-secret CIA program. Even a personal call from President George W. Bush to the newspaper’s boss was insufficient to withhold the book and the story.

I was fortunate to be one of the journalists invited to private briefings with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and top generals for about two years during the Iraq War. I was among about 40 people who talked mostly about warheads on TV. We toured Baghdad and Fallujah on a Defense-sponsored trip. Others went to Afghanistan.

We learned a lot, although it was always spoken in terms that put the Defense Department in a good light. Most of the briefings were on background only, meaning the people who benefited from them couldn’t quote anything other than a “Defense Department source.” And we didn’t.

Even those responsible reporters and columnists, and I count myself among them, rely on confidential sources. Those sources are protected either because they need to be or they wouldn’t talk to journalists. They fear being subjected to disciplinary actions against them, regardless of the truths they provide.

Mr. Hegseth’s restrictions on reporters will certainly backfire. The reporters who cover the Pentagon, and a great many others, are well known to the Pentagon’s denizens. Private telephone calls or emails will ensure that leaks continue, and reporters who don’t sign up for Mr. Hegseth’s new restrictions will gladly publish any sort of gossip or scandal. The only effect of Mr. Hegseth’s new restrictions will be to drive reporters and Pentagon people further underground until the stories are published.

Reporters are dropping their Pentagon press badges in droves. This will also create a bias against the Pentagon, which has been a given under President Trump.

Mr. Hegseth is an impressive guy. He has done a great deal to weed out the woke diversity, equity and inclusion and transgender nonsense that was so popular in the Biden administration. He has restored fitness as a way of life among the military, even the top generals and admirals. Still, he needs to do more.

If Mr. Hegseth wants to create a more favorable atmosphere in the press, he should try to be more open to the press. He could emulate Rumsfeld by inviting groups of reporters and columnists into the Pentagon for private briefings. That wouldn’t create a pro-Pentagon bias in the media but it would clearly help.

We are, apparently, at war with the drug cartels. Why and how, other than by bombing drug boats, are we conducting the war? The CIA is also apparently operating within Venezuela to do more of the same.

We also are, by Mr. Trump’s order, going to disarm Hamas. How can that be done without risking American lives?

The Russian war against Ukraine is not going to stop anytime soon. Are we going to provide Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles? If so, providing a briefing to reporters and columnists could give the necessary background for that action.

By opening himself to the press, Mr. Hegseth could do an enormous service to the nation and the world. If he doesn’t, there will be more Pentagon bashing and worse.

• Jed Babbin is a national security and foreign affairs columnist for The Washington Times and a contributing editor for The American Spectator.