Donald Trump and maga Republicans must fire Pete Hegseth he is dangerous to the First Amendment and an embarrassment to the nation

Echo editorial board opinion published in the Boston Globe:

Hegseth’s war on the press now a losing battle — for him
No respectable journalist will give away the right to report the truth.

The US Department of Defense has opted to wage its first war of the new era, under the name of  "Department of War", not on the battlefield, but within the bowels of the Pentagon pressroom.

The department issued a memo to reporters, saying they would be required to sign a document pledging not to disclose either classified or “controlled unclassified information,” defining that as anything not formally authorized for publication. That’s pretty much the definition of what reporters — good reporters — actually do every day of the week.

They gather news from a variety of sources — including from inside the Pentagon — and bring that reporting through their respective media outlets to the American public.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would apparently prefer to turn a diverse and feisty press corps into a quiescent public relations operation designed to magnify his achievements, or lack or — whatever they may be.

After several weeks of negotiations among news outlets, the Pentagon Press Association, and the administration failed to produce a compromise, more than a dozen of the nation’s major media outlets announced Monday that the regulations were simply unacceptable, contrary to their rights under the First Amendment, and that they had no intention of signing on.

Those outlets included the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN, along with Newsmax and the Washington Times — the latter two among those generally friendly to the Trump administration.


By mid-day Tuesday, they were joined by the nation’s major TV outlets, including Hegseth’s former bosses at Fox News.

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NBC News, CBS News, and ABC News, along with the cable networks, said in a statement, “Today, we join virtually every other news organization in declining to agree to the Pentagon’s new requirements, which would restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues. The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections. We will continue to cover the US military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press.”

NPR’s Tom Bowman, a 28-year veteran of reporting from the Pentagon, wrote in an essay that “signing that document would make us stenographers parroting press releases, not watchdogs holding government officials accountable.”

As the deadline for signing neared, only the right-wing One America News had officially agreed to the arrangement. (The Boston Globe does not have a Pentagon media credential.)

Those not signing on to the untenable waiver of rights proposed by Hegseth had 24 hours to surrender their media credentials and face banishment from the Pentagon itself. They lined up to do so Wednesday.

Hegseth responded to the news outlets’ refusal to sign the agreement throughout the day on X Monday with a waving hand “bye-bye” emoji.

“Pentagon access is a privilege, not a right,” he wrote on X. “So, here is @DeptofWar press credentialing FOR DUMMIES: Press no longer roams free. Press must wear visible badge. Credentialed press no longer permitted to solicit criminal acts. DONE. Pentagon now has same rules as every US military installation.”

Of course, “covering” the Pentagon these days isn’t what it used to be. A number of mainstream media outlets had already been ousted from their regularly assigned desks to make way for more Trump-friendly outlets, and media briefings have dwindled to a precious few. As of mid-day Tuesday, the latest press releases posted to the Pentagon’s website were from Sept. 30, along with the transcript of Hegseth’s speech to the military’s top brass called to Quantico that day.

The real scandal of this administration’s war on the media is the disrespect it shows for those hundreds of reporters who throughout the years — and throughout many wars — have risked and often lost their own lives reporting on this nation’s military from the field. Those embedded with military forces faced the same dangers as US soldiers but came armed with only a notebook or a camera. In the first months of the Iraq War, for example, at least 15 journalists lost their lives, including the Boston Globe’s Elizabeth Neuffer. 

Before the war was over some 150 journalists and 54 support staffers would be killed covering the conflict, dwarfing the 66 killed during the Vietnam War.

Where is the respect for them and the work they did — the work hundreds continue to do.

Hegseth is an embarrassment💢😠 to even an administration that has always seemed beyond embarrassment, a disgrace to the uniform he once wore and to the troops he purports to command.

The press meanwhile will continue to do what it has always done — its job — with or without his help or the Pentagon's permission.

Thank you General Mark Milley for reognizing how your expression of regret is a leadership skill

Wall Street Journal:  Top General Apologizes for Being at Trump Church Photo Shoot: "My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics".

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, 20th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon.

Top Pentagon general apologizes for role in Donald Trump's photo during protests a National Public Radio (NPR) echo:
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/11/875047527/top-general-apologizes-for-role-in-trumps-photo-during-protests

General Mark Milley, a top military official at the Pentagon, has apologized for participating in President Trump's walk to St. John's Episcopal Church, near the White House, after law enforcement forcibly cleared the protesters.

The divide between the Pentagon and the White House grows ever deeper. In a video commencement address to the National Defense University, the nation's top military officer, General Mark Milley, said he was sorry. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff apologized for being part of the entourage that accompanied Donald Trump across Lafayette Square in Washington DC, from the White House, over to a nearby church for a photo op.

National Public Radio's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman joined Rachel Martin:

MARTIN: So what exactly did General Milley say here?

BOWMAN: Well, it was really extraordinary. He said, I should not have been there at Lafayette Square in front of the church - and said his presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As you recall, president posed for a photo op at the church after authorities had used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.

Milley himself was highly visible that day, wearing battle fatigues as he walked through the square. Now, his officials at the Pentagon said, well, he dresses that way because he was going to go to the operations center so that's not really a big deal. But it did cause consternation, you know, among retired officers and others. And listen, here's what else he had to say at NDU today.

"General Mark Milley: As many of you saw, the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week - that sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society. I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned, uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from. And I sincerely hope we all can learn from it."

BOWMAN: And he went on to say, Rachel, that - to these graduates who will be the future admirals and generals, that they must hold dear the principle of an apolitical military. And this comes in the wake of Defense Secretary Mark Esper's distancing himself from the White House, saying he didn't agree that active troops should have been used or could have been used in the - against the protesters, although the president was basically saying, I'm going to use the military to dominate. He said he was against that.

MARTIN: I mean, it's sort of an understatement to say that the president's relationship with the military he oversees has been complicated - and now this. I mean, help us understand the significance of this apology in this broader relationship.

BOWMAN: Well, it's very significant. And General Milley's basically sending the message to the troops - listen, you know, we can't get involved in politics. This is the wrong thing to do. But you have a president who has really no knowledge of the military talking about my generals, as he has in the past, or going to military bases and saying, I know you soldiers support me. This is clearly a pushback from - at the White House. You can't get involved in these kinds of things with active-duty military. And again, I think is basically standing up to the White House is what we're seeing here.

But the big thing, again, is General Milley wants to tell the troops, listen, I made a mistake. We can't get involved in politics; we have to stay apolitical.

MARTIN: And we have to acknowledge that this is all happening in the backdrop of another debate over the symbolism of Confederate statues, Confederate flags and the renaming, perhaps, of American military bases that have been named after Confederate generals. And this is just another issue where the president and the military disagree, the military at least wanting to have that conversation.

BOWMAN: Yeah. They want to have their conversation, and basically, President Trump's saying, will not happen. This is part of American heritage.

MARTIN: NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman. Thank you so much, Tom.

BOWMAN: You're welcome, Rachel.