Under the Trump administration, getting access to the military has become increasingly challenging. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put heavy restrictions on reporters. Journalists were required to sign a document that warned they could lose their Pentagon press credentials for "soliciting" even unclassified information that had not been approved for release.
My colleague, NPR Pentagon Correspondent Tom Bowman, who had a Pentagon press pass for 28 years, gave it up rather than sign that document, as did reporters from every other reputable news organization.
The New York Times later filed a lawsuit against the policy, and a federal judge recently ruled it unconstitutional. The Pentagon has vowed to appeal.
Policies like that have had a major chilling effect on service members’ willingness to speak to journalists, according to free speech advocates and constitutional experts.
Despite these challenges, Tom and I have noticed that when we do hear from people, we are increasingly hearing about a growing disquiet in the ranks.
I first started hearing murmurings while reporting on Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to several U.S. cities last year. I flew to Ohio to meet with several guard members who had started an encrypted group chat to talk about how unsettled they were feeling about the Guard deployments.
NPR - Over the months, I compared what I was hearing with Tom, as we chatted in the newsroom. He’d been hearing many of the same sentiments — concern over the legality of U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean or the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the military.
When the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran at the end of February, and thousands of additional American troops were deployed to the Middle East, we started checking back in with service members and groups who work with them. Those we spoke with told us that some service members were deeply concerned and demoralized, and many were looking for ways to leave. The Pentagon pushed back on claims about retention being a problem.
They could refuse to obey, since the "war" is un-Constitutional, and then if they get sacked or have other action taken against them, sue Kegsbreath and Trump for violating their UCMJ rights.
ReplyDelete