Pentagon Limits Congressional Oversight After Leaks But Still Gifts Billions
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's new memo requires all Pentagon staff to get prior approval before sharing information with Congress. Citing 'unauthorized engagements' that 'undermine Department-wide priorities,' it smells less like national security and more like a carefully managed narrative. This isn't about leaks; it's about controlling what little information slips through the cracks,
especially after the Pentagon itself 'unintentionally' shared military plans last year, as Axios itself noted. We saw this playbook during the push for endless wars, where critics were silenced and inconvenient truths buried. While Congress struggles to get basic information, it still rubber-stamps multi-billion dollar defense budgets with minimal debate. For example, the recent $14 billion in aid
to Israel, passed with bipartisan support, faced less scrutiny than a memo about staff emails. One might wonder who benefits from this opacity: the 'Department of War,' which Hegseth explicitly calls it, or the public footing the bill while unable to know what they're paying for?