Leaders at the Pentagon have significantly altered how military officials will speak with Congress after a pair of new memos issued last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an Oct. 15 memo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his deputy, Steve Feinberg, ordered Pentagon officials \u2014 including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff \u2014 to obtain permission from the department\u2019s main legislative affairs office before they have any communication with Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The memo was issued the same day the vast majority of Pentagon reporters exited the building rather than agree to the Defense Department\u2019s new restrictions on their work, and it appears to be part of a broader effort by Hegseth to exert tighter control over what the department communicates to the outside world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the memo, a copy of which was authenticated by a Pentagon official, \u201cunauthorized engagements with Congress by (Pentagon) personnel acting in their official capacity, no matter how well-intentioned, may undermine Department-wide priorities critical to achieving our legislative objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sean Parnell, the top Pentagon spokesman, called the move a \u201cpragmatic step\u201d that\u2019s part of an effort \u201cto improve accuracy and responsiveness in communicating with the Congress to facilitate increased transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Previously, individual agencies and military branches within the Pentagon were able to manage their own communications with Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A second memo, issued Oct. 17, directed a \u201cworking group to further define the guidance on legislative engagements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The memos were first reported by the website Breaking Defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The change appears to be part of a broader effort by Hegseth to exert tighter control over what the department communicates to the outside world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":68,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,12,25,68,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2922,4072],"class_list":["post-82162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"2Y3AVRVULVGPNPNBURNRMERFV4","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/10\/22\/hegseth-changes-policy-on-how-pentagon-officials-speak-with-congress\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n