United States of America

Report: Pentagon Secretly Hired Conservative Influencers

Is the Pentagon running a secret partisan influence operation or did these individuals serve their country with relevant expertise?

3 hours ago·Updated 1 hour ago

Report: Pentagon Secretly Hired Conservative Influencers

Story

Above: Pete Hegseth speaks at an Oshkosh Corporation facility in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on Aug. 24. Image credit: Talia Sprague/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Spin

Establishment-critical narrative

The Pentagon secretly hired conservative influencers as SGEs while they publicly posed as independent voices online, and refused to say what any of them actually do. Using taxpayer money to run a partisan influence operation through figures like DataRepublican, Rob Maness and Kurt Schlichter is a brazen abuse of public funds. The lack of disclosure makes a mockery of the administration's claims of unprecedented transparency. The public deserves answers on this.

Adam Kinzinger on X

Amee Vanderpool on X

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Pro-establishment narrative

The Pentagon's recruitment of these figures was not a partisan influence operation. Individuals like Thomas Anderson brought relevant expertise to a task force assessing whether war colleges remain focused on warfighting. Anderson received no pay for his writing and served exclusively on that task force, while DataRepublican served as an SGE to serve her country more directly and honor her call to duty. Framing public service as a secret propaganda scheme distorts what they actually did.

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Cynical Publius on X

Pete Hegseth on US Department of War