The Defense Department has parted ways with a senior media adviser who had years of experience working with reporters, a move that is sure to aggravate the administration’s already difficult relations with the press corps.
The abrupt departure of Steve Warren, an Army colonel who established a rapport with Pentagon correspondents over the course of his career, coincides with broader complaints raised by journalists about how the department is providing information and handling media access to Defense Secretary James Mattis.
Warren’s career included a stint as spokesman for the U.S.-led military campaign against Islamic State and running the Pentagon press operation. He had been courted by senior officials after Donald Trump was elected president, and encouraged to retire from the Army in order to apply for a senior media advisor job at the Pentagon, a civilian position.
He is currently on what the Pentagon calls “terminal leave” until November. He was placed in that status in anticipation of assuming his civilian role.
Dana White, the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, played a key role in Warren’s departure, current and former officials told Foreign Policy.
In an emailed statement, White said Waren became ineligible for the position due to White House objections. Warren’s name “was put forth for consideration as a political appointee within OSD/PA once he retired,” White said. “Unfortunately, the White House determined he was not a suitable candidate for the position.”
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Warren, a seasoned hand who worked as a public affairs officer for years, is well-liked by reporters for his sense of humor and blunt-speaking style. But when Warren served as the U.S. military’s spokesman in Baghdad, his straight talking caused friction with the previous White House, and rubbed some Pentagon officials the wrong way.
The Obama administration avoided using the word “combat” to describe the mission of U.S. troops advising Iraqi forces fighting Islamic State militants. But after a U.S. Army Delta Force soldier was killed in a raid in Iraq in October 2015, Warren refused to employ the euphemisms used by White House officials when he briefed reporters from Baghdad.
“We’re in combat,” Warren told reporters. “That’s why we all carry guns. That’s why we all get combat patches when we leave here. That’s why we all receive imminent danger pay. So, of course it’s combat.”
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/16/pentagon-forces-out-popular-press-spokesman/
