The Pentagon is terrified of talking to reporters again
Jeff Schogol
22 hours ago
With each passing day, it increasingly looks as if Pentagon officials are trying to hide from the press until the presidential election is over.
We seem to be back to the bad old days when then-Defense Secretary James Mattis’ relationship with President Donald Trump became so strained that Mattis and other top Pentagon leaders were wary of saying anything at all to avoid antagonizing the president.
Now current Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who publicly broke with Trump in June about the need to use active-duty troops in response to protests and riots across the country, is also reportedly at odds with the president. And it appears that Esper wants to fly under the radar as long as possible.
The most recent manifestation of the Pentagon’s renewed phobia of providing the general public with basic information came on Aug. 31 when a top defense official briefed only a handful of reporters on the Pentagon’s latest report on Chinese military power.
https://taskandpurpose.com/pentagon-run-down/pentagon-media-relations
