Supply Chain Social Media and Updates

Pentagon Press Pass Rendered Useless After NYT Lawsuit

Y’all don’t know the half of it. I met with the recently fired Secretary of the Navy before his confirmation, and I had repeated contact with his staff. The reforms they planned were revolutionary. The day before he was fired, he held a press conference. I was deliberately excluded. The owner of the most-read maritime and Navy website in the world, and his most vocal supporter, frozen out. And not just from his remarks. His staff pushed me out of everything. People who left naval journalism years ago were invited to host panels at the conference. I’m honestly surprised my press pass wasn’t canceled. My Pentagon press pass has been rendered nearly worthless. The NYT lawsuit forced SECWAR to kick every reporter out of the press corridor. When the pass was issued, we were told the whole point was to get reporters out of the building and onto the bases, talking to actual sailors and troops. How many ship visits have I been able to arrange since? One. And only because I was traveling with the SECWAR himself. I’m working on another project I can’t discuss publicly. A simple advisory gig. I was asked in early February. It is now May, and I am still in administrative hold. In the last few weeks I’ve spoken with Tata, Elbridge Colby, Hegseth, and the SecNav team about it. Nobody can budge “the process.” The other people I’m supposed to be working with have been sworn to secrecy, so we can’t even compare notes. A few months ago, I helped an active duty senior officer work through an assignment. The bureaucratic sludge got so bad he gave up. Last week, that same officer was asked to serve as assistant secretary under a different cabinet member. That was handled in days. He has the straight up approval from the White House but, of course, his chain of command won’t approve a TDY, so he needs personal signatures from both SECWAR & SECNAV. I am nobody. But this officer is absolutely vital to our shipbuilding effort: active duty, in good standing, top eval reports. Times were dark for me under Biden. NCIS opened a full investigation on me. I was literally pushed off the stage at the big Navy conference. They watched me closely. But I could still get things done. I could still help Democratic friends land appointments & push bipartisan agendas across the line. Every corner I turn now is blocked. I have traveled with @PeteHegseth. I have friends in very senior positions throughout the Navy & the Pentagon. Everyone takes my calls. Everyone wants to help. There’s no shortage of admirals willing to help either, which genuinely surprised me. But there is always “a process.” And everything I have worked on has stalled inside it. Just entering the building or scheduling a meeting has become its own ordeal. Meanwhile, the literal worst reporter at CNN just filed from an active exercise. And the worst part? I can’t even complain, because the transformation is real. Hegseth, Tata, Colby, Michaels, Doge & Hung Cao are doing excellent work. They are working their asses off to get the warfighters what they need. The operational & procurement reforms are real. But the more I praise them for it, the more “partisan” I get labeled & the bigger the pushback from the blob. I have been reporting on the Navy for almost twenty years. I have never seen anything like it. It is simultaneously the most ambitious operational reform I have ever witnessed & the worst bureaucratic obstruction I have ever encountered on structural change. And Hegseth’s team should prioritize the people on the front line. My concerns are secondary. All I’m saying is Dort is right. The blob has been suppressing everything. That’s their trick. They don’t say no. They don’t block you. They just take days to respond to simple requests. Someone loses your paperwork. The process eats you.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ I’m dying to share more details but anything negative I say will be used against Hegseth and Cao even though they are fighting tooth & nail to solve these problems.