"All military service members, civilian employees and contract workers within the office of the defense secretary and the Joint Staff, estimated to be more than 5,000 personnel, would be required to sign a nondisclosure agreement that 'prohibits the release of non-public information without approval or through a defined process,' according to a draft memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg."
"The efforts are part of a wider strategy by the Trump administration and the Pentagon to ferret out officials deemed insufficiently loyal or who provide information to reporters."
"A separate document also from Feinberg would establish a program to randomly polygraph those officials. The documents do not prescribe a limit on who would be subjected to these agreements and tests, suggesting it could include everyone from four-star generals to administrative assistants."
The defense secretary endorsed a plan requiring credentialed Pentagon reporters to sign forms agreeing not to publish reports, including unclassified ones, without Department of Defense approval. A draft memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg would require more than 5,000 military, civilian and contract personnel in the office of the defense secretary and the Joint Staff to sign nondisclosure agreements prohibiting release of non-public information without approval or process. A separate Feinberg document would create a program to randomly polygraph officials and does not limit who could be tested, potentially covering everyone from senior generals to administrative assistants. The measures target leakers and internal dissent and raise concerns about press access, whistleblowing, and broad surveillance of Pentagon personnel.
Read at Poynter
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]