Defense Department Press Secretary Torches The Atlantic For Selectively Editing Statement

Defense Department Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson torched The Atlantic over a hit piece claiming that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is making policy changes that will effectively “sideline” women in the military.

Staff writer Missy Ryan shared the article along with the following tease line, on X: “NEW: Will Pete Hegseth’s ‘War on Woke’ sideline women in the military? A team appointed by Hegseth to look at fitness/combat standards will review and possibly redo the ‘women in combat’ study that led to the integration of ground combat roles 10 yrs ago.”

NEW: Will Pete Hegseth’s ‘War on Woke’ sideline women in the military? A team appointed by Hegseth to look at fitness/combat standards will review and possibly redo the ‘women in combat’ study that led to the integration of ground combat roles 10 yrs ago. https://t.co/HlQo4B1Bzi

— Missy Ryan (@missy_ryan) July 10, 2025

The article suggested that Hegseth was so driven to remove “woke” culture from the military that he was willing to undo years of “progress” that had ultimately led to women serving in combat roles.

Wilson responded first by mocking the outlet for apparently updating the article with a new headline, and suggested that its first effort had not been “woke” enough.

“.@TheAtlantic headline wasn’t woke enough so they changed it,” she posted, sharing screenshots of the original and the update, in side-by-side format.

The original headline read, “Will Pete Hegseth’s ‘War On Woke’ Sideline Women?” — and the updated version read, “The Backdoor Way That Pete Hegseth Could Keep Women Out Of Combat.”

.@TheAtlantic headline wasn’t woke enough so they changed it. https://t.co/2gKhbWctoy pic.twitter.com/jL6xMhYD6j

— Kingsley Wilson (@PressSecDOD) July 10, 2025

In a follow-up post, Wilson noted that she had given the outlet a comment for the story — but that it had been selectively edited prior to publication.

“.@TheAtlantic also didn’t want to run my whole statement because it would have discredited their story,” she said, sharing the full statement: ‘Military standards across the board have largely been ignored by leadership of the past. Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, the U.S. military is getting back to basics and restoring the warrior ethos. Our standards for combat arms positions will be elite, uniform, and sex neutral because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn’t care if you’re a man or a woman. We will not compromise our standards to satisfy quotas or an ideological agenda—this is common sense.'”

.@TheAtlantic also didn’t want to run my whole statement because it would have discredited their story:

“Military standards across the board have largely been ignored by leadership of the past. Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, the U.S. military is getting back to… https://t.co/6I2rK5CGqo

— Kingsley Wilson (@PressSecDOD) July 10, 2025

The only part of Wilson’s statement that was used was her description of  to goal standards for combat positions: “elite, uniform, and sex neutral, because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn’t care if you’re a man or a woman.”