President Donald Trump pivots from the Middle East to peace in Ukraine, Trump intervenes to protect military paychecks amid the Democrat shutdown, and drug cartels declare “open season” on federal agents.
It’s Thursday, October 16, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">After Middle East Peace, Trump Turns Toward Russia</h2>
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Topline: After securing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Trump has shifted his focus to the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will make his third trip to the White House on Friday since Trump began his second term. The two are expected to discuss supplying Ukraine with more powerful weapons, such as Tomahawk cruise missiles, as well as additional air defenses to counter Russian bombardments.
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The United States has reportedly started to share intelligence on Russian energy infrastructure with Ukraine, increasing Ukraine’s ability to strike deep inside Russian territory.
Trump pushes Putin: The U.S. president has made clear in recent months that he sees Russian President Vladimir Putin as the main obstacle to peace in the Ukraine war. The president is reportedly considering additional sanctions on Russia to increase pressure on Putin to negotiate.
“I’m very disappointed because Vladimir and I had a good relationship,” <a href="https://youtu.be/hfwxTnKt6iA?t=2418">said</a> Trump on Tuesday. “He just doesn’t want to end that war.”
View from Moscow: Moscow has said that even if Tomahawks were provided to Ukraine, that would not “change the dynamic” of the war. A Kremlin spokesman later added that the missiles would be an “extreme concern.” Putin said that he would increase Russia’s air defense, but he did not mention escalation on his end.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Shuffles Funds In Dem Shutdown To Pay Military</h2>
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Topline: Two weeks into a Democrat shutdown, and now federal employees are starting to feel the effects. On Wednesday, military personnel were set to miss their first paychecks, but President Trump ordered War Secretary Pete Hegseth to find a way to keep the troops paid.
Morning Wire spoke with Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), chairman of the Republican Study Committee. (The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.)
Morning Wire: Now we&#8217;ve crossed one of the first thresholds for missed pay of this shutdown. There were fears that the military would miss a paycheck this week, but then Trump intervened. How did that go down? 
Pfluger: As a veteran and as somebody who served for over 20 years, this is personal to me because I saw it firsthand during previous shutdowns, where you had especially the junior enlisted personnel, those with families and young kids, some of them on food stamps. This puts them in a terrible position, and commanders, instead of focusing on the mission and the threat, readiness and lethality now have to focus on how are their men and women in uniform going to put food on the table? Thankfully, Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth came up with a plan to pay the troops and that is happening mid-month. But it doesn&#8217;t last forever, so if Democrats keep up their shenanigans and keep up the shameful approach that they&#8217;re using and showing why they don&#8217;t really like the military, then I&#8217;m not sure that they&#8217;re going to get a paycheck on the next pay period.
Morning Wire: To be clear – they managed to pay everyone this time, but this isn&#8217;t something that can continue for weeks. 
Pfluger: Yeah, they&#8217;re pulling money out of other areas. I mean, the money that they&#8217;re using to pay the troops was probably intended to go to operations or readiness or things like that. It was not the bucket that Congress appropriated for military pay, personnel pay, so this isn&#8217;t going to last forever.
Morning Wire: Is there any way that Congress could ensure going forward that this doesn&#8217;t happen again, particularly with the military? Can we put in place emergency measures for how government shutdowns affect military members?
Pfluger: I sure hope so. I think there&#8217;s an appetite for that. And I&#8217;d go a step further. I would include Border Patrol. I would include law enforcement, federal law enforcement, all the agencies that are charged with keeping us safe, national security level agencies. I&#8217;d go a step further on that. But let me just say this. Where are my Democrat colleagues on the other side of the aisle who served in uniform? Where are they right now? Why are they not standing up and taking the stand and saying enough is enough? … I&#8217;d like to see a country where we come back together and we unite and do the right thing. I thought that was going to happen after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and, obviously, it hasn’t.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">DHS Says Cartels Threaten Federal Immigration Agents</h2>
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Topline: Federal immigration agents carrying out President Trump&#8217;s immigration enforcement efforts in Chicago are facing mounting threats stemming from drug cartels in Mexico, according to the Department of Homeland Security. 
Intelligence on threats is coming into federal immigration agencies daily, an agent on the ground in Chicago told The Daily Wire. Mexican drug cartels are recruiting and operating within the city of Chicago to go after ICE and Border Patrol agents. 
DHS says cartels are offering up to $50,000 in bounties for the heads of federal officers. On top of that, they are recruiting leftist, anti-ICE agitators who have already been out in the streets, and they’re asking them to help.
According to DHS, cartels are placing armed spotters on top of rooftops in areas where ICE agents are making arrests, and the spotters mark the coordinates of ICE officers and Border Patrol agents and relay their whereabouts.
The threats: The latest allegedly involved a Latin Kings gang member. A leader of that gang was nabbed by the federal authorities in Chicago. He is accused of placing a bounty on the head of Operation Midway Blitz, Chief Gregory Bovino.
On Tuesday, Border Patrol agents were rammed by an illegal alien driver who also had an illegal alien passenger in his car. That brought an anti-ICE riot mob to one of the quiet neighborhoods in Chicago.
The riot forced federal authorities to deploy tear gas. Federal officials were targeted with rocks and other objects.
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Morning Brief: Trump’s Peace Plan Pivot, Troops Paid In Dem Shutdown, & Cartel Targets ICE Agents

Border Patrol

Cartels

Department of Defense

Donald Trump

Government Shutdown

Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Media

Military

Morning Wire

Politics

Russia

Ukraine

Vladimir Putin

Volodymyr Zelensky

QUANTICO — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth looked into the eyes of hundreds of his top military leaders on Tuesday as he shared his new directives for the War Department — including the news that every military branch will ensure that requirements for combat positions return to &#8220;the highest male standard.&#8221;
&#8220;This job is life or death,&#8221; he emphasized. &#8220;Standards must be met &#8230; it&#8217;s common sense and core to who we are and what we do.&#8221;
The Secretary of War addressed a room filled with United States military leaders from around the world, while legacy media outlets fretted over the &#8220;unprecedented&#8221; gathering.
Hegseth&#8217;s remarks came shortly before the President of the United States arrived at the heavily guarded Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia. Trump&#8217;s arrival and remarks stood out as a strong show of support for the War Department&#8217;s changes, and both men conveyed a similar message to the assembled military brass: the Department of War&#8217;s mission is combat — &#8220;preparing for war and preparing to win.&#8221;
&#8220;We must be so strong that no nation will dare challenge us, so powerful that no enemy will dare threaten us, and so capable that no adversary can even think about beating us,&#8221; the president said Tuesday.
The Secretary of War was very clear as he spoke to the assembled military brass, striding up and down the stage in front of a massive American flag rather than standing behind the podium. The Daily Wire observed many of these U.S. military leaders taking notes during both Trump&#8217;s and Hegseth&#8217;s remarks.
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No longer will the War Department tolerate ideological standards or quotas or punish leaders for supposed &#8220;toxic&#8221; attitudes, Hegseth said. No more &#8220;identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses,&#8221; nor will it tolerate leadership that is not aligned with the War Department&#8217;s mission, he noted, pointing out to those present that he had fired some military leaders.
The ideology and lowered standards implemented during President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration are over, both Trump and Hegseth said.
&#8220;We&#8217;re done with that shit,&#8221; Hegseth said.
&#8220;Now we’re back,&#8221; promised Trump. &#8220;That’s it. We’re not gonna have any of that crap happen, I can tell you.”
<div id="attachment_978615" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-are-done-with-that-sht-trump-hegseth-demand-excellence-from-military-brass/president-trump-and-pete-hegseth-address-u-s-senior-military-leaders-at-quantico-2" rel="attachment wp-att-978615"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-978615" class="wp-image-978615 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2238296560-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2238296560-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2238296560-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2238296560-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2238296560.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaks to senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico on September 30, 2025, in Quantico, Virginia. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</div>
Hegseth repeatedly mentioned his concerns about lowered standards in the United States military, particularly when it comes to fitness and grooming, sharing that at his direction on Tuesday, every member of the Joint Force at every rank will be required to take a biannual PT test and to meet height and weight requirements for &#8220;every year of service.&#8221;
He even went so far as to call out leadership themselves on this issue: &#8220;It&#8217;s unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon, and leading all around the world. It&#8217;s a bad look, and it&#8217;s not who we are!&#8221;
&#8220;The best way to take care of troops is to give them good leaders committed to the war-fighting culture of the department,&#8221; he argued. &#8220;Not perfect leaders, but good leaders. Competent, qualified, professional, agile, aggressive, innovative, risk-taking, apolitical, faithful to their oath and the Constitution.&#8221;
He specifically noted that the fitness changes are not being made in order to weed women out of the armed forces.
“If women can make it, excellent,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If not, it is what it is&#8230;It will also mean that weak men won&#8217;t qualify, because we&#8217;re not playing games. This is combat. This is life or death.”
<div id="attachment_978631" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-are-done-with-that-sht-trump-hegseth-demand-excellence-from-military-brass/president-trump-and-pete-hegseth-address-u-s-senior-military-leaders-at-quantico-4" rel="attachment wp-att-978631"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-978631" class="wp-image-978631 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2238302943-865x576.jpg" alt="" width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2238302943-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2238302943-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2238302943-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2238302943.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" /></a>U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico on September 30, 2025, in Quantico, Virginia.  (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</div>
The War Secretary told the military brass: “If the words I’m saying today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign.&#8221; But he suggested that many of them might be very enthused, very excited about the changes, eager to steer the Department of War back towards its original mission.
Both Trump and Hegseth were emphatic in their praise of the United States military and their hopes for the future. Trump told the gathered U.S. military leaders that the United States has &#8220;the greatest and most elite fighting force in the history of the world,&#8221; and he repeatedly touted the prowess and prestige of the military brass before him.
&#8220;In this effort, we&#8217;re a team and so my message to you today is simple: I am with you, I support you and, as president, I have your backs 100%,&#8221; the president said. &#8220;You&#8217;ll never see me waver a little bit&#8230; We are going to make our military stronger, tougher, faster, fiercer, and more powerful than it has ever been before.&#8221;
&#8220;There could be no higher honor than to serve as your Commander-in-Chief,&#8221; Trump promised. &#8220;To each and every one of you, I thank you for your unwavering devotion to the Armed Forces and the country we&#8217;ve all sworn a sacred oath to defend.&#8221;

President Trump And Pete Hegseth Address U.S. Senior Military Leaders At Quantico

‘We Are Done With That Sh*t’: Trump, Hegseth Demand Excellence From Military Brass

Pete Hegseth

KNOB NOSTER, MISSOURI — President Donald Trump shocked the world with his announcement on the evening of Saturday, June 21: the United States had successfully attacked three nuclear sites in Iran, and the B-2 bombers who had completed this incredibly secretive mission were on their way home.
&#8220;Congratulations to our great American Warriors,&#8221; the president shared in a triumphant Truth Social post. &#8220;There is not another military in the World that could have done this.&#8221;
It was an incredible victory for Trump 2.0 in more ways than one: Operation Midnight Hammer had been executed without a single leak to the ever-eager White House or Pentagon press. But how, exactly, had this Hollywood-esque mission been accomplished? And who were the people who made it run so smoothly?
The Daily Wire ventured out to a small Missouri town called Knob Noster, which houses Whiteman Air Force Base, to learn about America&#8217;s most elusive bomber program: the 509th Bomb Wing, one of only two Air Force units to operate the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. This unit has the unique ability to launch their bombers straight from Missouri to any spot on the globe.
With rare access to pilots and commanders, The Daily Wire learned how a single mission—planned in silence and executed with breathtaking speed—reshaped the conversation about modern warfare through the largest B-2 strike in United States history.
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Only 21 of these B-2 planes were ever made: one crashed and one was damaged, but the rest are housed at Whiteman Air Force Base, the only home of the B-2 stealth bomber. The concept of the plane was conceived back in 1979, at the height of the Cold War, when the United States military had planes that could drop bombs, planes that were stealth, and planes with long ranges, but none that could do all three of these things.
The Pentagon green-lighted a new program to create such planes in 1979, and by 1989, the B-2 Spirit was taking its first flight.
Thirty-six years later, the planes were an integral part of Operation Midnight Hammer. On June 21, 2025, a squadron of B-2 stealth bombers took off from Whiteman, loaded with 420,000 pounds of advanced bunker-busting bombs, headed for Iran. Some went west over the Pacific as part of a deception mission, but seven bombers headed east, flying 7,000 miles towards Iran&#8217;s nuclear facilities.
The trip involved mid-air refueling — one of the most difficult aspects, explained Colonel Jared Kennish, a B-2 pilot closely involved in the mission and commander of the 131st Bomb Wing, Missouri National Guard at Whiteman. And though the B-2&#8217;s flying wings are actually giant fuel tanks capable of holding tens of thousands of gallons of jet fuel, Operation Midnight Hammer involved six refuels. The wings hold roughly 160,000 pounds of fuel, which is enough to keep a B-2 airborne for about 6,000 miles without having to stop for a refuel.
&#8220;It&#8217;s very easy to fly,&#8221; Kennish explained. &#8220;Probably the most difficult part is air refueling.&#8221;
Asked if it was easy for things to go wrong during refueling, Kennish responded: &#8220;It&#8217;s always easy for things to go wrong, but I mean, we train for that. That&#8217;s what we do. Over and over, repetitions, simulators, [flight] training hours, and everything else.&#8221;
&#8220;What&#8217;s unique about the B-2 is the fact that really the only aircraft in the world that provides stealth payload and precision anywhere in the world,&#8221; he shared. &#8220;We can be anywhere in the world, strike precision weapons within minutes, with the time and place of our choosing.&#8221;
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The Daily Wire learned that during Operation Midnight Hammer, each B-2 was burning roughly 100 pounds of jet fuel every 10 seconds. To put that in the context of the five-gallon gas cans used for a lawn mower, every 10 seconds, a single B-2 loaded with bombs burned through three gas cans. And since the planes were in the air for 37 hours, each of the B-2s in Operation Midnight Hammer burned about 200,000 gallons. So the mission used at least 1.4 million gallons for the seven B-2s alone.
That&#8217;s enough gas for a Toyota Camry to go around the world 2,193 times.
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The B-2s entered Iranian airspace at around 6 pm Eastern time, and forty minutes later, six of them had hit their first target as they dropped six bombs (the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP) into the two main ventilation shafts at the Fordo Mountain uranium enrichment facility. The seventh B-2 dropped two more bombs on the Natanz nuclear facility, protected by a 25-foot-thick concrete shield.
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Chief Master Sergeant Frank Espinoza, whose team loaded the bombs onto the planes before the mission, showed The Daily Wire an example of the &#8220;MOP&#8221; at Whiteman, sharing that the bombs produce an overpressure phenomenon that sends shock waves deep into the ground. The MOP is designed to detonate only after it pierces through rock and reaches its underground target.
&#8220;It&#8217;s a 30,000-pound munition,&#8221; Espinoza shared. &#8220;It&#8217;s meant to penetrate hardened targets and it&#8217;s pretty accurate&#8230;If we want to hit any place anywhere on the planet, we&#8217;re going to do it.&#8221;
&#8220;No other country has this type of bomber or this type of munition,&#8221; he noted. &#8220;It was specifically designed for that target, 15 years to develop this specifically. This is the first time that the MOP was used in combat and we used 14 of them and they all worked as advertised.&#8221;
Colonel Joshua Wiitala, commander of the 509th bomb wing, oversees the B-2 program at Whiteman, and oversaw Operation Midnight Hammer. He described watching the pilots return from Operation Midnight Hammer, flying over the heads of their breathless families, who had gathered at the base once news broke of the daring mission. These families didn&#8217;t know that their pilot family member was going when he or she left the day before, Wiitala shared, but they were used to these types of procedures.
&#8220;When it was announced that the mission had happened, the family started to find out that that was the case. A lot of them gathered here on base. We brought them out to the flight line, and when the jets recovered, there were families cheering for them. They pitched out over the base, right over top of their families.&#8221;
&#8220;I would say the biggest moment for me ever as a commander, and really the biggest moment of my career, was when I knew they were safe,&#8221; he said. &#8220;When I knew they were in safe airspace and they had accomplished the mission, that&#8217;s when the emotions really started to flow, to be honest.&#8221;
His pilots didn&#8217;t seem nervous when they took off, Wiitala said. They were &#8220;very excited.&#8221;
&#8220;They understood that this was going to be one of the most consequential raids of our lifetime.&#8221;
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How To Win A War In 37 Hours: Daily Wire Goes Inside Whiteman Air Force Base

Air Force

Iran

WASHINGTON — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth will address his senior military leaders next week, The Daily Wire has learned, amid buzz from legacy media outlets suggesting a &#8220;rare, urgent meeting of hundreds of generals&#8221; and admirals.
The news came after The Washington Post reported that Hegseth had ordered hundreds of United States military leaders to gather quickly and without explanation — claiming that the move is &#8220;sowing confusion and alarm after the Trump administration’s firing of numerous senior leaders this year.&#8221;
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell shared in a statement to The Daily Wire on Thursday that the Secretary of War will be &#8220;addressing his senior military leaders early next week.”
The Washington Post, which frequently reports critically on Hegseth&#8217;s Pentagon, claimed that Hegseth&#8217;s &#8220;overly political moves have deepened a sense of distress among his opponents,&#8221; critics who are reportedly alarmed that Hegseth is &#8220;erasing the Defense Department’s status as a nonpartisan institution.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_976971" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/secretary-of-war-pete-hegseth-to-convene-military-brass-at-virginia-summit/president-trump-attends-pentagon-ceremony-on-24th-anniversary-of-9-11-3" rel="attachment wp-att-976971"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-976971" class="wp-image-976971 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2234860930-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2234860930-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2234860930-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2234860930-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2234860930.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth during a September 11th observance event in the courtyard of the Pentagon September 11, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)</div>
On Thursday afternoon, asked about the Washington Post report, President Donald Trump told a reporter: &#8220;Why is that such a big deal? The fact that we are getting along with the generals and admirals?&#8221;
The president pushed back on the framing of the reporter&#8217;s question, suggesting that the meeting only portended good things.
&#8220;Remember, I&#8217;m the president of peace,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s good to get along. You act like this is a bad thing. Isn&#8217;t it nice that people are coming from all over the world to be with us?&#8221;
Vice President JD Vance chimed in: &#8220;It&#8217;s not particularly unusual that generals who report to the Secretary of War and then to the President of the United States, are coming to speak with the Secretary of War. It&#8217;s actually not unusual at all, and I think it&#8217;s odd that you guys have made it into such a big story.&#8221;
&#8220;Is it a big story?&#8221; asked the president, to laughs from his vice president and other officials in the room. &#8220;Isn&#8217;t it a good story?&#8221;

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Hosts Canada’s Defense Minister David McGuinty At The Pentagon

Secretary Of War Pete Hegseth To Convene Military Brass At Virginia Summit

Department of War

Executive

U.S. Military

WASHINGTON—The Department of War is implementing new guidelines for what parts of the Pentagon are accessible to the press.
In a memo first obtained by The Daily Wire, Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell shared “updated physical control measures for press/media access within the Pentagon.” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had initially shared this information in May, but the Thursday memo implements those directives, requiring credentialed media to sign new documents essentially renewing the guidelines for access to the building.
Previously, Pentagon press had very easy access to the premises, an official close to the situation told The Daily Wire. Reporters could traverse the building much like the press can access the United States Capitol, and easily observe generals or high-ranking officials visiting with the Secretary of War or entering classified meeting rooms, allowing reporters to easily publicize the inner workings of the Pentagon.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We’re announcing additional credentialing procedures for press at the Pentagon in the interest of national security. <a href="https://t.co/2fQA4z7AsO">pic.twitter.com/2fQA4z7AsO</a>
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecWar/status/1926020350191567308?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
“All members of the press issued a Pentagon Facility Alternate Credential (PFAC), will be required to read and sign a new in&#8211;brief form outlining information security requirements, the new physical control measures, and Department of War expectations of their compliance with safety and security requirements,” the memo states. It notes that in addition to the “Additional Press Identifier Badge,” the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) will start issuing new PFACS to the press in the coming weeks, giving priority to resident members of the media through September 30, and non-resident members of the media beginning October 1, 2025.
“These new PFACS will have ‘PRESS’ clearly imprinted on them in red letters both vertically and horizontally to assist in identifying members of the press,” the memo states. 
The Department of War requests the assistance of the media in making sure that all their staff are “aware of the physical control measures, including the requirement to provide escorts for any media coming into your spaces for approved interviews.” The memo also notes that  if any DOW personnel “see any news media outside of the areas depicted in Appendix D that do not have an escort, they should direct them back to the designated no&#8211;escort required areas and alert the Pentagon Press Operations office.” 
“Up until now, the press could wander all around the Pentagon with no oversight,” Parnell explained in May. “Even outside of sensitive/classified areas. So moving forward, they’ll need an escort to access those areas. They still have access to the entire defense press office, the press secretary &amp; my office, as well as much of the rest of the building. These are pragmatic changes to protect operational security &amp; ultimately brings the Pentagon in line with other government buildings.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Up until now, the press could wander all around the Pentagon with no oversight. Even outside of sensitive/classified areas. 
So moving forward, they’ll need an escort to access those areas. 
They still have access to the entire defense press office, the press secretary &amp; my office,… <a href="https://t.co/usJjF6HBSs">https://t.co/usJjF6HBSs</a>
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanParnellASW/status/1926030906520674413?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
The move is likely to spark outrage from some corners of the media. Reporters from the Associated Press, the Washington Post, and Aviation Week protested back in May, and a CBS News <a href="https://x.com/CBSNews/status/1932566203274350866">reporter suggested</a> that the measure was “aimed at making the Pentagon as difficult to cover as possible.”
“The next step is to ban reporters entirely from the Pentagon,” suggested CBS’s Dan Martin at the time.
“Such a stupid narrative,” Parnell fired back at the time. “Here’s the policy in a nutshell: Wear a media credential. Have an escort for sensitive areas. Just like every other U.S. military base on planet Earth. That’s it.”

President Trump Attends Pentagon Ceremony On 24th Anniversary Of 9/11

Department Of War Implements New Guidelines For Media Access At The Pentagon

The Pentagon is tracking the social media accounts of service members and War Department employees for messages celebrating or mocking the death of GOP activist Charlie Kirk.
War Chief Pete Hegseth said in a post on social media Thursday that his department would hold accountable those under its pay who have posted offensive messages about Kirk’s assassination earlier this week.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Thursday: “It is unacceptable for military personnel and Department of War civilians to celebrate or mock the assassination of a fellow American. The Department of War has zero tolerance for it.”
Hegseth responded to the post: “We are tracking all these very closely — and will address, immediately. Completely unacceptable.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We are tracking all these very closely — and will address, immediately. Completely unacceptable. <a href="https://t.co/9weALT5Pb7">https://t.co/9weALT5Pb7</a>
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth/status/1966274615975739604?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
After Kirk was murdered by an assassin on Wednesday, some parts of social media were flooded with messages mocking the Turning Point USA founder and celebrating the 31-year-old’s death.
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar is one of the most notable figures to bash Kirk after his murder. The congresswoman from Minnesota <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/social-media-erupts-squad-dems-interview-after-charlie-kirk-assassination-needs-resign">claimed</a> during an interview with Mehdi Hasan this week that Kirk “was willing to debate and downplay the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police … downplay slavery and what black people have gone through in this country by saying Juneteenth should never exist.”
Omar said she has “empathy” for Kirk’s widow and children, but not for the conservative activist.
Others have faced consequences for making similar statements, such as former Middle Tennessee State University Associate Dean of Students Laura Sosh-Lightsy, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tennessee-university-dean-fired-after-saying-she-had-no-sympathy-for-charlie-kirk">wrote</a> on social media: “Looks like ol’ Charlie spoke his fate into existence. Hate begets hate. ZERO sympathy.”
Sosh-Lightsy was fired on Wednesday.
Hegseth’s promise to hold those under the Department of War to a standard of civility over Kirk’s death comes after the DeSantis administration in Florida threatened similar action against educators who openly celebrate Kirk’s death on social media.
Florida Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/florida-pledges-to-hold-teachers-accountable-who-celebrate-charlie-kirks-death">sent</a> a memo to educators across the state warning that he “will be conducting an investigation of every educator who engages in this vile, sanctionable behavior.”

Hegseth ‘Closely’ Tracking Posts Celebrating Charlie Kirk Murder From Military

Charlie Kirk

Crime

Murder

U.S.

President Donald Trump signed an order on Friday, changing the name of the Department of Defense back to the Department of War, arguing that the rebrand marks an important change in America&#8217;s view of foreign conflict.
Trump and renamed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in the Oval Office that the rebrand points back to an era in American history when U.S. forces focused on decisive victory. The War Department was established in 1789 after America won the War for Independence, but the name changed to the Department of Defense in 1949, following decades of victories, including in World War I and World War II.
Trump said that the change to Defense Department was evidence of the United States going &#8220;woke.&#8221;
&#8220;So we won the first World War, we won the second World War, we won everything before that and in between. And then we decided to go woke and we changed the name to Department of Defense. So, we&#8217;re going Department of War,&#8221; Trump said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &#8220;We won the first World War. We won the second World War. We won everything before that and in between — and then we decided to go woke and we changed the name to Department of Defense. So, we&#8217;re going Department of War.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/Vct6X3L9JU">pic.twitter.com/Vct6X3L9JU</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1964063136643678641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I think it sends a message of victory,&#8221; Trump added of the name change. &#8220;I think it sends really a message of strength. We&#8217;re very strong. We&#8217;re much stronger than anyone would really understand.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> on the message sent by bringing back the Department of War: &#8220;I think it sends a message of victory&#8230; really a message of strength — we&#8217;re very strong. We&#8217;re much stronger than anyone would really understand.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/v8q3Rzmbg3">pic.twitter.com/v8q3Rzmbg3</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1964065397050679584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Secretary of War Hegseth said that the United States has &#8220;not won a major war since&#8221; the Department of War changed to the Department of Defense.
&#8220;And that&#8217;s not to disparage our war fighters who, whether it&#8217;s the Korean War, the Vietnam War, or our generation of Iraq and Afghanistan,&#8221; Hegseth added. &#8220;That&#8217;s to recognize that this name change is not just about renaming — it&#8217;s about restoring. Words matter. It&#8217;s restoring, as you&#8217;ve guided us to, Mr. President, restoring the warrior ethos, restoring victory and clarity as an end state.&#8221;
Trump said that the U.S. military has always remained &#8220;very strong,&#8221; but added that in modern times, &#8220;We just never fought to win.&#8221;
&#8220;We didn&#8217;t lose anything, but we didn&#8217;t fight to win,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We could&#8217;ve won every one of those wars quickly, but they went a route that I think was probably politically correct, but not correct for our nation, so I think the Department of War sends a signal.&#8221;
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan &#8220;Razin&#8221; Caine, who was also by Trump&#8217;s side in the Oval Office, told the president, &#8220;The mission you and the secretary have given us is clear and unambiguous — to deliver peace through overwhelming strength. And I remind everyone that the U.S. military can reach any adversary at the time and place of our choosing.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan &#8220;Razin&#8221; Caine: &#8220;Mr. President&#8230; America&#8217;s military is the single most powerful fighting force in the world. The mission you and <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PeteHegseth</a> have given us is clear and unambiguous — to deliver peace, through overwhelming STRENGTH.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/WQHeMNjghn">pic.twitter.com/WQHeMNjghn</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1964063441594773557?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Trump Makes Department Of War Rebrand Official, Explains Why He’s Reverting To Old Name

President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order on Friday resurrecting the Department of Defense’s prior moniker, the Department of War.
The order will apply “Department of War” as a secondary title to the Pentagon under the Department of Defense. It will also add the title “secretary of War” to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to a White House fact sheet reviewed by <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-rename-pentagon-restoring-historic-department-war-latest-military-move">Fox News</a>.
Hegseth is also expected to draft legislation and potential executive orders that would officially change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War.
Hegseth appeared to welcome the news on Thursday evening, posting on X after news of Trump’s impending order broke: “DEPARTMENT OF WAR.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
DEPARTMENT OF WAR <a href="https://t.co/uyAZGiklRi">https://t.co/uyAZGiklRi</a>
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth/status/1963727635143639327?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
Hegseth said Wednesday that the name change would reflect a broader cultural shift that the Trump administration has brought to the U.S. military.
“We’re reestablished at the department the warrior ethos. We want warriors, folks that understand how to exact lethality on the enemy. We don&#8217;t want endless contingencies and just playing defense. We think words and names and titles matter. So we&#8217;re working with the White House and the president on it. Stand by,” Hegseth said in an interview on Fox News.
The president has floated the name change before. Last month, Trump strongly suggested that he planned to move ahead with the name change during a press conference in the Oval Office.
“[Defense Secretary] Pete Hegseth has been incredible with the, as I call it, the Department of War. You know, we call it the Department of Defense, but between us, I think we’re going to change the name,” the president <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5469171-trump-rename-department-war/">said</a>. “You want to know the truth, I think we’re going to have some information on that maybe soon.”
The Department of Defense was previously called the Department of War, first established by President George Washington in 1789. The department carried the name “War” until President Harry Truman reorganized the federal government in 1947. The Department of Defense was so named two years later.
“It used to be called the Department of War, and it had a stronger sound and, as you know, we won World War I, we won World War II, we won everything. Now, we have a Department of Defense with defenders,” Trump said on August 25.
“I don’t want to be defense only. We want defense, but we want offense, too, if that’s okay,” he continued, adding, “as Department of War, we won everything. We won everything. And I think we’re gonna have to go back to that.”
GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said last month that he would introduce legislation to codify changing the name officially to the Department of War.

Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth

Trump To Resurrect ‘Department Of War’ In New Order

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that he was putting an end to a program that had for nearly ten years allowed Chinese coders access to Department of Defense cloud systems.
Hegseth shared a video in which he described the &#8220;Digital Escorts&#8221; program — implemented under former President Barack Obama — under which Microsoft employed Chinese coders to &#8220;support sensitive DOD cloud systems&#8221; under the supervision of American contractors.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The use of Chinese Nationals to service Department of Defense cloud environments is over. <a href="https://t.co/jZdcHwKho2">pic.twitter.com/jZdcHwKho2</a>
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecDef/status/1960824471683801206?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Last month the Department of Defense was made aware of an Obama-Biden era legacy program called Digital Escorts,&#8221; Hegseth began. &#8220;For nearly a decade, Microsoft has used Chinese coders, remotely supervised by U.S. contractors, to support sensitive DOD cloud systems. The program was designed to comply with contracting rules but it exposed the department to unacceptable risk.&#8221;
&#8220;I mean, if you&#8217;re thinking &#8216;America First,&#8217; and common sense, this doesn&#8217;t pass either of those tests,&#8221; Hegseth continued. &#8220;So I initiated an immediate review of this vulnerability and I want to report our initial findings.&#8221;
Hegseth went on to explain that his review had determined that any benefits were not worth the potential risk of allowing Chinese nationals to have that kind of access to sensitive information, especially information pertaining to Defense Department.
&#8220;The use of Chinese Nationals to service Department of Defense cloud environments? It&#8217;s over,&#8221; he declared. &#8220;We&#8217;ve issued a formal letter of concern to Microsoft documenting this breach of trust, and we&#8217;re requiring a third party audit of Microsoft&#8217;s Digital Escort program — including the code and the submissions by Chinese nationals.&#8221;
Hegseth also announced a separate investigation into the program and into all of the Chinese nationals who had been part of it: &#8220;Did they put anything in the code that we didn&#8217;t know about? We&#8217;re going to find out.&#8221;
&#8220;It blows my mind that I&#8217;m even saying these things, it&#8217;s such common sense,&#8221; Hegseth said as he once again reiterated his intent to remove all Chinese employees from access to DOD information. &#8220;We expect vendors doing business with the Department of Defense to put U.S. national security ahead of profit maximization &#8230; This never should have happened in the first place.&#8221;

DOD Secretary Hegseth And Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Caine Brief On Iran Strike

Pete Hegseth Kills Obama-Biden Program That Gave Chinese Coders Access To DOD Cloud Systems

Barack Obama

Communist China

Joe Biden

President Donald Trump on Monday floated renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War.
Trump suggested reverting the Department of Defense back to its old name during a meeting at the White House with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.
“[Defense Secretary] Pete Hegseth has been incredible with the, as I call it, the Department of War. You know, we call it the Department of Defense, but between us, I think we&#8217;re going to change the name,” the president <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5469171-trump-rename-department-war/">said</a>. “You want to know the truth, I think we&#8217;re going to have some information on that maybe soon.”
The United States previously had a War Department; it was established by President George Washington in 1789 and lasted until a reorganization of the department in 1947 by President Harry Truman. “Defense” was added to the moniker two years later.
The president elaborated further on the difference between the Department of Defense and the Department of War in the Oval Office.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
“It used to be called the Department of War, and it had a stronger sound and, as you know, we won World War I, we won World War II, we won everything. Now, we have a Department of Defense with defenders,” Trump said.
“I don&#8217;t want to be defense only. We want defense, but we want offense, too, if that&#8217;s okay,” he continued, adding, “as Department of War, we won everything. We won everything. And I think we&#8217;re gonna have to go back to that.”
A reporter told Trump that officially renaming the Department of Defence would require an act of Congress. Trump replied that he did not think it would, but regardless, he guessed that Congress would approve such a name change if Congress is needed. GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said Monday that he would introduce legislation to codify the name change.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I’m drafting a bill to restore the Department of War to its original name—the only name that captures the full range of America’s military capabilities<a href="https://t.co/n1NjoEwBFZ">pic.twitter.com/n1NjoEwBFZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/4DeDDQfp3o">https://t.co/4DeDDQfp3o</a>
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) <a href="https://twitter.com/BasedMikeLee/status/1960092612448432272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
Trump has previously <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/war-of-words-trump-hints-at-changing-name-of-defense-department/ar-AA1HpbNG">hinted</a> at bringing the old name for the Defense Department back. In June, Trump joked with reporters that he would temporarily revert the Department of Defense to the Department of War after the successful U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities.
“You know it used to be called secretary of war,” said Trump. “Maybe for a couple of weeks, we’ll call it that because we feel like warriors.”
Despite the apparent push to drop “Defense” from the Defense Department, Trump and the White House have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pax-trumpana-trumps-resume-for-winning-the-nobel-peace-prize?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump%E2%80%99s+Nobel+Peace+Prize+Resume">touted</a> his presidency as one of peace, going so far as to call Trump the “peacemaker-in-chief” for the conflicts and near-conflicts he has helped to solve since taking office in January.

Trump Floats Renaming Pentagon Back To ‘Department Of War’: ‘We Won Everything’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that a Civil War monument removed under the Biden administration from Arlington National Cemetery will be restored to its original location. 
The monument, known as the Reconciliation Monument or the Confederate Memorial, was removed by the Pentagon in December 2023 under President Joe Biden because of its links to the Confederacy. First erected in 1914, the monument sat in a section of the cemetery where around 400 Confederate soldiers were buried. 
“I’m proud to announce that Moses Ezekiel’s beautiful and historic sculpture — often referred to as ‘The Reconciliation Monument’ — will be rightfully be returned to Arlington National Cemetery near his burial site,” Hegseth announced on X. “It never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don’t believe in erasing American history—we honor it.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I’m proud to announce that Moses Ezekiel’s beautiful and historic sculpture — often referred to as “The Reconciliation Monument” — will be rightfully be returned to Arlington National Cemetery near his burial site.
It never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike…
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecDef/status/1952851480643359156?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The news was first reported by The Blaze. 
In 1906, Secretary of War and future president William Howard Taft <a href="https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Monuments-and-Memorials/Confederate-Memorial">approved</a> plans to construct a memorial near the Confederate graves. The monument was created by prominent Jewish American sculptor Moses Ezekiel, who fought for Virginia during the Civil War. 
Featured on the monument are 14 shields referencing the 11 official Confederate states, and the border states of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. There are also figures of southern soldiers and civilians alongside mythical gods. 
The monument references Isaiah 2:4, a passage in the Bible that talks about turning swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, a powerful message for a nation recovering from the trauma of war and the deaths of 600,000 Americans. Many presidents, including Barack Obama, have sent flowers to the monument on Memorial Day.
After the removal by the Biden administration, the monument was moved to a Defense Department storage facility in Virginia. 
“At the request of Moses Ezekiel’s family and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Moses Ezekiel&#8217;s sculpture will be returned to Arlington National Cemetery,” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/exclusive-moses-ezekiels-historic-sculpture-finally-set-for-installation-in-arlington-cemetery-by-the-southern-graves-it-once-marked">told</a> the Blaze’s Beltway Brief, “where he is buried and where his legacy as a renowned American artist and decorated veteran can be honored.”
Youngkin added that the monument would be refurbished and would be back on display in Arlington by 2027.
The announcement from Hegseth came after the National Park Service <a href="https://www.nps.gov/nama/learn/news/pike.htm">said</a> Monday that it would be returning the statue of former Confederate General Albert Pike to Washington, D.C. The statue was torn down during a riot in June 2020 and never went back on display.

US-CEMETERY-CONFEDERATE-MEMORIAL

Hegseth Returning Civil War Memorial Removed By Biden To Arlington National Cemetery

American Civil War

American History

Confederacy

Glenn Youngkin

Virginia

The National Security Agency removed its top lawyer after The Daily Wire exposed her past work investigating President Donald Trump for Democrats and penning op-eds praising censorship and defending the intelligence community’s treatment of Trump associates like Carter Page.
The intelligence agency&#8217;s webpage listing April Doss as general counsel was deleted and “multiple former officials” told The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/us/politics/nsa-lawyer-fired.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Times</a> that Doss had been removed. The removal shows that, after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said documents show a conspiracy of “manufactured intelligence” to sabotage the president, the Trump administration is taking steps to ensure that people involved in the discredited probe are not still actively working in key roles.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), when serving as the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence panel, hired Doss to tie Trump to Russia. Warner lashed out at her firing, further illustrating her close ties to Democrats.
“We should be outraged by the firing of April Doss, a deeply principled public servant, apparently for the role that she played in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan investigation into Russian election interference,” Warner said, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/trump-starmer-tariffs-china-trade-immigration-israel-gaza-live-updates-rcna221282#rcrd85608" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBC</a>. “Her dismissal appears to be the result of a politically motivated smear campaign driven by a far-right conspiracy theorist, not any legitimate concern about her conduct or qualifications.”
The Daily Wire&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dem-senators-russia-hoax-investigator-is-top-lawyer-at-trumps-national-security-agency?author=Luke+Rosiak&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Democrat+Russia+Hoax+Investigator+Is+Now+Top+Lawyer+At+Trump’s+National+Security+Agency">July 23 story</a> showed how Doss had repeatedly made mistakes by advocating for the might of the security state to clamp down on “misinformation” in cases where she turned out to be wrong. That included using criticism of vaccines as justification for crackdowns and blaming Republican “extremists” for a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, where there is evidence that federal assets actually entrapped the suspects.
Doss falsely accused Trump — until this week her boss — of causing an “insurrection,” despite no one being charged with such a crime, and said the January 6 protest was “deadly,” a reference to the false claims that protesters had killed police there. She also defended the treatment of Michael Flynn and Carter Page.
Doss’s strong advocacy for censorship by the government and tech firms put her at odds with important policy planks of the Trump administration. Trump’s Federal Trade Commission has aggressively <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/02/technology/ftc-investigation-advertising-boycotts.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigated</a> ad firms for their role in censoring so-called disinformation, such as the New York Post’s true story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
The story also explained how NSA officials concealed Doss’s 2022 hire from Congress because officials and Democrats had blocked the appointment of a Republican with a similar background into the same general counsel role in Trump’s first term, calling it inappropriately political — a move they knew would open them to charges of double standards if Doss’s hiring were known.
Just as they did during the failed Russia investigation, the media and Democrats worked together to spread misinformation after Doss was terminated.
Warner said Doss “appeared to” have been fired because of Laura Loomer, after the Times used the sub-headline “a far-right conspiracy theorist had amplified criticism of the lawyer and her previous work.” Much of the article’s framing revolved around the fact that Loomer had shared an X post summarizing The Daily Wire’s story, while omitting the story’s actual findings, other than the fact that Doss had previously worked for Democrats.
Although the Times&#8217; decision to focus on a literal retweet instead of the actual story was unusual, the rest of the media immediately adopted it verbatim, with MSNBC&#8217;s headline blaring &#8220;Right-wing influencer allegedly helps oust a National Security Agency leader (again),&#8221; and The Daily Beast saying &#8220;Witch Hunter Laura Loomer Claims Scalp of NSA’s Top Lawyer.&#8221;
The Times’ claim that Doss’s removal was due to Loomer — which the paper used to discredit the move, because it has previously painted her as a “far-right” conspiracy theorist with inappropriate influence in the Trump administration — was also based on misinformation, with the paper saying an anonymous person told it “Loomer’s criticism appeared to have a role in the firing.”
It is unlikely that the Pentagon first heard about this from Loomer. The Daily Wire first contacted the Pentagon with questions regarding Doss on July 17.

General Counsel April F. Doss / National Security Agency

Trump-Hating Russia Hoax Investigator Fired As Top NSA Lawyer

National Security Agency (NSA)

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