Amid Mounting War Talk, Pentagon Leaves Reporters in the Dark

Almost a year since Pentagon had an official press briefing

As Trump Administration officials continue to talk up war with Iran, one would expect the reporters assigned to the Pentagon to be working overtime to get the specifics of what is happening. But that’s not happening.

The Pentagon has been increasingly opaque about everything ongoing in the military, and is no better when it comes to the potential Iran War, as there just flat out aren’t any official briefings to get information from.

In fact, it’s been almost entire year since May 31, 2018, the last time the Pentagon had an official, on-camera press briefing. Off-camera gaggles for reporters were once a weekly occurrence, but there have been none in 2019.

The reporters at the Pentagon have for months called for a resumption of press briefings, and are adding to those calls with the apparent approach of a major war. It’s not clear if the Pentagon is even considering such a resumption, however, because there is no venue for them to even admit if they are.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.