The Pentagon’s Press Purge

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It was a lot of diarrhea that the President dumped on the No Kings protesters in the video that he did. Point out just very quickly that that's the President of the United States of America, a long lineage of great men from Lincoln to Washington, Roosevelt, Jefferson, even the shitty ones. You know what I mean? Hoover, Garfield, you know, that kind of shit. And he alone, I think, I really don't think even Nixon would have shown a video of himself dropping, again, what I can only describe is diarrhea on the American people. The people that he purportedly is in charge of and his diarrhea plane. But I think my favorite part of it was Republicans who are asked about said diarrhea plane and have to say things like, well, you know, the American people know that Donald Trump speaks his mind and they really appreciate his honest reaction of the diarrhea plane. Mike Johnson was the best speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, a little, a little cowlick Mike Johnson. What do you make of the President showing a video of him dropping diarrhea from a plane onto American people who are just expressing their dissatisfaction? Well, you know, the President is a, you know, he's a very satirical, you know, I appreciate the satire. And, and I'm offended, not not as an American, but as a comedian. What is this? What exactly is that? What is the satire? I'm just curious. Is the satire? It's get it? Oh, it's diarrhea from a plane. I get it now. A good one, sir. But that being beside the point, we got bigger, bigger fish to fry in this year American experiment. As you know, recently, the Pentagon decided to make sure that it was very important that reporters sign a pledge not to report anything from the Pentagon because why, why would you need information from the Pentagon? I know they have a diarrhea plane. I don't even know if that was classified that could have been classified information that has somehow got out. Someone's going to pay the price for that. That's way worse than the signal chat. The existence of the diet, you know, let me tell you something, the Chinese have been working on a diarrhea plane now for decades to try and get ahead of the United States. But the fact that United States has developed it to the point where they could deploy it on their own people, well, that's going to send shockwaves through the industry, I'm sure. But to getting more to the point about military reporting, we do have a show dedicated to what the fuck that was that they have to sign pledges and so we're going to get to that right now. All right, folks, we're delighted to have our guests today to talk about the changes that have been done to the Pentagon press corps and just generally military reporting in general and the difficulties of getting it done and, you know, an organization that provides itself on being somewhat opaque, how do you permeate that? We're joined today by Nancy Yusuf, a staff writer at the Atlantic, she covers national security and defense department, Thomas Brennan, founder and executive director of the war horse, which does really fantastic military reporting in independent organization and retired Marine Corps Colonel David LaPan, former acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for media operations and served as a press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security during the first Trump administration. So guys, first of all, thank you all for being here. I want you to know that you passed our very stringent security procedures. You are free to roam about the podcast and ask any questions that you wish to. I want to just get a maybe kind of a quick overview. Nancy, how long have you been covering Pentagon? So I was based in Iraq from 2003 to 7 and I came to the Pentagon the first time after that. And then I spent about a year in Afghanistan from 2009 to 10. Then I moved to the Middle East from 12 to 14 and came back to the Pentagon in 2014. So on and off for 18 years. On and off 18 years. So in that time, Nancy, has the Pentagon process been generally consistent or does it vary wildly through different administrations or through wartime and peacetime? You know, what's been your experience in covering the building? It's been relatively consistent. I mean, every secretary kind of brings their own personality and approach to engaging with the press some are more eager to talk to us or lack thereof. That's right. Some are more eager than others. But the consistent thing had been that if you pass the security background check, which is not as stringent as yours, but if you pass it, you can get an access pass to the building. You could walk to any part of the building and you could talk to people. If you wanted to go on embeds with certain provisions, you could do so. And that there was an understanding that that we wanted a press engage. And I should be clear, they weren't doing this as a favor to us. They did it because they saw that by engaging with us and opening up the building, it really introduced the public to the US military and it created a space where the public was willing to invest nearly a trillion tax dollars and send two millions of its sons and daughters to this department and put their lives in the hands of these decision makers. So it's been relatively consistent up until this administration. Now, Dave, you were on the flip side of that. You were working in the military and with the press office. So assuming you're the liaison between a lot of these reporters and not, is that your experiences as well that you get this security check, this background check, you have general access to the building, although I'm sure there are secured areas within the Pentagon classified areas that you are not allowed to. That's exactly right, John. So my history, I go back to the mid '90s, late '90s, my first Pentagon assignment with the Marine Corps. When I went to the Department of Defense staff, it was at the end of Bill Clinton's second term, William Cohen was the Secretary of Defense. Then I was there through the George Bush administration with Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. Right. I was there during the Obama administration and worked with both Secretary Gates and Secretary Panetta, and as Nancy described it, there are minor changes, but by and large, the process, the way that we interacted with the Pentagon press was pretty consistent. So as people understand, democratic administrations, Republican administrations, I've been in uniform working with all of them. An important point that you make to John about the Pentagon is not this giant secure building. It's basically an office building, and there are lots of secure spaces we're needed. One great example when I was the public affairs advisor, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, right, senior military officer in the United States, I had an office where the press could come and talk to me. But I also, in another part of my office had a secure, compartmentalized information facility. A little skiff for the people at home, a skiff. Exactly. So I could go into the skiff behind a locked door and go into a safe, which was also locked, and pull out information. I had access to classified information through computer systems, all behind locked doors. But the other part of my office, the Pentagon press would frequently come in and visit and we chat about things. They weren't given access to classified information. And the most important point for people to understand is, it was my responsibility as the holder of the security clearance to protect the classified information, not the reporter's responsibility. Reporter's job is to get as much information as they can to fully inform the public about whatever the affairs are that are going on behind the scenes. And like you say, there are, it is a responsibility of the individuals who have a security clearance, not to give away information that might be detrimental. Now, Thomas, you have sort of a, I wanted to make sure you were involved in this conversation too, because, you know, war horse is a slightly different operation. You are much more independent and I would say exist more on the side of military families and veterans themselves and a little bit outside the system. What's your experience interacting with the Pentagon in that way and the restrictions that are placed on getting that kind of information? Thank you. And thank you for having me. So, I have never actually been a credential member of the Pentagon press corps. When I started reporting, I was a local reporter covering Camp Lejeune, which is in eastern North Carolina. Now, was that the toxic exposure case, the bad water at Lejeune that was sickening people or just generally that was your beat? Correct. There was toxic exposure down there, military family housing issues, a government, I covered government sequestration and shutdowns that happened in 2013 and 2014. And it was largely covering, you know, local military affairs issues that had a broader national context. And I would reach out from North Carolina to people like Dave at the Pentagon to arrange interviews, get quotes from national leaders. And then I was the last military reporter covering Camp Lejeune in 2014 when I used my GI Bill to go study journalism at Columbia University. And after that, I wound up starting Warhorse. And we, again, are not a credentialed, you know, part of the, we're not credentialed as part of the Pentagon press corps. We've embraced what the military calls decentralized command and we have reporters all over the country that freelance or staff reporters for us and contribute from military communities around the country. Right. So now, so, so we've got kind of a baseline of what they're reporting is it's inside the building, outside the building. There's independent organizations that are going on there. There's a little game of cat and mouse as there always is in any kind of governmental organization. He took us through why this change or these changes have created such an uproar in the fact that there were about 100 credentialed reporters, I guess, in the Pentagon that are in the building, that are allowed in the building that are walking around 85 of them walked out in mass after these new restrictions were put in place, Nancy, what exactly went down? So even before these rules were put in place, we had seen a slow erosion of our ability to do our jobs in the Pentagon within weeks of Secretary Hegseth becoming the defense secretary. He kicked out NBC News, CNN from their booths and told the Washington Post, New York Times and others that they couldn't sit at their desks. Well, they would literally set up the next desk. You guys have assigned desks? We did, but then we all kind of got to be flexible because our press square is shrunk and so there were open desks and so it wasn't like a space issue. There were open desks and so it was like we work, you're like a we work, it's a we work, but not as clean. And then a few weeks later, those journals who didn't have booths anymore were told that they couldn't use the briefing room to do live shots and then in May, we were restricted to a few hallways in the Pentagon, that's 17 and a half miles of hallway in the Pentagon. We got to maybe, I don't know, mile of it, total, and then this conversation started that we're going to now put new restrictions on how you can get a badge into the building. So we started hearing about this in September and the two big restrictions are one. We cannot solicit information, nor can we publish information unless it is approved by the Pentagon under these rules. And two, we have to agree that we understand that the publication of information, even unclassified information, not authorized by the Pentagon, is a potential security risk. Okay. So I want to go back to the first one that you said. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to laugh. It's just so in first of all, the biggest security classified leak threat within the Pentagon is headset them. So, I mean, that dumbass signal chat where they were just thought, you know, I think it was the Atlantic, right? Wasn't it Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic? Was just added to a group chat where he was like, here's the coordinates of the attack. 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Click the link below to claim your 60% off and get your personal data off the market and cog me dot com slash steward. They made a provision that you couldn't report on anything unless they approved it. That's right. So you are no longer you you're not a reporter. You work for them Dave you worked for them. I'm assuming that the idea that the Pentagon would have to approve everything that came out of the reporting would seem insane to you, even as someone who's working to protect the Pentagon's interests. It is insane. It's dangerous. It's damaging both to the military and to the public that we serve the, you know, the predicate on which this new policy sits is trust us. We'll tell you what you need to know trust us the Pentagon, right? We'll tell you what you need to know, not what you should know, but what we decide you need to know. And over the last nine months, um, is there any good reason to trust everything that comes out of the Pentagon? The irony is for about nine months, let's let's go when did it, when did they build it? The 40s? Was it rose? 1943, 1943, right. But again, over the last nine months, we've seen as Nancy has talked about this erosion. So the irony here is that even in defending the new policy, the Pentagon has said things that are both inaccurate and that mischaracterize the truth. No, what is, what has been an inaccurate, Dave, of what they've said, is it the inaccuracy of the access that reporters have to the building or the fact that they had to go through certain security? What's inaccurate about even the way that they are framing these changes? So a couple of things, one, this idea that they have to start wearing their badges, they've always worn badges. We've had badges that clearly identify them as members of the press, the Pentagon press. So that's not bad. That's what they do already. Right. That's what they've done for decades. They did that when I was there. Contractors wear different badges. The people that uniform folks wear different badges, right? That's nothing new. This idea again that the Pentagon itself is this giant secure facility that we can't let reporters roam around because of all this classified stuff as I've talked about before. It's an office building, right? So it mischaracterizes this idea that we can't allow reporters to walk around wherever they want because they could learn our secret. They get open an unlocked door and inside it is maybe they're training cats to operate lasers and you open the door and you see it and the whole game is blown. Right. And the other part is it goes back to my point about who's responsibility is to protect classified information. So if you have a security clearance, you shouldn't be in the food court talking about classified stuff. You shouldn't be in the bathroom talking about stuff. You shouldn't be walking down the hallway talking about classified information where oh my God, a reporter could overhear it. Well, so could a contractor. So could a family member. So could the people that work at the CVS in the in the building, again, it's ludicrous. Okay. Breaking news. The Pentagon has a CVS and a food court and a Taco Bell and a McDonald's and a Panera's bread and all of those employees can move around more freely than we could starting in May. It's a shopping mall. Wait, the people who work at Panera can move around more freely than the people that are reporting. So very clear. So Thomas, I want to talk to you. As you listen to these restrictions and things, you're an independent journalist, never been credentialed to go into the Pentagon. You guys do fabulous reporting. You know, I remember when Kelly, Kelly Kennedy, began reporting in 2008 on the burn pits in Bilad and some of the health effects that were going on there. What speaks to this, you know, how important is access? Are we arguing with them about something that is moot? I mean, very clearly, they're showing their hand. The Pentagon is saying we control this space. We don't want reporters anywhere near there. They're not trustworthy. But should they be trustworthy in the first place and is the access worth the restriction? And Thomas, you know, what's your overall thought on that? The access to me is so important because public affairs and journalists have a shared goal and that's to get the story right. We both want it to be correct. We both don't want misinformation and disinformation. You're saying public affairs from the military? Public affairs wants the story to be correct. Just like the journalist doesn't want to get things wrong. And you know, we're talking about an organization that has a trillion dollar budget and less than 5% of all journalism focuses on these issues. And while they're putting restrictions on journalists, there's been this decimation of military reporting across the ecosystem. New York Times shut down their at war blog years ago, Washington Post shut down their checkpoint blog years ago, military.com just got sold to a Canadian hedge fund during the Trumpet First Administration. He major cuts to stars and stripes, you know, and then you look at local news. We're working on a study with Medil right now that looks at the intersection of news deserts and military communities and what they're finding is that military communities are impacted by news deserts three times worse than civilian communities and that less than 10% of all military communities have a newsroom in them. Right. So while they're increasing the restrictions, there's also a volume issue when it comes to military reporting across our country where it doesn't, you know, reflect the line item in the budget. And it's sort of it's corroding in the same way that local news is Nancy, what have you found in terms of the access? What has that given you in terms of insight? Because Thomas says something interesting, which is public affairs wants to help us get it right to that goes counter a little bit. To what I imagine or my experience has been in terms of dealing with the Pentagon is they want it right, but they want it along the lines of how they want it framed. Would that be accurate? And my job is to sort of just work through that and kind of give the public the information they need to know. So if you think of reporting as sort of like being in a very dark room with a very small flashlight, the ability to walk around the Pentagon to talk to leaders to see their reactions to the decisions they're making, they're always to widen the aperture so that I can present a more fulsome picture to the American public about what's happening in the building. So it's not a necessary thing in that I can still do my job. And in fact, since the eviction that happened, you have seen exceptional journalism happen just this week alone, you a Southern command commander unexpectedly retired, New York Times wrote that story that there were two survivors on the semi submersible outside the Caribbean. Reuters wrote that story that the secretary was flying on a fighter jet with a chairman during a shutdown, Washington Post wrote that story. We can still do our jobs, but we lose the nuance, the detail that really shows the sort of layered involvement behind all these decisions, you know, like sometimes it's not even a tangible, but it just it ends up shaping how you think about coverage. It allows you to bring depth to it. You know, I was in the Pentagon, for example, in the final days of the US days in Afghanistan. And I was there when Abby Gate happened, 13 US service members were killed. It said something to watch the building absorb what had happened as the death toll kept going up and up and up. Like it's that kind of color. It's those little one-on-one meetings that you get to learn about how people got to be in their jobs. What sort of a vantage point and experience are they bringing to these decisions? It gives you a more three dimensional picture of the humans that are making the decisions that go along there. Dave, what about that interplay between information that the Pentagon does not want framed in certain ways versus the interpersonal relationships? You know, I know that the CIA, I guess, I think it was James Ryzen was talking about this. The loss of access was he thought the best thing that ever happened to those reporters because it reshaped the relationship as what it should be, which is slightly adversarial. And is that difficult to do in a building, Dave, when you have these relationships? You know, does it color the reporting in negative ways? So I'd make two points on that, John, one from the military point of view, again, given the experience that I had in the building. Having a Pentagon press corps, their resident in the building, was advantageous to the Department of Defense because we could call them in a moment's notice when something was happening around the world. We could put together a press briefing in 10 minutes because they were all there, right? We didn't have to put out a press release and go through all this stuff. They were already there, right, benefited the Department of Defense to have reporters in the building that we could pull together in a moment's notice. When I was the acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for media operations, I did what were known as gaggles on the record, but off-camera briefing every day, Monday through Friday. And the resident press corps basically came into my office and we would just talk about all the things. I would have the opportunity to present the information we wanted to get out. They would ask me questions about what they wanted to get out. And there was always a bit of that tension. There was always going to be a bit of an adversarial relationship. But I think that the folks that I worked with in the Pentagon press and outside would tell you that I am a straight shooter, you know, that I told them the truth. Did we always agree? Did we always get along? Absolutely not. That's not the way that it works. But we respected one another's positions and again, as we've talked about, the need for the millilitator to get information out to the American public, the need of journalists to be able to do their job to get information to sort through those different things. So while there was some tension in that relationship, it was mutually beneficial because we're all serving the American public. It's not just the eviction. If it were just the eviction, there have been a number of things that have happened. Military leadership are not allowed to go to events and conferences anymore. Breaking defense broke yesterday that they have to now check with the department before they talk to Congress. There's a climate of fear that's happening in the building. There are some people told that they could face polygraph or engage it in any way. You know, in some ways, our eviction was sort of the canary in the coal mine in terms of a restriction on information flowing generally. And we're seeing that play out right now. The U.S. is conducting strikes on boats in the Caribbean. Till this day, we've done seven or eight of them. I don't know what kind of ordinance was used. What part of the military did it, where those strikes came from. I take James's point that sometimes maybe it was too close, that's a fair criticism. And if it were just this eviction, I think there's a discussion to have, but it's not. This is a pattern. But through the whole administration, not just at the Pentagon, I think it's probably that idea of polygraphs and don't talk and be ever say, you know, that seems to be permeating the whole operation. And now that Pentagon's put together a list of new journalists, they are recruiting journalists to be a part of the new press corps who are like minded, who are going to sign these restrictions. Sure. And they've done that in the White House press corps. But at least there's a pool, there's some independent journalism here. This is all of the major news organizations around out of the Pentagon. You're going to have recruited journalists in there. What happens at a briefing? Who's going to get questions? Who's going to get to travel? How is that going to shape how we understand what's happening? I worry that the consequence of all of this in totality is that facts become negotiable, right? Right. Because it's depending on how you're viewed. And that's the erosion that happens in terms of how we understand the Pentagon. I'm not here to be an advocate for a cause. I really believe that my job is to inform the public. And so when we think about these, the eviction, I think it has to be thought as part of a bigger shift that's happening within the Pentagon. Right. And the experience, Thomas, is that shift just making the Pentagon's relationship to truth more explicit? And I'll give you an example. I remember it. So we were at a war horse symposium in Chicago. And I had interviewed at the time, Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks. And we began the talk where I said, you know, war horse is an independent journalism operation, you know, mainly concerned with, you know, reporting for veterans, military families and things like that. It's interesting that you chose to be here, Secretary Hicks, because the Pentagon obviously has a complicated relationship with journalists. And the first thing she said to me was, oh no, we love journalists. We're very much about transparency. And I thought, well, here we go. That's just bullshit. Just just off the jump, bullshit, Thomas, is that, I guess my point is, are we kidding ourselves here? Isn't that just making explicit, you know, their idea of maybe very literally creating, you know, a kind of palace guard of journalists and all that, has it been your experience that that that's very much the case anyway? Maybe that's too cynical of you. I think that this just puts it on full display for the American public to see what their own eyes, instead of it being off. That's my point. Yeah, instead of just journalists experiencing it one on one, and what's what's scarier for me is, like, this, it appears that the Pentagon is at war with journalists and journalism and the fourth of the state. But haven't they always been, I guess, is my point, or at least that seems to be my experience? Yes, but it seems much more forceful and deliberate and just wide out in the open. And at the end of the day, like journalists, like myself and Nancy and so many other people who report on the, like, we're not against the Pentagon. Like we are for the Pentagon and the millions of service members that it represents and the families that it represents, and that's why we do the reporting that we do. Same thing with the VA. Like, newsrooms like the Warhorse are for the veterans that have served our country. And the pitting, the DOD leadership, pitting, you know, the people like Dave and public affairs officers against journalists, like Nancy, like, that's just, that's wrong. Like we both have a shared goal of, you know, defending American ideals or at work. Like we're not at war with one another, just like Marty Barron of the Washington Post would say. Folks, you know, this company, it meant mobile. I don't want to give you a keeping suspense in any of the things. 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Up front payments of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for 12 months, plan required, $15 per month equivalent to access and fees extra. Initial plan term only, greater than 50 gigabytes may slow a network is busy. Includes up to 20 gigabyte hotspot, capable device required, availability, speed and coverage varies, cementmobile.com. Dave, how did you negotiate that relationship between journalists and what the Pentagon wanted to frame? Because I'm really talking about framing. You can talk about the history of military conflict also includes a history of misinformation, shaped, I'll give you an example. Judith Miller in the run up to the Iraq War reports that Saddam Hussein has these aluminum tubes and they can only be used to enrich uranium and he's building a weapons program. They pop it into the New York Times is a front page story and literally the next day Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice go on meet the press and all kinds of other places and say, even the New York Times, no friend of this administration, the Bush administration is reporting that Saddam Hussein has a nuclear program and we've got to get in there. What it turned out to be was, and I think the famous phrase was, we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud. That was the big warning. Well, turns out that phrase came from the Iraq working group. It was from a PR person and that information was fed to Judith Miller from the administration. So, you know, when you see things like that happen, it's easy to get discouraged about that relationship. Dave, how do you make us understand why these reporters shouldn't just be adversarial? So I would say what we are seeing now is the administration that wants to turn journalists into stenographers, right, and just tell, you know, report, well, we tell you to report. But how is that? I guess I'm saying is how is that different than what they always do? What's different is that, yeah, that journalist, as Nancy described, part of the job is to go seek different sources of information, right? You just don't take the Pentagon's view at face value, right? You take that and you say, here's what official people are telling us. But here's what we're also hearing from other people, right? And so for me as a public affairs officer, it was about relationships, building trust and credibility so that they knew that I was telling the truth to the extent that I could, right? That I couldn't divulge classified information or I couldn't, you know, do certain things. But they didn't just take what I said at face value. As journalists, they got other, you know, views and perspectives to provide that context that Nancy was talking about earlier. So for me, and I've said this before, the North Star is always tell the truth. And if you can't tell the truth, explain why you can't tell the truth, right? Is there always some level of span involved much more when you get into the political realm? Certainly. You know, for a uniform military officer, it was easier, you know, to stay truthful. Because you were generally dealing with operational aspects, not exactly. So I, sorry, John, I've told this story a few times that the first day when I was the acting deputy assistant secretary and conducted my first gaggle, one of the members of the Pentagon press asked me point blank front of the entire group, Cradle of Pan, as a uniform military officer, is it appropriate for you to defend administration policy? And my answer was no, it's not. If you have those questions, you go talk to Jeff Morrell, who is my civilian counterpart, political point. Right. If you have talk, if you want to talk about military operations and those things, that's me, right? And so again, it's much more straightforward for me to stay in those lanes when it gets political is when it gets very complicated. Right. And Nancy, is that you? your frustration that what you won't be able to get as easily is those operational details and kind of, as you said, the color in the building, or is it that the sources that you are relying on are now reacting to the changes that are being made to policy and you can't get anything? I mean, it is much harder to get information, but that's not why we sort of walked out together. We did it because to sign it would be to sort of say we're not journalists anymore, and we couldn't do that. I think we were really trying to protect precedence and what defines our job. You know, it's funny you mentioned Judy Miller and the run up to the rack war because at the time I worked for Nightridden Newspapers, which was known for really pushing back. And it's not, yes, you can be swayed by the fact that you're in close proximity of decision makers who are trying to spin you. But if you're doing your job well, you understand that and contextualize it. What made Nightridden so singular is that it didn't just put those things out of face value and, you know, what happened to Judy Miller, she was discredited, the New York Times took a credibility hit. That is the access doesn't shape the coverage, it's the understanding of how to approach the job by the journalists doing it. And I'll tell you, having been on the speed a pretty long time now, the journalists who are coming up after, you know, if you're 30, you were born in 1995. When you were 10, this was the height of the wars in a rack in Afghanistan. There's a more adversarial relationship there right now. They're seeing National Guardsmen deployed on American streets, they're seeing a different military than I was brought up under in terms of like the sort of unquestioned sort of reverence to them. So there is, there's an adversary relationship across generations, but the kicking out of the press court on top of the sort of experience that everyday Americans have had over the past 30 years. You can see it really are already reshaping it, but it's not the access by itself. I think, frankly, lazy journalists might do it that way. But the challenge of the job is to figure out what to put in front of the public and it's so funny to hear Dave describe during his press conference, he says, he and I had back and forth all the time. And it was great. Now would you see that in a sort of angrily, angrily sort of frame story? No, but you would see it in the order that I would put things or you would see it and how things were framed. So there are extremes where we have done not the best work and questioning officials, but I think you'll see an equal number of instances where we have really challenged and brought things to the fore. The use of M wraps were brought to the military because of it. So again, I take your question. What she talks about just for the answer, the M wraps were the vehicles that could withstand mines or mine resistant. I think assault. What does it assault? Mine resistant. Yeah, protect. And Bush protected. Yeah. And so and the troops that were in Iraq and Afghanistan did not have the proper M wraps. They had been delayed and the reporting on that and it did cost American lives. Thomas, you were you were in the middle of that because you were deployed at that time. I think in obviously the Battle of Fallujah and and other places you probably experienced that on the ground. Nancy, I wanted to say I think that's a really good point and one that I think, you know, we should stand. I was focused on access. What you're saying is this isn't so much a question of access and what it hinders and doesn't hinder. That's a question of principle. It's a question of if even if the access was not explicitly helping and there wasn't spin and there wasn't people trying to prevent it, the idea that they would say to you, you have to sign this and only approve it as a principle cannot stand. I think that's part of it, yes, because we're saying, how can I sign a document that says I will not publish anything other than the Pentagon approves it, how can I do that? What am I telling my readers that I'm not a journal set that point? You know, this job requires sometimes a very adversarial relationship with your sources. And what am I doing for my colleagues who come after me? I just, I don't know how we could do it without sort of signing off on the whole profession. Right. Right. But, you know, when you were serving, you know, I remember, you know, I've seen footage of different things. There were a lot of embeds that were, that were with you guys, you know, that's a different kind of access and a different kind of military reporting. And I imagine one that's much harder A to control through public affairs or through Pentagon policy and B, one that gets really interesting in terms of the personal relationships because, in essence, you're preventing them or trying to prevent them from being killed or harmed while they're going out there. What's that relationship like in the field and Nancy, you've done that embedding as well. So, Thomas, you've been on the other side of it as a soldier with embeds. What's that like? So, as far as the embed goes, what I experienced in Iraq and Fallujah and then in Hellman province, Afghanistan were drastically different in Fallujah. We were more concerned with getting to the next house and staying alive and, I mean, we cared about the journalists getting there too, but them getting their footage was not at the top of our priority list. Right. You know, you don't have them go, all right, everybody, we've got to be quiet for room tone. Hold on. 30 seconds. Yeah, we got to, we got to white balance the shot real quick. So, yeah, there was very little concern outside of their safety for what type of shots they were getting, and then fast forward to Afghanistan eight years later in my career, I had a photo journalist who was in bed with us and that was a slower pace. We still saw contact almost daily for a good period of time there, but while the journalist was there with us, it allowed for much more intimate conversations to happen. They actually got to know the members of our squad were still in touch to this day. I mean, he wound up to be my co-author of my book. Right. The embed in Afghanistan was, I think, exactly what Dave would have wanted from an embed that he would have placed, where it was a journalist who understood their role. They knew that they could just wander off on patrol and potentially get one of us hurt. So they'd operate within the confines of the mission that we had there, but they also, he spent over a month with us. He really got to know us, and that allowed for him to do some really strong reporting about what the bond among Marines looks like on the front lines that have placed like Afghanistan, and that is of real benefit to the American public. I mean, they're paying for the war, they're paying for the service members to be there. When any of us die, they're going to pay the funeral, they're going to pay the death benefit of all that. So all of that is taxpayer money, and the types of stories that Fenbar was telling about our squad helped to illuminate the military experience and what the war in Afghanistan was like for all the readers that he had, and that was something as a service member. I was more nervous about my guys being out of uniform and me getting in trouble, or there being something, some military customer courtesy, or something that represents discipline, that the chain of command would have had a problem with, and that it would have became my head. Or even a situation like what occurred, which is Abu Ghraib, where you talk about those photos from the prison that showed abuses, various things. Dave, there's so many different elements. It's so interesting to me, because my vision of the-- here's this now trillion dollar a year. We're talking about defense contractors. We're talking about a department that has never passed a financial audit. We're talking about a department that puts Americans in harm's way. We're talking about an organization that once they are done with our soldiers, ignore their future problems. They've done a better job of it, but make them fight for the benefits that they had earned. This is an incredibly, in my mind, dysfunctional and opaque and complicated operation. As I'm hearing you guys about what's the negotiation between the elements that are trying to get at the heart of those things, it's kind of fascinating, because you rely on each other to some extent. Absolutely, and I'm glad you brought up the media and program one. I was involved in one of my roles in helping to create that program for the war in Iraq, so I'm very well acquainted with that. It gets back to the ludicrousness of this new policy, is that we put journalists on the frontlines with US troops, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force didn't exist then. You put them on the moon, Dave. but we put them out there and allow them to do the that reporting. One, because we we wanted first hand independent views to counter the propaganda and the disinformation we knew we were going to come out of the Saddam Hussein regime, right? And the idea that we would trust military journalists inside, not just military journalists, I would correct that, journalists to be there on the front lines in combat with us. And now we don't trust them to walk around the inside of an office building. Really? They put their lives on the line. That's the other thing Thomas will tell you, he and his Marines, well trained, well armed, ready to do battle. Reporters, you might put on a helmet and you might wear a flag chest that says press, but you're carrying a camera or a notebook. You are much more vulnerable. And dangerous. We saw what happened in the Bob Woodruff. We saw, you know, what has happened to, there was a Fox journalist who was hit by mortar journalists that are killed in Gaza. I mean, it's the most dangerous place in the world for journalists. So again, we collectively, the Department of Defense in this case, you know, trusted journalists put them in these situations. And it's now a slap in the face that we're treating them the way they they're being treated by HG7 in the administration. Nancy, what's your thought on what this is? Is this just this administration's, you know, we are the alphas and you are not. And we are, is this just a, we must teach you your place, you're the fake new, you know, is fake news, any news that doesn't flatter their perspective? You've done the tours overseas. What are they trying to do here? Well, I mean, every time we've written stories that they don't like, we've sort of seen new rules. So the restrictions on movement happened after there was a lot of pushback on reporting that the U.S. strikes in Iran had not been as successful as the president claimed. So any kind of criticism has sort of, we've seen sort of a tangible effect. My fear when it comes to the military is that this Pentagon no longer believes it needs to reach the entire American public. Remember the military, throughout its history, modern history has really celebrated the fact that it looks like the American people, that it comes from every part of the country, that it's here to defend the nation. We have heard a secretary defense who has not subscribed to that, that he thinks there, there's too much DEI at the building that, that, that we should have a military more focused on threats in this hemisphere. We've seen an administration put troops on the border, national guardsmen in, in American cities. So my fear is that one reason that they don't want us there is because they don't need us there, that they no longer feel that they need to communicate to the entire American public, but rather to their base because they want a military that serves their base, rather than serve the American people. And if you, if that's true, then you don't need to reach New York Times readers. You, you, you, you like the idea of sort of having talking points USA or other, sort of outlets representing the facts as you want to present them. I don't know that, but we're starting to see a pattern where in terms of what they say and the some of their actions that they want a military that is more in line with sort of their values rather than a military that represents the collective interest. Right. Well, you know, he, look, he's the defense secretary and he's allowed to create certain policies. But I think, and, and maybe I'm wrong about this, but Thomas, you know, if their idea is, if we restrict access in the building, we will no longer have adversarial coverage, seems insane. I mean, it, it, it seems wildly naive. If that's the idea that, okay, we're going to bring in some sick of fans and they're going to sit in the building. The best reporting on the military doesn't necessarily ever come from the building. The, you know, the MRAP stories, the burn pit stories, the Walter Reed scandal, the sexual assault stories, like those aren't necessarily coming from inside the house. So not only is this anti-American to some extent, in terms of the way that it restricts freedom, it strikes me as foolish and naive that they think they'll be able to control that. Foolish and naive. And I think that Secretary Hague Seth is displaying a complete disregard for the leadership traits and principles that the enlisted and commission officers within the military are taught and lived by every single day. Like what he says demonstrates no tact. He demonstrates no apparent integrity. You know, the poor judgment, flip-flopping back and forth on messaging, like the military teaches selflessness. I think he demonstrates selfishness. And speaking as a marine veteran, like if he had been my lieutenant, I would not have followed him into combat for those reasons. He is displaying a complete disregard for norms in the military and a disregard for the life and safety of service members. I can point to that, you know, the gathering of 800 generals that were brought into Quantico. Like the military lives by an acronym called the MD COA, "Animies Most Dangerous Course of Action." I can think of nothing more deadly than having your top, every thing from the Secretary of Defense, President of the United States, and 800 generals all being crammed into one room. That is a massive national security threat that completely disregards their safety, you know, our national security is a country. And at the same time, he stood in front of there and demonstrated a lack of understanding of the leadership traits and principles that he is speaking about his own service members upholding. Right. It's surprising because his work on the weekend Fox and Friends, I thought, was an exemplary. She's got a breakaway. She's all alone. She's going. She's going. Oh no, wrong goal kiddo. It's chaos out there. There's stomachs don't have to be. Introducing cultural kids probiotics plus electrolytes. Sugar-free, more hydrating than water alone, from the number one pediatrician recommended brand. Youth soccer is never boring, but your kid's stomachs should be. Cultural Probiotics. This science of a boring gut. See website for details. Just want to jump on to Thomas because he talked about leadership traits and principles. Here's the other thing. Using the word principle, DOD policy, which has existed for decades and still exists today. There's something called the principles of information amongst those. It says information will be made fully and readily available. A free flow of general and military information will be made available without censorship or propaganda to the men and women of the armed forces and their dependents. And it says information will not be classified or otherwise withheld to protect the government from criticism or embarrassment. That's what's in the DOD principles of information. That policy exists today. All of these things run completely counter to that. But if we are being fair and this gets back to my original point, it is bullshit. And they don't. It may be in there, but for sure they don't. I've watched too many of those where they come out and say, we told the Israelis, be careful with what the bombs we gave you. I'll give you an example. And this goes back to pack that stuff. So there's some veterans that were at Karish Kanaban. I'm sure I'm pronouncing that poorly. They call it K2. They were the first kind of tip of the spear when 9/11 just happened. They were deployed to this base in Uzbekistan. That was, they were there for a day or two and people started getting incredibly sick. It was very clear that this was an old base that had been used for some chemical weapon things and all. So, you know, as they were bulldozing berms and setting stuff up, a lot of soldiers got sick. So they sent in an environmental team that they got in with hazmat suits and the whole thing. This environmental team found traces of nerve agents. They found obviously the normal, you know, PFAS and they found the normal toxic, you know, the general levels of, you know, benzines and dioxins and all kinds of other shit. And what they also found was yellow cake, uranium. They had Geiger counter readings. There was a gentleman named Nick Nichols, who was part of that team and who filed a report about the conditions at this base. This is in 2002, I believe. Since then, many of these soldiers have gotten incredibly sick with all kinds of, from osteoporosis to cancers to all kinds of other things. And they have not been able to get the government to recognize for the most part up until a little bit last year, the toxins that were there even. though that was that report was there. They, to this day, deny that that report found what it found or existed. And I've been on the calls with, there was a general that we were on a call with about that report. And when Nick went over what the yellow cake and uranium readings, because they'll say it's depleted uranium and not, you know, yellow cake uranium. When they went over the report, the general said on the call, this is the first time I'm hearing about it. This call was in 2023, that 20, 20 years, 21 years afterwards. What Nick said was that surprising, because you were the officer that I presented this report to originally, 20 years ago. So that, that gets to the kind of, I understand what it says in the Pentagon rules of information, but that's not how they operate. That has to be worth something in terms of, don't we need a complete redo of how the Pentagon operates in terms of information? I think yes. Speaking as an unlisted Marine, there's a two tier justice system that exists within the military. And I think it is one of the biggest issues that our service members face. There's no transparency. Try to go to a, you know, a court marshal on base and see how you can get through the front gate. And I just think that it is emblematic of the secrecy and lack of transparency that the military embodies, because these are people that are having their lives ruined. Life's completely changed. Sometimes warranted for crimes that they did, but other times not. And like the lack of transparency in the court system, I think is emblematic of the lack of transparency across the rest of the DOD. And the American public would never, they would never be satisfied with court records and a civilian court of law not being readily available to normal reporters or to the American public. Yet for some reason, that type of secrecy and withholding information is normal at the DOD accepted by the American public. And I think it's time for the American public to speak up and demand the transparency that we deserve from a $1 trillion military machine. One, I agree. Reform is needed to, part of the reason I was reading that part is that this administration is going completely the opposite direction. It's making things more opaque and less transparent, even if they weren't you know, transparent before and reform is needed. Instead of moving in that direction, they're moving in the complete opposite direction to make it even harder to get information to build any kind of trust with the American public. And Nancy, what, so what's your frustration with the system as a whole? You know, this is the line that has been drawn. And I guess my overarching question is, shouldn't we draw a line much clearer beyond like I'm not signing this pledge? Isn't there a deeper issue here that maybe this gives us an opportunity to address? Well, a couple of things. I think the challenge that I have is I don't think anybody would disagree that reforms need to be made and that journalists would want more information more than anyone else. I just don't see how these changes. And I'm not talking just about evicting the press. In his September 30th speech on Juanico, Hexet said we're going to change rules around the DOD Inspector General. We're not going to punish people from minor infractions. He has laid the groundwork not for more information or reforms or transparency. If you were saying I want to get more information to the American public, I think you should know more. That's a different conversation, but he's not saying that and he's not acting that way. In fact, we've already seen that they provide less information about key things. It's extraordinary that we don't know who the US is killing in in international waters. We don't know. Right. And we can't get the answer. And now they can't talk to Congress. And we're hearing from the Hill. We're not getting answers either. So I think there do need to be changes. I think one of the things you've seen this press court fight for way before this was for more information. And it's one of the reasons we did the embeds. We were willing to do anything to get some fidelity on what was being asked of troops, what was happening. So I think you are seeing a press court trying to address this. And part of that is by reporting the stories just in the last week that they don't want out there. I'm not sure that we would know that those two people survived were not reported by Reuters. I'm not sure that we would know about some of the changes that are happening in the Pentagon without that reporting. So I think you make a valid point. They're the information hasn't there. There are changes that need to be made. But I don't know. I feel like it's a doctor telling saying you have migraines and the and the prescriptions of the sledgehammer to the head. And you know, you don't have a headache anymore. I think that's true. You know, but my point is they're going to want to take the hammer to the head. And maybe what it's going to do. You know, they always say like, you know, certain people, if you lose your sight, other senses kind of grow there that maybe it can be a net positive for, you know, I've seen the reporting that Thomas's group does. And that's with very little access and like really scrappy. And maybe the recognition that, oh, these guys are like really want it to function like it does in more authoritarian countries is going to spark this sort of much more decentralized kinds of information gathering and reporting that may ultimately do exactly what you're saying, Nancy. It may. It may. I just, I just think there's, I don't know. It gives me pause that somebody who's in charge of the department doesn't want to answer questions from anyone other than those who agree with them. I worry about information where the American public is potentially getting two different versions of the same event because there's what sort of these approved media say and what the unapproved and media say. And I think because the organization is so big when you give an organization nearly a trillion dollars, they have their fingerprints in everything. The military touches things beyond comprehension. And then the hesitancy that you're hearing to me is because we've already seen less information coming out. And we're seeing more and more deployment of US troops in ways we haven't seen them in a more law enforcement capacity. I think that could lead to it. But I'm also seeing service members being threatened. I've had spokesman say to me, they're afraid to talk to me because of the restrictions that are being put in place. You're seeing generals and animals afraid to talk to their predecessors because they don't know if they're going to question. I reported in some in an authoritarian regime and I spent two years in Egypt in the sort of post-era spring era. And yes, there was incredible independent journalism that happened. But there was also less fidelity in terms of what was happening. And there will come a moment when the United States finds itself in some sort of conflict and the ability to have that information that back and forth, the lack of that will be harmful. I mean, I'll give you a very small example. Yeah, please. So during the Iran strikes, some of my colleagues had learned about it and the military came to us and said, for the safety of the crew, can you not report it until they're in safe space? And we did that. Now, we don't do everything that they asked for but there was a there's an acknowledgement that we have to treat that information responsibly. I just I can't wrap my mind around the idea that that having less engagement leads to better understanding and that's that's maybe it's my own personal hiccup, but that's the roadblock that I keep hitting. I think you already are seeing a better press forward. I think you could continue to see it, but I just can't reconcile the idea that you think access is really a crucial. Not access engagement that happens that the that we as a country expect those who are accountable for the lives of two million troops, those who are making those decisions, answer questions, answer questions that they don't like. I think that I think that to me is the simplest and most direct case to be made for that to come. And Thomas, you were vigorously nodding when you said I've had sources say that they were afraid because I think what Nancy is pointing out is is really the heart of it, which is somebody standing up in front of somebody else and answering to the issues that are occurring. And that seems like that's going to be going away, but you you seem to be agreeing that like people are afraid now even within the organization. Yes, I think Nancy's probably had this too. I mean, you obviously talk about source protection with the people that you speak with and that was always part of the conversation, but now it's you know absolutely one of the first things that are discussed or hey can we move this to signal or proton or you know some type of secure area, and the fear in talking to the press, the generals and senior officers were always a bit more hesitant to talk to me, and I had much more of a foothold in the unlisted side of things, and like the fear among the lower unlisted troops right now of speaking up and being outed is very intense, and I would say it extends outside of the building to our allies. We've tried to follow up to some of the Afghans that were brought to the United States, and even they don't want to talk out of fear of deportation. So like these policies are impacting myriad areas of the defense department and service members and veterans in multiple ways. Dave, are you getting a sense that now there is a culture that is not about protecting the security of the United States, but just about exerting control? Absolutely, get that from people in the government, and people recently out of the government that I speak with. This really, and Nancy talked about it, authoritarian regimes. This reminds me of the old Soviet days of Minder's, remember where the Soviets would have people that would rat one another out. That's this culture of fear and Nancy talked about it earlier, that's what the Pentagon has done is create this culture of fear that people are afraid of getting polygraphed, of getting demoted, of getting fired, of being threatened for telling the truth. And that, to me, is the most dangerous part of all of this. A culture of retribution seems to be taken place. Absolutely. So here, I want to flip it on its head, because I remain optimistic, and I'll tell you why. This feels like they are grafting an alien culture onto American culture. Americans are not accustomed to this level of sycophancy and control. And I truly do believe they'll reject it. And that this type of, you know, Nancy, you mentioned the Egypt, but these are societies that were, you know, Mubarak was there for, God knows how long as an autocrat, they had a year of morse and then back to C.C. and, you know, again, our culture is not, this is not indigenous to how we view ourselves and how we view the presses role and how we view the government's role. I think this is going to be a harder blanket for them to smother us with, if that makes sense. And that resonates with any of you at all, Nancy. I mean, my concern is there is an erosion of trust in the media. That's part of what we've been discussing. And there is, we haven't talked about, but there's a social media element. What I've discovered in the course of my career is that readers increasingly expect us to validate their point of view. And so I worry that once we create these sort of separate systems, ecosystems of journalism and information, that this will further put people on their own islands rather than sort of encourage the kind of engagement that this country's founded on because you're right. The whole premise of this country was, we are going to have the people govern and we're going to do it through engagement and discourse, not violence. And it started with a free press. That's part of that process. So I'm optimistic in that I think people value a free press. I think that 60 organizations, or however many it was, I don't even know how new organizations does as organizations independently came to this conclusion and weren't willing to give up that principle for something that could have been allowed them to say in the building makes me hopeful. But I just can't help but worry because I'm watching how our readers are engaging. And there's so much people on their own sort of ecosystems of information that before it gets better, I worry that this can become more entrenched in the short term. Yeah, it's an interesting question, which is, will there be a demand as much as people I think, you know, the silos that people are in in terms of social media is not necessarily the country at large. And I still think this country has the ability to be shocked. And I know that ultimately those kinds of, you know, larger moments were like the Pentagon papers or the fact that there were no WMDs. Those things still have an ability to stun the public at large. And I think the more that they try and suffocate that flow of information, the more opportunity they give for that kind of moment to happen again. And if it's a Snowden type moment, look, it's a fair point, you know, as we were packing up, I was getting unsolicited messages from sources saying, I'm going to continue to talk to you. And they weren't doing it to be defined of their civilian leadership. They were doing it because they understood they took an oath to a constitution. It does create opportunities for the right journalists to stand up and do it. It's going to be harder. It's going to be more challenging. But there is a cost as well as all I'm saying, which is we are still not going to get answers to basic information. And we're already seeing that play out with everything there's an opportunity. I agree with you. And I'm so proud of this press court that they're already treating this as such in some ways. You don't see them sort of resign or begging to get back in. They are persevering. Right. It's just there, there will be a cost as well. It's just to me not binary where we fall in that spectrum in terms of information, new information coming out and basic information, not coming out is, is hasn't settled yet. Right. So Dave, is that the kind of thing that you can see starting to maybe grow from a more kind of bottom up way? Yes and no. Again, I agree with Nancy about the echo chamber effect in so many people in their information silos that aren't going to see anything wrong because they're consuming information that doesn't provide the full perspective. Right. We're often using the boiling frog analogy because it's accurate. So I guess I share some of your optimism, John, and some of you get some messages. So do I, by the way, I don't want to give you the impression that I do that. Thomas, I'll give you the last word on maybe how you see this resolving, cracking, negotiating and turning out. I'm actually nervous that this is going to broaden the military and civilian divide. And if you think about it, most Americans don't have a connection to the military and their first and maybe only experience that they're having right now is the National Guard coming into their neighborhood in Chicago where the Marines going into their community in L.A. And like if that is the only interaction that you are having with service members of the military, then I feel like that's going to significantly damage the relationship between Americans and it's military. So getting back to the human implications of all of this, like there are American sons and daughters on the border right now in Texas and in Chicago right now. I am very nervous about where military civilian relations are going to go because of domestic deployments and the rhetoric that exists right now, not toward journalists, but also within the military. People saw what Peg Seth and the Commander-in-Chief did with those 800 generals in there. They saw their leadership on full display. And like I said, I wouldn't follow them into combat after that display of leadership. And I think that I wasn't the only person who was watching. So I'm nervous about where this is going to send us on the military in spite of our journey. Absence of leadership is what we saw. Yes. Yeah, I think that's such a great point. But I think actually Thomas, you I think really brought it around to a really fantastic human point, which is, you know, the military is already relatively opaque organization. There's only, you know, less than 1% of Americans that are in it in a large respect. Let's kept that way purposefully so that you don't have to expend a lot of political capital to do whatever you want with the military because as you said, it's tentacles don't reach. It's really that the burden of it falls on military members and their families. And if that divide, if there is less understanding between those communities than even there is now, that could be a really tough situation. And Nancy, I think that's probably what you were getting at a little earlier as well. Yes. I said it better. No, but I'm telling you like when as soon as you said that I was like, Oh, shit, that's so boy, that's that's the roughest thing. And unfortunately for you, Thomas, that makes warhorse and the work that you guys do independently, that much more important because that's kind of the focus anyway. And I think Nancy for you as well, like that makes that makes what you guys do even more crucial in this moment. So I wish I wish you guys the best and Dave, you know, you're on the other side of it. But understanding it really, really well as well guys, I want to thank you all for coming and having the conversation. And it just points again to the importance of getting the information out about what this trillion dollar behemoth. that all of our lives, unfortunately, it impacts as well as for military members and their families. Nancy use of staff writer at the Atlantic covering national security and defense. Thomas Brenn, the founder and executive director of the Warhorse and retired Marine Corps colonel David LePan, former acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for media operations. Guys, thanks so much for being with us. Thank you. I'd like to wrap it up. Thank you. Thanks for the conversation. You know, I was interested. I wonder how you guys feel about this in their, in their honest feeling about the veracity of the information that they get and the lack of spin around it. It seemed as though, like, I understand the factual stuff and all that, but, you know, I guess my view of the Pentagon is that it's so opaque. And so spin oriented, that I guess I was surprised by that. I guess when your baseline is, you're expecting that there's a story in what they do decide to tell you. Right. Like, there is a value to it, even if you're familiar with the spin that it sometimes comes with. Not having access to even the spin, I guess, for them. It's like what, I think what Nancy said about just like making the aperture smaller and smaller of just like what you can even learn and what you have access to, like, I don't know if they take everything at face value, but I think that they appreciate the opportunity to talk to people. Right, right. I think they'll still have that, I hope. So for now, I think the point they were making about the sources, being scared is tough because that's what you really need to report from the inside is the people who are experiencing it who don't necessarily have the power to change it. And earlier this year, the Justice Department reinstated that rule, making it easier for them to like find journalist records and leak investigations. And I mean, none of this is happening in a vacuum, and it's no great mystery why this administration is against the media, the scale of corruption and incompetence is staggering, so. Jillian spear going in hot, listen, why you got to, why do you got to fly a diarrhea plane right into the, I mean, yeah, no, it's, I can, I completely agree with that. And the hope is that as the aperture gets smaller, life finds a way that it goes around it and hopefully that it doesn't rely on a snowden, an Ellsberg, like hopefully it won't rely on the heroism of a whistleblower, but rather that cracks in that dam will occur. Be become more of the culture, yes, but also to lose access to a Taco Bell in your basement, that's also criminal, I got to tell you, I didn't want to say anything about that because I know how devastating that can be, but, you know, for me, for vegetarians like Taco Bell is it, man, contracts supreme, no beef. Okay, that's a hot set, that's another vegetarian Taco Bell is wherever you are on the road, talk about like there's always the like McDonald's Big Mac, no meat, but then you got to spend at least five minutes at the drive in the drive through going like, no, no, no, no meat, he goes, well, that's not a Big Mac, no, I'm saying. They've never heard the words before. Here's what I want, no beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on the sesame seed bun, but not the beef. I want the other parts of the song, but not the beef patties, so Big Mac, no, I. It takes a lot. Brittany, what do we got from this week? What's anybody? What are we? All right, just a caveat. As a friendly reminder, if you don't answer any questions, you can always pass or phone a friend. Pass. All right, here we go. All right. First up, pass. Oh, I jumped the gun. I jumped the gun. That was that was my fault. Um, what are your thoughts on Ellison now wanting to buy Warner Brothers when they should have it all enough enough. He should have it all my, but my guy should have it all. He should be the leader of why can I ask you why are there other media companies? Shouldn't they all just be one? Shouldn't we get to a point where we're all just fired and hired by the same guy? Just one guy controls all of the media. What could go wrong? That's what I say. We definitely all know who we're talking about or talking shit about our bosses. It's all the same guy would really bring the country together. Lauren, it's about time we all shared the same issues. I have always said my complaint with the media is that there's just too many different aspects. And if we all just shared the same IP, we all become one. Isn't that what diversity, equity, and inclusion is all about? We solved it. We all become the same thing. Why should we be fiefdoms? Yeah, I for one I'm excited to work at one company and shop at one store and watch one channel and one movie. I think it's going to be the stress. I feel when I go to the library and I look up and there's all these different books. I think wouldn't it be easier if there was just one book and enough copies for everyone, the King James Bible, right Gutenberg Bible and done your wish may come true. It does look that way. It doesn't. It is wild to think of though, like it's, you know, because now there's going to be like, you know, a bloodletting and a paramount. I think it might even be this week or next week. And then if they merge with the other thing, like another one, like it's, this is how it all runs now in the media industry. It's a wild, it's a wild thing. What was the other one? There was another one. Yes. Okay. Instead of demolishing the White House, wouldn't it be more cost effective for Trump to just make more logo the new White House and Palm Beach, the new Capitol. That's so smart. That's a smart. I don't know who wrote that in, but that's that's somebody that is fiscally responsible that is somebody that is looking out for the debt. And that America is cow. That is a way to cover. By the way, I don't know if any of you have ever had to like even try to like redo a bathroom, but it is a shit show when it comes to permits and everything else. And these guys just were like, I'm going to build a ballroom. All right. Tuesday. I'll have a, I mean, he's got a literal wrecking ball. I can't pull those by, but by that is right. And my favorite thing was there was an article that just came out that was because of outcry White House is considering releasing their plan to rebuild the ball. And I like, wait a minute. There's no, there's no plan because he said he literally said we are not affecting the structure of the White House. The White House will remain sacri sang. It will not be touched. And then the first picture is like a giant like Miley Cyrus. Going right through a window on the east wing. And they're like, oh, you, you wanted to see it. Like is the White House not a historic building? Like have you ever tried to fuck with a historic building? It is nearly impossible. And the New York Times article was like, it was always hard to believe given the scale of the project. I'm like, was it? Was it hard to believe like the marble buildup was no tell to what was coming? Well, they said somehow the ballroom, which was going to hold 600 people is now going to hold a thousand people. And you're like, how man? When? How? What? How often they're going to have a building larger than the White House that's like they're going to have to rent this fucking thing out for bar mitzvahs to make any money now. Like Marilock O full circle. Going back to the original idea, which one of our students came up with, which was just switch it. He's going to be president forever anyway. What's the difference? And if not, he'll just hand it over to one of the, I mean, that's he's got a whole brood now. So he can hand it over to one of them and just keep it down there. I'm very excited about this. And then they'll put up the arc to trump. Yeah, everything's going great. Son of a bitch. Brittany, how do they keep in touch with us? Twitter, we weekly show pod Instagram threads, Tik Tok Blue Sky, we weekly show podcast. And you can like, subscribe and comment on our YouTube channel, the weekly show with John Stewart. Is that those are the only options, right? Like, subscribe and comment. There's no other. I wonder all of the options share. That is sure. Sure. Well done, Lauren. Thank you guys very much. As always, lead producer Lauren Walker, producer Brittany Mimetic, producer Jillian Spear, video editor and engineer Rob Vittola. Audio editor and engineer Nicole Boyce, executive producers, Chris McShane, Katie Gray. Thank you guys once again for helping me through another episode of the weekly show podcast. We'll see you next week. Boy boy. The weekly show with John Stewart is a comedy central podcast is produced by Paramount Audio and bus boy productions. [MUSIC] Caramount Podcasts.