15: Pentagon's Restrictive Media Policy Following Classified Information Breach. John Batchelor and Jeff McCausland discuss the perplexing new Pentagon policy that restricts information flow and excludes major media. This situation contrasts with the historic

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

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🗓️ 22 October 2025

⏱️ 3 minutes

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Summary

Pentagon's Restrictive Media Policy Following Classified Information Breach. John Batchelor and Jeff McCausland discuss the perplexing new Pentagon policy that restricts information flow and excludes major media. This situation contrasts with the historic media access observed during events like the D-Day invasion in 1944. The current restrictive policy appears to stem from the "great Signal gate controversy" involving Mr. Hegseth. Hegseth transmitted highly classified information regarding an airstrike against Yemen, including details from correspondence with the Central Command commander, using an unclassified Signal transmission. He also inadvertently included the editor of the Atlantic in the chat. An Inspector General investigation into Hegseth's violation of classified information norms is pending. McCausland suggests this incident made the Secretary of Defense fearful, leading to this effort to isolate the American military from the public through media restrictions.
1944

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0:00.0	This is John Batchel, a conversation with a good colleague, Jeff McCausen, United States Army retired, CBS News,
0:08.2	about the policy, we're told by the Washington Post at the Pentagon, where most of the almost all of,
0:16.6	in fact, all of the major media I'm familiar with from the 20th century no longer welcome at the Pentagon because a policy has been issued
0:26.4	that appears very much to be restricting the information that comes from the Pentagon
0:31.3	and use of that information.
0:35.0	Puzzling.
0:36.0	I have listened again and again to the recording made by CBS June 5 to 6,
0:42.8	1944. And in significant style at the time, it was all radio. They rushed to the Pentagon, the reporters
0:52.6	in Washington, to communicate with New York, which is where the broadcast was originating. And remember, this is before digital. Broadcast was a signal that you sent into the air. And it either made the jump over the Atlantic or not. They had live reporting that day, the D-Day invasion, from Europe,
1:14.4	from Pacific.
1:16.4	It was a spectacular show of technology.
1:20.2	But they rushed to the Pentagon, and the Pentagon office, the media relations office,
1:24.4	it closed, but they were rushing back down to open their desks and
1:28.9	open and turned the lights on. Everybody was caught around in the middle of the night.
1:33.6	And they didn't have any fresh information, but they knew something was about to happen.
1:37.5	They were counting on it. The American people were counting on it.
1:41.0	It's a famous moment. And here at the Pentagon in the 21st century, it's a puzzle.
1:48.5	Here's Jeff to explain.
1:50.4	More of this is certain to come.
1:53.6	I think the moment was the great Signalgate controversy, where Mr.
1:57.2	Higgseth himself participated in this multi-chat signal communications of efforts to begin to conduct an air campaign against Yemen.
2:07.6	And you might recall that the editor of the Atlantic was inadvertently included in that particular chat.
	...

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