Locking Down the Pentagon Press Is Dangerous

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

67% : In my experience, soldiers are not afraid of the truth.
53% : Congress funds it in two-year cycles to force periodic public debate and control.
52% : It's not just that this runs against the First Amendment; it's that it runs against the interests of the Department of Defense itself.
51% : My first on-camera interview happened during Desert Storm, when an NBC crew approached my Bradley in the middle of the Iraqi desert after the war was over, looking for information on a torture chamber our cavalry squadron had found.
50% : Truthfully, I was never completely comfortable stepping to the microphone or in front of a press gaggle, but my boss had asked me to do it because citizens, our families at home, and soldiers in the field deserved straight answers.
49% : That's why what's being considered at the Department of Defense is troubling.
49% : That's the frame I'd offer for those civilian leaders in the Department of Defense.
44% : That view collapses the vital distinction between operational security -- protecting specific plans and capabilities so people don't die -- and institutional protection, which too often means shielding organizations from scrutiny or embarrassment.
43% : Together, they protect the same ideal -- self-government built on public trust.

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