TJ Tommy

Win or lose, respect to @elonmusk for being the man in the arena

The CNO and @SECNAV held press interviews at Sea Air Space this week. Old Pentagon Press Corps: Invited. New Pentagon Press Corps: Not invited. One more way the Pentagon bureaucracy slow-rolls Trump’s agenda while keeping liberal legacy media on the guest list. I know what I’ll hear back: I didn’t file through the right CHINFO desk, didn’t route through the proper channel, didn’t check the right box. Exactly. That’s how the filter works. It rewards institutional memory and punishes anyone without a full-time compliance officer to work the paperwork. Or the CNO’s top PAO will say, “I gave you my card months ago.” He did. The problem is that when you’re invited to the last conference, you assume you’ll be invited to the next one. Not a crazy assumption. Fine, I should have reached out. But what’s the incentive when last time I got one question with zero follow-up? Is it even worth going to official press events anymore? gCaptain doesn’t have two decades of Pentagon rolodex. We don’t have interns to navigate the form maze. We don’t have a NYTimes-scale legal team to sue the Department of War when the doors close on us. We have readers. The largest maritime audience in the world. Millions glued to our coverage of Hormuz. We’re too busy reporting the actual news. This isn’t the first time I’ve been frozen out. The difference is that in previous years there were open mics for Q&A. Anyone could walk up and ask one question. Now you get zero questions. Nada. Zip. Unless you know every backchannel and sub-organization inside the Pentagon that can schedule you in. Or you have a liberal federal judge willing to hear your case. This is the most transparent administration in my lifetime. I had a long conversation with the maritime director at the White House and the Merchant Marine Commandant, among others. I had plenty of conversations with O-6s and below throughout the conference. It’s just the Service Secretaries and senior Admirals and Generals who are working in the shadows. And the saddest part: the squeaky wheels get the grease. The reporters who live in DC. The ones who know how to jump through the hoops and make a scene. The system self-selects for “journalists” proven to be pedantic and irritable. This isn’t a complaint, it’s an observation. IFGAF about special access in smoke-filled rooms. I’d rather spend my time with a Lieutenant Commander just off a plane from Bahrain than any four star. I was one of the only journalists who praised Hegseth for closing down my office and banning all media, including newly selected independents like myself, from the Pentagon. If the CNO and SECNAV want to hold zero press events, that’s their prerogative. The problem is taxpayers are spending millions on PAO salaries and systems that overwhelmingly favor MSM. And the problem is this is all happening in DC. Great stories don’t live in DC. They live closer to the front lines. @PeteHegseth has gone out of his way to invite small pro-American media on his flights, trips, and press conferences. He has lead by example. Those under him have mostly not. Several high-level sources have told me Hegseth wants the new Pentagon press out at bases, in the field, and aboard ships. Not just reporting from DC. The sum total of trips aboard ships at sea I’ve received since getting my pass: zero. Every military college teaches commander’s intent. Hegseth’s intent is clearly to bring a mix of media along. The Senior Admirals and the Secretaries of the Army and Navy have made their intent clear too: avoid us. And because they refuse, it’s nearly impossible to report the extraordinary job our sailors, soldiers, and airmen are doing in the Middle East. This is a big part of why ridiculous threads from European journalists about Iran winning the war go viral, while the independent reporting coming off our Navy ships does not.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Shut down the PAO system and refund the cash or make the system fair. That’s all I ask.

The United States is holding up virtually all weapons deliveries purchased by EU countries. It is not like we’re completely defenseless here, but it’s obvious that if Russia attacks within the next year or two, we can’t rely not only on U.S. assistance – but even on weapons supplies. For Estonia, this is especially critical. news.err.ee/1610000377/est…