The Washington Post has published an article accusing Rob Maness, Kurt Schlichter, and Thomas Anderson (aka Cynical Publius) of having been hired to propagandize for the Department of War and, in particular, War Secretary Pete Hegseth. And the story has been picked up by many other outlets, including a Canadian influencer and former radio "shock-jock" named Dean Blundell who published a piece entitled "The Pentagon Is Collapsing, So Hegseth Hired Influencers To Tell You It Isn’t."
I would never have come across Blundell's piece, except it found its way to Western Rifle Shooters Association. Blundell's piece is actually less about Maness, Schlichter, and Anderson, and more about some of the Pentagon old guard leaving or being shown the door, and, more generally, reducing the number of flag officers and generals. Since it has been long argued (correctly in my opinion) that the military has too many senior officers overseeing a bloated bureaucracy, I don't see this as ipso facto proof that the Pentagon leadership is collapsing.
But going back to the original accusation from the Washington Post, Kurt Schlichter has published a rebuttal: "The Washington Post Embarrasses Itself Trying to Embarrass Me." He explains:
Last spring, a senior Pentagon official — not from public affairs, which had zero to do with this project — reached out to me, Tom Anderson (aka @CynicalPublius), and Rob Maness (@RobManess) about undertaking a review and making recommendations about the military’s war colleges, which senior military leaders attend as colonels and Navy commanders and captains. These programs (there are about 10 of them, of various sizes and forms) have had their problems, including but not limited to the same creeping wokeness that had affected the entire military until President Trump essentially banned it. But DEI was not the focus of the project, as the WaPo implies; the focus was how to ensure these institutions are preparing future generals and admirals for the challenges of war in the 21st century. The poison of DEI was a component of the inquiry, but just one part of a complex issue.
We would come on board as temporary special government employees, since we needed that status to use government information systems, access information, and perform our duties. None of our duties involved tweeting or messaging; again, the claim we were paid to publicly message is a lie. We would visit the campuses, interview people, review course materials, and prepare a report with recommendations. We began by reviewing reams of written materials. We eventually made several visits to the Pentagon and to various schools, plus had some video interactions. We each talked to hundreds of people. We conducted detailed interviews with large and small groups, including commandants, students, civilian and military faculty, administrators, and civilian and military leaders in the field. ...
[snip]
We eventually produced a report of about 17,500 words. It is up to the Secretary of War to release it or throw it in the trash as he sees fit. I will say we are proud of it and that we made recommendations we think will help train the best possible senior officers to face the challenges of the future. Every moment we worked, we were focused on one thing — making sure our young troops got the quality leaders they deserve. I know that motive is not as juicy for the regime media and their lefty friends as some fantasy influencing scheme, but it’s the truth.
So why pick us? Why would three right-wing internet guys get picked for this job? Well, because we have a very special set of skills. All three of us are retired O-6 colonels, graduates of one or more of the war colleges, and we all have extensive tactical and command experience. Tom Anderson was an Army logistics officer with multiple deployments. Rob Maness was a B-1 weapons officer who was in the Pentagon on 9/11. I was a chemical and an infantry officer, serving both on active duty and — importantly — in the reserves, which make up about half of America’s military forces and are often overlooked in projects like this one. ...
All three, he points out, also have had extremely successful careers in the public sector that would assist in their assessments.
This reminds me of an incident from my college days. I had a friend who was a journalism major and wrote for our university's newspaper. One day he excitedly told me that he had learned that the Army was conducting a "secret" research project at the university and he was going to blow the lid off the program. He seemed to think that it was going to be another Pentagon Papers or similar. It turned out that it was a small research project assessing better methods to teach people how to type. Oh, and it was not secret. I got a good laugh out of that one.
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