Pete Hegseth, secretary of the Department of Defense and a 2025 Wash100 Award winner, has issued a memo requiring DOD staff to secure prior clearance with the office of the assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs for all interactions with Congress and state elected officials.
The Pentagon’s inspector general office is excluded from the directive issued last week and co-signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.
DOD communication with Congress covered by the memo includes congressional reporting, information requests, technical support and legislative correspondence.
DOD Legislative Agenda Cited as Directive’s Rationale
Achieving DOD’s legislative goals depends on a “collaborative and close partnership with Congress,” according to the memo. “This requires coordination and alignment of department messaging when engaging with Congress to ensure consistency and support for the department’s priorities to re-establish deterrence, rebuild our military and revive the warrior ethos,” the directive said.
Pentagon personnel’s unauthorized interactions with Congress may jeopardize DOD-wide priorities for legislation, the memo noted further.
The directive is “a pragmatic step to internally review the department’s processes for communicating with Congress,” Sean Parnell, Pentagon’s chief spokesman told CNN Wednesday.
“The department intends to improve accuracy and responsiveness in communicating with the Congress to facilitate increased transparency,” Parnell said. “This review is for processes internal to the department and does not change how or from whom Congress receives information.”
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