THE PENTAGON gave undisclosed government assignments to several conservative military veterans who used large social media platforms to promote Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s agenda and target critics of the Trump administration, The Washington Post reported.
Rob Maness, a retired Air Force colonel, and Kurt Schlichter, a retired Army colonel, had active government email addresses assigned to the office of Anthony Tata, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, according to Pentagon records reviewed by the Post. Their addresses carried a “.civ” suffix identifying them as civilian employees.
Thomas Anderson, another retired Army colonel, appeared in Pentagon records earlier this year with a civilian email address and an assignment to Tata’s office. Anderson, an attorney who writes under the name Cynical Publius, was no longer listed late last week.
The three men command a combined audience of more than 1 million followers on X. Their government status remained absent from public commentary promoting Hegseth’s positions on Pentagon personnel, military education and other policy matters. The department has not said what responsibilities they received, when their assignments began or whether taxpayers funded their work.
Pentagon spokesman Joel Valdez declined to answer the Post’s questions about their duties, compensation and expected length of service. Tata did not respond. Maness and Schlichter did not respond to requests for comment. Anderson declined to comment by phone.
The men served as special government employees or highly qualified experts, according to people familiar with the assignments. Schlichter carried an “HQE” designation in a government database reviewed by the Post.
Federal law limits special government employees to 130 working days during any consecutive 365-day period and permits compensated or uncompensated service. Pentagon employment rules for experts and consultants allow full-time, part-time or intermittent appointments, with compensation decided individually. The financial arrangements involving Maness, Schlichter and Anderson remain unknown.
Their work included a visit to the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in May on behalf of the Pentagon’s Senior Service College Task Force. Hegseth established the task force in March to examine military colleges for ideology he characterized as “toxic” or “woke” and concentrate their curricula on developing warfighters.
Maness, Schlichter and Anderson met with students and faculty members over several days, according to two people familiar with the visit. They asked participants to assess Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Some students questioned how candidly they could respond and whether unfavorable answers could bring consequences. Task force members also raised concerns about a course covering communication between military officers and Congress.
The task force has completed its research and prepared a report that has not been released, according to one person familiar with the visit.
Maness continued publishing commentary on issues within Hegseth’s portfolio. In a July 30 column for the right-wing Daily Caller, he urged the administration to remove “disloyal” Pentagon employees and condemned “careerists who treat the Pentagon as their permanent fiefdom.” The author biography identified him as a retired Air Force colonel and omitted a current Pentagon role.
Maness later wrote in an Aug. 26 article that “Secretary Hegseth’s outrage is justified” over the Army’s retreat from tougher academic requirements for Reserve Officers’ Training Corps students. His government assignment was not disclosed.
A July letter defending Hegseth’s military-education policies described Maness as a retired officer. A Post spokesperson said Maness had not disclosed a Pentagon connection before publication.
Schlichter continued writing and posting about politics and military affairs without identifying a Pentagon role. Anderson defended Hegseth’s military overhaul and wrote in an April commentary for The Federalist that there is “a cancer in America’s military ranks, and it must be expunged before it’s too late.”
Scrutiny of the Pentagon’s influencer relationships intensified after the department and conservative commentator Jennica Pounds disclosed that she had become a special government employee in July. Pounds, known online as DataRepublican, had held a journalist credential in Hegseth’s revamped Pentagon press corps through June after receiving the pass in April.
Former Republican congressman and Air Force veteran Adam Kinzinger said on X that the Pentagon appeared to be using taxpayer money “to hire influencers on X to put out partisan talking points.”
The Pentagon has disclosed some outside appointments. In May, the department publicly named journalist Jerry Dunleavy to a panel reviewing the 2021 U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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The military, which is supposed to be the opposite, is being so politicized.
It is probably going to take a long time to get it back to where it was. Thanks Donny for a great report.
Every single one of these men are traitors to our democracy.