Some friendly, some on-the-news questions at first briefing for new Pentagon press corps

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The new journalism guard is officially in at the Pentagon. And the questions being asked of those running the world’s most powerful military range from softballs to pointed queries to performances.

On Tuesday, Defense Department press secretary Kingsley Wilson — focused on her talking points and jabbing at old-guard reporters along the way — held her first briefing since most nonpartisan news outlets were replaced by friendly media representatives willing to accept new rules imposed by department chief Pete Hegseth.

Even before the new rules were in place, Hegseth’s Pentagon struggled to hold televised briefings. Wilson’s boss, Pentagon top spokesman Sean Parnell, held only two, one in March and another in July. By contrast, Pentagon officials under the Biden administration typically held two public briefings per week by the end of their time in office.

Among the topics that interested the latest crop of reporters: the National Guard in American cities, military action in Iran and Somalia, an investigation into former President Joe Biden, potential legal action against The Washington Post and efforts to root out disloyal employees.

With Hegseth’s role in U.S. military strikes on boats carrying suspected drug couriers off South America under scrutiny, Wilson was asked what say Adm. Frank Bradley had in a second strike on one boat, which a report in the Post on Friday said killed two survivors from the initial attack.

“At the end of the day, the president and the (defense) secretary are the ones directing these strikes, and any follow-up strikes that were directed by Admiral Bradley, the secretary 100% agrees with,” she said.

She was asked whether the department was contemplating legal action against the newspaper, which reported that Hegseth issued a verbal order to “kill everybody” on the boat in the early September strike. That opened the door for her to attack the newspaper.

“The Washington Post readership,” she said, “should think twice about reading that outlet again.”

Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican credentialed to cover the Pentagon for One America News, asked about Pentagon plans for running Venezuela if President Donald Trump ousts the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, and whether the U.S. would consider anyone who worked for the Venezuelan government or military a narco-terrorist.

Wilson replied that “if anything happens, we have a response ready,” and said the future of Venezuelan government employees would be “a determination for the president to make.”

Gaetz “experienced being on the other side” in not getting his questions answered, said Barbara Starr, retired Pentagon correspondent for CNN, who viewed the briefing online.

“I actually thought several of the questions the audience asked were very good, pointed, on-the-news questions,” Starr said. “I don’t think they got good answers.”

All administrations look to emphasize their points of view in such briefings, the veteran correspondent said, but Trump’s team is especially intent on not making actual news. Starr said it was not a journalistically sound event because of the reporters that were excluded.

Wilson was asked why Americans were still fighting in Somalia (protecting Americans from terrorists, she said), whether the U.S. should reevaluate its relationship with Israel if the country had helped fund Hamas in the past (call the State Department, she suggested) and about reports that Iran was rebuilding its nuclear capabilities (she didn’t answer, except to praise Trump’s initial attack order ). She also didn’t address a question about any evidence of criminal activity found on boats that were attacked.

Some briefing attendees looked to help her advance the administration’s point of view. Conservative provocateur James O’Keefe, who has made a name for himself taping political opponents in unguarded moments, asked what steps were being taken to root out disloyal Pentagon employees.

“Thank you for the question,” Wilson said. “That’s why the work you all do is so important.”

When asked, she promised an administration report next summer on the Biden-ordered withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. She was about asked potential military honors or a burial in Arlington National Cemetery for a National Guard member killed in Washington last week.

Storm Paglia, a representative from the RedState and TownHall conservative blogs, expressed his happiness at being at the briefing. “Dawning of a new day with patriots reporting the truth,” Paglia wrote on X. “Not media liars.”

Before taking any questions, Wilson criticized media outlets that chose to “self-deport” from the Pentagon rather than accept Hegseth’s new rules for working there. Hegseth characterizes them as common sense rules designed to protect national security; most mainstream news outlets worried they limited their ability to report anything Hegseth didn’t want to see.

They’re continuing coverage off-site, and non-credentialed reporters weren’t allowed in for Tuesday’s briefing. The Pentagon made clear that attendance, and thus the chance to ask questions, was for “invited press only.”

“We’re not going to beg these gatekeepers to come back and we’re not going to rebuild a broken model just to appease them,” Wilson said. “The public has moved on from the old model, and so has the Pentagon.”

The new reporters are expected to meet with Hegseth in person on Wednesday.

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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social