Longtime CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr blasted Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for curtailing press access in the Pentagon because his actions have embarrassed him many times over and show that he is more concerned with the media than his actual job.
Fox News' Howard Kurtz asked Starr about her recent letter to Hegseth.
KURTZ: You posted this about Pete Hegseth on your Substack, saying you feel tremendous sadness at the changes he's made. Explain.
STARR: I do. It's completely unnecessary. Reporters for decades have operated inside the Pentagon, moving through the hallways, and of course, they talk to sources.
Hegseth is worried that it is unauthorized information. That's conversation.
That's reporting.
KURTZ: But the suggestion here is that your reporters, of which you were one for decades, are looking to vacuum up secret or classified documents by walking in those halls.
STARR: Impossible to do. Reporters have no access to classified areas. Those are locked. I'm not aware of any instance in which a reporter has accessed classified information in the Pentagon by moving through the hallways and going into classified areas.
Hegseth is embarrassed. He's embarrassed by certain events. He's embarrassed by so much exposure to the information classified by all accounts that he posted on Signal Gate about that air attack in Yemen. He's embarrassed that information came out that he was going to meet with Elon Musk and brief him on China.
You know, even today, as you and I sit here and talk, Ukrainians are bombing Russian strategic bombers deep inside Russia.
Could be a response by Putin.
Maybe the defense secretary wants to think, it's up to him, about spending more time thinking about these national security matters than the PR structure, if you will, of his press operation.
So far, Trump's Secretary of Defense has been a complete embarrassment, and the most important thing he cares about is his image.
The idea that he's protecting the Pentagon from reporters gaining access to sensitive information is a ruse. SO far, he's been the most prominent leaker of classified information from the Pentagon.
