A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
To understand how much is changing at the Pentagon, we turn next to Sabrina Singh. She's a former deputy press secretary at the Defense Department during the Biden administration. So, Sabrina, what do you think the Pentagon is trying to achieve with a press corps made up of largely partisan news outlets, or in the case of Tim Pool, an influencer and a podcaster?
SABRINA SINGH: Well, like you said, this Pentagon press corps is no longer what it was. It's very different. It looks very different. And it is essentially sympathetic right-wing press that I think the secretary, Secretary Pete Hegseth, it's going to give him the positive coverage that he is seeking right now. Since, you know, Signalgate, I think he has come under just even more immense scrutiny. And so by trying to clamp down on the press and basically force them to sign a pledge that says that they will only report on statements that are preapproved by the department, he's trying to create a narrative for himself for the department that's just - it's not going to work.
MARTÍNEZ: These new press corps members, would they have been able to get Pentagon credentials under any other past administration, Democrat or Republican?
SINGH: So to obtain a Pentagon press credential, you just have to prove that you're from a media outlet and that you will uphold the building rules, which is something that all the Pentagon press, before they were asked to leave the building, had to do, which was you have to wear a badge when you're in the building. You have to abide by the building rules, which means you cannot just walk into any classified space, despite the fact that what this administration is saying. And of course, you know, there were just general security protocols that you have to maintain and follow while in a building like that. Like, obviously, you cannot just walk into the secretary's office or the chairman's office.
MARTÍNEZ: So just because someone's an influencer or a podcaster, that doesn't necessarily mean that they wouldn't have been able to get access before.
SINGH: That's right. A podcaster, an influencer, if you're from a media outlet - and we did have, you know, center right, more right-wing outlets in the press room. You know, other outlets could get a credential. All you have to do is show that you're from a working media outlet. There's some other parameters that you have to show. And then, of course, you have to just abide by the building rules, you know, wearing a badge and et cetera.
MARTÍNEZ: Sabrina, what about the argument that of all of the government's secrets, the secrets at the Defense Department need to stay secrets no matter what? This is serious life and death stuff we're talking about here. What about that argument?
SINGH: Well, I mean, there's no denying that, that this is serious life and death material. And of course, you know, you never want to see classified material leak out into the press. And I certainly, when I was there, had my issues when I learned that a reporter had details, very sensitive details about an operation or about our men and women in uniform. But there still has to be accountability and transparency. And there is a line that has to be walked.
And so, you know, when I was there, you would be able to work with reporters because you had a relationship of, you know, being able to say, hey, you know, those types of details are going to put an operation at risk. Or how can we work together on this story to, you know, hold some of these details back until our operation has concluded and then you can report them? No one wants to see classified material leak into the press. And that's something that we wrestled with in the Biden administration. But at no point during my tenure there did I ever think, if a story got out or if I didn't like a way a story was reported, that we would all of a sudden kick reporters out of the building.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
SINGH: That was never going to be a bar that would be met.
MARTÍNEZ: Do you see any potential disadvantages, from the administration's perspective, of having a press corps that largely is in agreement with the White House?
SINGH: Oh, absolutely. I mean, if you just have a press corps that's not asking the right questions and just going to be in agreement with the White House, the American public is going to be the one that suffers. I mean, right now, you have more troops stationed off the coast of Venezuela than you do in Syria and Iraq combined. And we have no answers from this administration on these boat strikes, on who they're targeting.
And if you just have a press corps there that's going to just take and report on an X post from Pete Hegseth on the lethality of the strike, but with no details of who was actually targeted, that's a disservice to the American public. And that's a disservice also to our men and women in uniform, who look to the press to also get their news and coverage and to understand what the building is doing. So it's really going to be the public that suffers with this decision.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Sabrina Singh, former Pentagon deputy spokesperson during the Biden administration. Thank you very much.
SINGH: Thank you.
MARTÍNEZ: And just a note, NPR invited a Pentagon official to discuss the department's new press corps and rules. They declined. The invitation, though, remains open. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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