I looked for voices that were making substantial contributions to honest debate while eschewing as much as possible, inflammatory, ad hominem attacks. The list of news headlines in the “Rundown” each day included top national security stories from the Washington Examiner, plus a selection of worthy stories from other — even rival — publications to ensure you weren’t missing anything important. I tried to make the “Calendar” a comprehensive list of events around town and the world, including links to livestreams.

As I pass the torch to my successors, I have many people to thank, but to avoid this becoming a parody of those awards night thank you speeches that have to be played off the stage by the orchestra, I will single out just one person in particular. Hugo Gurdon is the Washington Examiner’s editorial director and former editor in chief — my big boss. He hired me in April of 2016, even though my last two jobs were at Al Jazeera America and NPR. Hugo made clear to me that while the Washington Examiner’s editorial stance was what he called “center right” he expected my reporting to be straight down the middle. 

For the past ten years, I have enjoyed complete editorial freedom. No one ever told me what to write or what not to write. Virtually every article I wrote for the weekly Washington Examiner magazine was a story I selected because I felt I had something worthwhile to say about it. Nothing I wrote was ever edited out, and nothing I didn’t write was ever inserted. For a journalist, that is more than anyone can expect. For that, and a decade of gainful employment, I say, “Thank you, Hugo!”

But wait, there’s more. I have a story for you…

TRUMP REPORTS NBC’S KRISTEN WELKER TO FCC FOR ‘REBUKE AND PUNISHMENT’

Good Monday morning and welcome to the final edition of Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited for one last time by Christopher Tremoglie. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. 

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP OR READ BACK ISSUES OF DAILY ON DEFENSE

HOW I GOT SO DAMN SMART: Today’s Pentagon — under the combative leadership of Pete Hegseth — is nothing like the Pentagon that for seven decades was a model of how the military and the media could function as respectful adversaries with the common goal of getting the best possible version of the truth to the American public, warts and all. 

To set the stage of the “before times” — here’s a personal story from my earliest days at the Pentagon:

It was December of 1992. Bill Clinton had just been elected president. George H.W. Bush was a lame duck. CNN had assigned me to the Pentagon beat despite my youth and lack of military experience. My bureau chief, though, was impressed enough with my reporting skills to have faith that I would just figure it out. My bosses in Atlanta were not nearly so confident. CNN — which in the 1980s had been mocked by the big networks as “Chicken Noodle News” — had just made a name for itself with its coverage of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and I was expected to maintain the network’s newly earned prestige. I was competing against some of the finest TV beat reporters of the day, including the legendary David Martin of CBS, NBC’s Fred Francis, and ABC’s Bob Zelnick.

I foolishly thought the interregnum between administrations would give me some breathing room to learn how the Pentagon worked. However, before I could even find the fabled purple water fountain in the Pentagon’s 17-and-a-half miles of corridors, President Bush ordered U.S. troops into Somalia on a humanitarian mission to stave off mass starvation dubbed “Operation Restore Hope.”

CNN was the only 24/7 news channel back then, so on the night of Dec. 5, I found myself alone in the Pentagon briefing room — with a massive National Geographic map as a backdrop — watching a tiny monitor of CNN’s live feed from Mogadishu as Navy SEALs and U.S. Marines came ashore to take control of the country and begin feeding the famished. 

Despite being a neophyte, I had a good handle on the policy behind the intervention, but I was woefully ignorant of military hardware and nomenclature. A wily admiral in Navy public affairs saw me on TV, recognized my predicament, and, knowing he could earn some points with the new CNN guy, dispatched a rescue party of one man, a young Lt. Cmdr. Joe Gradisher. Joe arrived in the briefing room and stood by my side just off camera. He was just there, he explained, in case I had any questions. And boy did I have questions.

“Joe, what is this hovercraft coming ashore?” I said, looking at the grainy image on the monitor. “That’s an LCAC, “Joe replied. 

“What is an LCAC?” I asked.

“Well,” Joe said, “It stands for Landing Craft Air Cushioned.” 

“And what would be on it?” I asked.

“It carries Marines and light-armored vehicles, that kind of thing,” he replied.

A minute or so later, I heard CNN anchor Bernie Shaw in my earpiece say, “Let’s go to our man at the Pentagon, Jamie McIntyre. Jamie, what can you tell us?”

“Well, Bernie,” I said in my most authoritative broadcast voice, “That hovercraft coming ashore is what’s known as an LCAC. That stands for Landing Craft Air Cushioned, and it would be carrying U.S. Marines and their equipment, you know, light-armored vehicles and that kind of thing.”

As the coverage switched back to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in Mogadishu, I looked at the monitor again. “Joe,” I said, “What’s that ship out there on the horizon?”

“That’s the USS Mt. Whitney, a command-and-control ship,” he replied.

“What does it do?” I asked.

“It coordinates the movement of ships and planes in the battlespace,” said Joe.

Next thing I knew, Bernie was throwing it back to me for an update from the Pentagon.

“Bernie, I don’t know if you can see this,” I said, “but if you look out at the horizon, you can see a U.S. warship. That’s the USS Mt. Whitney, a command-and-control ship that’s coordinating the movement of ships and planes as the troops come ashore.”

And so it went all night. Lt. Cmdr. Gradisher was a font of just-in-time knowledge that not only made me look smart, but ensured my reporting would be as accurate as possible. After a long night at the Pentagon, I arrived home and asked my wife if she had watched me on TV.

“I did,” she said. “How did you know all that stuff?”

“Honey,” I said,  “It’s my job to know all that stuff.”

FROM FRENEMIES TO ENEMIES: It took me a good two years of shoe-leather reporting to begin to get a handle on covering the Pentagon and the U.S. military. I walked the halls of the building every day, and in the 16 years I worked for CNN, I reported from more than 60 countries while logging over 500,000 miles of travel on government aircraft. I was not a war correspondent. I reported from war zones mostly after the shooting stopped, and from what I thought was the safety of the thick concrete walls of the Pentagon — that is, until the Sept. 11 attacks shattered that illusion. 

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE 9/11 ATTACKS STILL IN QUESTION

Over the years, I broke many stories, thanks in large measure to my producer, Chris Plante, who went on to become a wildly popular syndicated talk show host on WMAL radio. None of our scoops were ever disputed or retracted. 

In the more than 30 years I spent on the beat, I found the public affairs officers — civilian and military — almost always helpful and truthful, even when the news was bad. “Bad news doesn’t get better with age,” was their motto. 

The Pentagon’s own Principles of Information issued under the Donald Rumsfeld era in 2000 called for the department to make “timely and accurate information” available to “the public, the Congress, and the news media.” It stipulated that “Information will not be classified or otherwise withheld to protect the Government from criticism or embarrassment.” The current regime pays only lip service to that pledge.

When Hesgeth arrived at the Pentagon last year, he immediately embarked on a scorched-earth campaign to drive veteran reporters out of the building by making their jobs impossible and threatening punishment for unauthorized reporting, all while demonizing the so-called “legacy media” as deranged Trump-haters who were rooting against the U.S. 

Hegseth dismisses any critical reporting, whether about the current munitions shortage, damage to U.S. bases in the Iran war, or conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, as “fake news.” A  group of sycophantic social media influencers who replaced reporters with years of experience didn’t last even a few months.

Meanwhile, the real reporters kept doing their jobs, even without access or cooperation from the Pentagon. Case in point, Sunday’s deeply sourced Washington Post article that reveals leaders of the U.S. European Command, the U.S. Pacific Command, and the U.S. Southern Command, along with the Navy’s top admiral, have warned Hegseth that “prolonging large-scale operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere.”

The report by Alex Horton and Tara Copp, with help from Dan Lamothe, Noah Robertson, and John Hudson, cites the classified Secretary of Defense Orders Book, which “outlines the worldwide availability of U.S. warships, aircraft, personnel and weapons systems,” and shows the Pentagon has not been forthcoming on the challenges of the Iran war, now entering its seventh month.

Hegseth’s go-to response to any criticism of him or his policies is to deny, deflect, counterattack, and sometimes deceive. In the case of the Washington Post report, Hegseth’s spokesman Sean Parnell made the dubious legal claim that “publishing highly classified assessments from the Secretary’s orders book is a crime.” Leaking classified information may be a crime, but as the Supreme Court ruled in the 1971 Pentagon Papers case, publishing the information is protected by the First Amendment. 

“The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people,” Justice Hugo Black wrote in his concuring opinion. “Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.”

NEVER GIVE AN INCH: Hegseth’s always pugnacious demeanor is in stark contrast to the approach taken by any previous defense secretary, including Rumsfeld, who was known to enjoy sparring with the press, as you can see in this video from 2003. I once asked Rumsfeld, shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks, if there would be any circumstances “in which anyone in the Department of Defense will be authorized to lie to the news media in order to increase the chances of success?”

His response was classic Rumsfeld. “The answer to your question is, no, I cannot imagine a situation. I don’t recall that I’ve ever lied to the press, I don’t intend to, and it seems to me that there will not be reason for it. There are dozens of ways to avoid having to put yourself in a position where you’re lying. And I don’t do it.”

All of the previous defense secretaries I covered over the decades — from Dick Cheney to Ash Carter — had a healthy respect for the role of the fourth estate, and Robert Gates, who served both Bush and Obama, delivered that message at the Naval Academy’s 2007 commencement ceremony.

“I want to encourage you always to remember the importance of two pillars of our freedom under the Constitution: the Congress and the press. Both surely try our patience from time to time, but they are the surest guarantees of the liberty of the American people,” Gates said. “As officers, you will have the responsibility to communicate to those below you that the American military must be nonpolitical and recognize the obligation we owe the Congress to be honest and true in our reporting to them, especially when it involves admitting mistakes.”

“The same is true with the press, in my view, a critically important guarantor of our freedom. When it identifies a problem, as at Walter Reed, the response of senior leaders should be to find out if the allegations are true, as they were at Walter Reed, and if so, say so, and then act to remedy the problem,” Gates continued. “If untrue, then be able to document that fact. The press is not the enemy, and to treat it as such is self-defeating.”

“As the founding fathers wisely understood, the Congress and a free press, as with a nonpolitical military, assure a free country,” Gates said.

BYE BYE TO A BYGONE ERA: So, as I slip gently into my retirement from national security reporting, I cannot help but think I was blessed to cover the military during what now looks like the golden age of Pentagon reporting. To my fellow journalists who are still fighting the good fight, I leave these words, with apologies to the ghost of John McCrae.

“Take up our quarrel with the foe. To you from failing hands we throw the torch. Be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who retire, we shall not rest.”

DID THE 9/11 ATTACKS USHER IN THE POST-TRUTH AGE?

THE RUNDOWN: 

Washington Examiner: The truth about the 9/11 attacks still in question (from 2019)

Washington Examiner: After 50 years in journalism, a reporter reflects on the limits of facts, logic, and reason

Washington Examiner: ‘All the fight we cannot see’ — Trump administration views reporting on reality of Iran war as treason 

Washington Examiner: Trump and Putin are learning parallel lessons about the realities of modern warfare

Washington Examiner: With Ukraine and Russia deadlocked, Trump may finally have a real shot at ending the fighting

Washington Examiner: Think Trump is over Greenland? Think again

Washington Examiner: Russia is learning Crimea doesn’t pay

Washington Examiner: In the post-9/11 era, has the Office of the Director of National Intelligence lost its relevance?

Washington Examiner: Ballroom, bunker, or boondoggle? What exactly is Trump building on the White House grounds?

Washington Examiner: Why it’s so hard to nail down a real nuclear agreement with Iran

Washington Examiner: US strikes Iran for first time in over a month

Washington Examiner: Iran targets US military bases in Jordan following Larak Island strikes

Washington Examiner: US military uses high-energy laser to intercept three drones at southern border

Washington Examiner: Navy attack submarine maintenance has been done on time just 11% in last decade: GAO

AP: Investors prosper and consumers pay as the Iran war exacts an uneven economic toll 6 months in

Washington Post: Military leaders warn Hegseth against extending Iran war operations

Wall Street Journal: America’s Systemic Munitions Shortfall

Washington Post: Pentagon secretly installs military influencers in civilian roles

NBC News: Pete Hegseth is talking about a possible run for president in 2028, sources say

The Daily Beast: Pentagon Pete’s Third Wife Plots His Dramatic New Power Grab

The Economist: Ukrainian military balloons may spoil Russia’s party

Air & Space Forces Magazine: F-35 Price Rising due to New Upgrades, Inflation, More

Defense One: A Pacific Conflict May Not Look Like Conventional War, SOCPAC Commander Says

Air & Space Forces Magazine: Wilsbach Meets with Top Israeli Military Leaders in Middle East Visit

Breaking Defense: With AI Hackers in Mind, Air Forces Cyber Develops Defensive ‘Campaign Plan’

Air & Space Forces Magazine: New Report: Space Force Spent $124M on Commercial Data, Services over Nearly 3 Years

The War Zone: US Expanding B-52 Bomber Capacity at Moron Air Base in Spain

The Aviationist: Gripen F Flies for the First Time

THE CALENDAR: 

MONDAY | AUGUST 31

1 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW — Center for Strategic International Studies “Strategic Landpower Dialogue, A Conversation with General Eirik Kristoffersen, Norwegian Chief of Defense,” with retired Lt. Gen. Leslie C. Smith, vice president for leadership and education, AUSA; and Tom Karako, director, Missile Defense Project and senior fellow, Defense and Security Department, CSIS https://www.csis.org/events/strategic-landpower-dialogue

12 p.m. Flight 93 National Memorial, Stoystown, Pa. — House Intelligence Committee members hold a discussion with families of the Flight 93 heroes and first responders, to be immediately followed by an official business meeting to vote on the Committee’s final report and release it to the public,” with House Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford (R-AR); House Intelligence ranking member Jim Himes (D-CT); Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY); and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) https://www.youtube.com/live/d_o90DxcQ8M

4:30 p.m. 1521 16th St. NW — Institute of World Politics lecture: “Reading for Leading in Politics and War,” focusing on “the self-education” of Winston Churchill, with Christopher Harmon, IWP professor RSVP [email protected]

TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 1

9 a.m. Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “The Implications of the Hormuz Energy Crisis in China,” with Kevin Tu, chief adviser for China at Agora Energiewende; Kaho Yu, head of energy and resources research at Verisk Maplecroft; Jane Nakano, senior fellow at the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program; and Alessandra Ravelo, manager of the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program https://www.csis.org/events/implications-hormuz-energy-crisis-china

10 a.m. 2172 Rayburn — House Foreign Affairs Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee hearing: “Countering Houthi Terrorism: Protecting U.S. Interests and Security in the Red Sea,” with testimony from Nadwa Al-Dawsari, associate fellow at the Middle East Institute; and Allison Minor, director of the Atlantic Council’s Project for Middle East Integration http://foreignaffairs.house.gov

11 a.m. Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the Arab Center virtual discussion: “A Post-U.S. Regional Order? The Shifting Security Architecture in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Amid the Iran War,” with Yasmine Farouk, International Crisis Group Arabian Peninsula project director; Waleed Hazbun, professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Alabama; Tamara Kharroub, Arab Center deputy executive director; and Trita Parsi, Quincy Institute co-founder and executive vice president https://quincyinst.org/events/a-post-us-regional-order

12 p.m. Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies virtual discussion: “Service Members and the First Amendment,” with Antony Kolenc, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law at the Maria School of Law; Christopher Motz, senior counsel of First Liberty Institute; Iain Pedden, chief defense counsel of the U.S. Marine Corps; and Thomas Wheatley, special counsel of the Defense Department’s Office of the Secretary of Defense https://fedsoc.org/events/service-members-the-first-amendment

12 p.m. George Mason University — American Constitution Society for Law and Policy discussion: “What does Trump v. Slaughter mean for the future of executive power?” with Lael Weinberger, assistant professor of law at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School [email protected]

WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 2

10 a.m. 390 Cannon — House Ways and Means Committee hearing: “Strategic Partnerships to Secure Critical Resources and Supply Chains.” http://waysandmeans.house.gov

FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 4 

12 p.m. 2325 Rayburn — American Security Project discussion: “Targeted and Precise: AI Export Controls and U.S. National Security,” with David Lin, senior adviser at the Special Competitive Studies Project; Paul Triolo, partner at the DGA Group; Alasdair Phillips-Robins, technology and international affairs fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Courtney Manning, director of ASP’s AI Imperative 2030 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ai-export-controls-impacts

4 p.m. Santa Clarita, Calif. — House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee field hearing: “Industrial Base and Workforce Development for Skilled Trades,” with testimony from Assistant Defense Secretary Industrial Base Policy Michael Cadenzzi; Eric Chewning, executive vice president for maritime systems and corporate strategy at Huntington Ingalls Industries; and Michael Reed, president of the Pennsylvania College of Technology https://www.youtube.com/user/houseappropsgop

FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 11

9:30 a.m. National Press Club — Arms Control Association briefing: “Mitigating the Risks of AI in Nuclear Operations.” with retired Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan; Herb Lin, senior research scholar and Hank J. Holland fellow in cyber policy and security at the Hoover Institution and Stanford University; Matthew Sharp, a senior nuclear fellow, Center for Nuclear Security Policy at MIT and former acting deputy assistant secretary of state for nuclear affairs; and Erin Dumbacher, Stanton nuclear security senior fellow and director, Defense and National Security program, Council on Foreign Relations https://secure.everyaction.com/

THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 17

9:30 a.m. SVC-217, U.S. Capitol — Senate Armed Services Committee CLOSED briefing on the implementation of the National Defense Strategy and its impact on global defense posture. http://www.armed-services.senate.gov