Tom Cotton calls on DOD to bar foreigners from access to Pentagon online systems

Published August 7, 2025 11:51am ET



Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to change current Pentagon policies so foreigners will no longer have access to its secure systems.

In a letter to Hegseth on Wednesday, Cotton said he believes this change “should be addressed immediately,” adding in a subsequent social media post that he introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that “permanently closes this loophole.”

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