{"id":49905,"date":"2026-08-25T12:41:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T19:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=49905"},"modified":"2026-08-25T12:41:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T19:41:19","slug":"pentagon-spokesperson-admits-theres-a-secret-blacklist-of-journalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/08\/25\/pentagon-spokesperson-admits-theres-a-secret-blacklist-of-journalists\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon Spokesperson Admits There\u2019s a Secret Blacklist of Journalists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When pressed about the Iran war, a CENTCOM press official threatened to put an Intercept reporter on a \u201clist of people to disregard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nick Turse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

August 24 2026 (TheIntercept.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"This<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 6, 2017. Photo: Susan Walsh\/AP File<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Central Command<\/strong> maintains a secret directory of journalists who have been blacklisted by the press office, according to an official with CENTCOM public affairs. The disclosure comes amid a failed war in Iran<\/a>, a \u201ccover-up<\/a>\u201d of U.S. casualties<\/a> from that conflict, and repeated refusals by CENTCOM to address questions about civilian deaths in Iran, including the killing of a family recently disclosed by The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CENTCOM official who revealed the existence of the list threatened that this reporter could be added to it for calling the command too often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll be put on a list of people to disregard,\u201d Richard Allee, an executive assistant with CENTCOM public affairs told this reporter. When asked for clarification \u2014 \u201cYou have a list of people to disregard?\u201d \u2014 he confirmed it with an emphatic: \u201cYes.\u201d When asked which reporters or outlets were currently on the list, he replied: \u201cI\u2019m not privy to give you that information.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under self-styled War Secretary Pete Hegseth, the U.S. military has mounted the most aggressive assault on press freedom in memory, from an effort to outlaw \u201cunauthorized<\/a>\u201d questions from reporters to imposing unconstitutional restrictions<\/a> on journalists\u2019 access<\/a> to the Pentagon. Hegseth has compared reporters to \u201cPharisees,\u201d who in the Bible call Jesus\u2019s teachings into question, while the secretary\u2019s minions<\/a> regularly hurl insults<\/a> at reporters<\/a>. This is part of a broader war on press freedoms by the Trump administration, that includes demonizing journalists; filing so-called strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs, to intimidate and silence criticism through expensive legal proceedings; and employing grand jury subpoenas<\/a> and search warrants<\/a> to intimidate reporters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThreatening journalists with placement on a blacklist in retaliation for reporting the government doesn\u2019t like is as unconstitutional as it gets,\u201d said Seth Stern, the director of advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation. \u201cThis should put to rest the Pentagon\u2019s prior claims that it\u2019s anti-press policies \u2014 like its infamous requirement that reporters sign pledges to only print authorized information \u2014 are somehow content neutral.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump Has Appointed Himself Judge, Jury, and Executioner\u201d<\/a><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Allee revealed the existence of the blacklist after this reporter was left on hold for more than two hours and complained about a long-standing lack of transparency by the command. In calls earlier that morning, Maj. Emma Thompson, CENTCOM\u2019s media operations chief, repeatedly refused to answer questions about Iranian attacks on U.S. bases across the Middle East, disparate U.S. casualty counts, and medical evacuation flights: \u201cNothing for you,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t have anything for you,\u201d \u201cNo comment.\u201d Thompson then hung up on this reporter mid-question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Intercept called back multiple times until Allee picked up the phone. \u201cThey\u2019re not going to answer your call if you just keep calling and calling,\u201d he told this reporter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allee chastised this reporter to be more respectful. He said a \u201cless accusatory attitude towards the personnel here would go a lot further than badgering them when you don\u2019t get something you want, when you want it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allee then revealed the existence of the blacklist. He declined to provide additional details about the list but said, \u201cIt\u2019s not a list that we publicize.\u201d He also hung up on this reporter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The command\u2019s press office responded in an email to additional questions about the journalists who have run afoul of the command. \u201cCENTCOM does not have a \u2018blacklist,\u2019\u201d the agency wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that Hegseth\u2019s office had a standing order not to engage with this reporter and would deny it if challenged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNone of it has anything to do with security, all of it has everything to do with censorship and intimidation,\u201d Stern told The Intercept. \u201cCENTCOM needs to stop blacklisting journalists and tell the public who is on the blacklist and why they were placed there. Whoever was behind the blacklist should be blacklisted from government employment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cNone of it has anything to do with security, all of it has everything to do with censorship and intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Under Hegseth, the Pentagon has mounted an unrelenting assault on press freedom despite the fact that the secretary began his tenure by sharing secret information<\/a> on airstrikes in Yemen<\/a>, hours before the actual attacks occurred, on a Signal group chat<\/a> that inadvertently included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of his war on the press, Hegseth evicted<\/a> the New York Times, NPR, and other outlets from their long-held desks in the Pentagon and replaced them<\/a> with sycophantic fellow-travelers like the One America News Network, the New York Post, and Breitbart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May 2025, Hegseth issued a memo\u00a0barring credentialed reporters<\/a>\u00a0from most of the Pentagon without an escort. (Last month, a federal appeals court said that the Pentagon\u00a0can continue<\/a>\u00a0doing so.) The Pentagon later introduced a policy requiring journalists to\u00a0pledge<\/a>\u00a0not to even gather, at the risk of their credentials, unclassified information unless the government authorized its release. (This drove nearly the entire Pentagon press corps to\u00a0surrender their badges<\/a>.) After the\u00a0Times sued<\/a>\u00a0and a federal judge struck the policy down in March 2026 as\u00a0unconstitutional<\/a>, Hegseth shuttered a\u00a0decades-old Pentagon pressroom<\/a>\u00a0and began conducting\u00a0polygraph tests<\/a>\u00a0to prevent leaks.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kash Patel Is Using MAGA\u2019s Favorite Tool to Muzzle the Free Press<\/a><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For his part, Trump has long cast reporters as the \u201cENEMY OF THE PEOPLE<\/a>,\u201d a riff on a phrase employed by both Nazi Germany\u2019s Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels (to refer to Jews<\/a>) and Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin (in reference to dissenters<\/a>). The administration defied a court order and blocked The Associated Press from presidential events over its refusal<\/a> to use the Trumpian term \u201cGulf of America\u201d instead of Gulf of Mexico; moved to strip NPR and PBS of more than $1 billion<\/a> in federal funding; utilized Federal Communications Commission merger approvals and \u201cnews distortion\u201d investigations<\/a> against ABC, NBC, and CBS; subpoenaed<\/a> the phone records of multiple New York Times reporters and their relatives<\/a>; and launched an official media \u201chall of shame<\/a>\u201d to discredit disfavored outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump also filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit after the Wall Street Journal reported on a letter sent from him to convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein<\/a>; he also banned WSJ reporters from flying aboard Air Force One. This year, Trump also told journalists to give up a source<\/a> \u201cor go to jail,\u201d threatened<\/a> the press with \u201cCharges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information,\u201d and praised FCC chief<\/a> Brendan Carr for threatening \u201cthe licenses of some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic \u2018News\u2019 Organizations.\u201d (The Intercept is currently suing Trump for restricting First Amendment-protected information<\/a> in a scheme<\/a> to enrich himself.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Become a member<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Trump and Hegseth have waged a pitched campaign to dismantle the free press, they are merely building upon decades of efforts by the government to curtail accountability journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military commands have regularly led this reporter on with promises of information only to renege months later; ignored calls and emails; feigned<\/a> failing phone lines to end calls; hung up<\/a>, lost Freedom of Information Act requests; and once even burned documents<\/a> in lieu of releasing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reporter was blacklisted in 2018<\/a> by U.S. Africa Command after exposing the torture of prisoners<\/a> at a remote military base in Cameroon for The Intercept. \u201cNick, we\u2019re not going to respond to any of your questions\u201d then-Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Falvo, the head of U.S. Africa Command\u2019s Public Affairs Branch, told me by phone. Asked if he believed AFRICOM didn\u2019t need to address questions from the press in general, or just this reporter in particular, Falvo replied: \u201cNo, just you. We don\u2019t consider you a legitimate journalist, really.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The anonymous U.S. official said that sentiment extends to this day across multiple commands, as well as Hegseth\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reporter has unanswered questions pending with CENTCOM that date back to at least 2013 and extend to this week. For example, in July 2015, a CENTCOM spokesperson responded to an inquiry with this statement: \u201cWe will provide you response as quickly as possible.\u201d Eleven years later, this reporter is still waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IT\u2019S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we\u2019re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not hyperbole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet far too many are still covering Trump\u2019s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as \u201cunconventional,\u201d \u201ctesting the boundaries,\u201d and \u201caggressively flexing power.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Donate<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact the author:<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nick Turse<\/a>nick.turse@theintercept.com<\/a>@nickturse<\/a>on X<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When pressed about the Iran war, a CENTCOM press official threatened to put an Intercept reporter on a \u201clist of people to disregard.\u201d Nick Turse August 24 2026 (TheIntercept.com) The U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 6, 2017. Photo: Susan Walsh\/AP File U.S. Central… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2184],"tags":[2434,660],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49905"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49906,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49905\/revisions\/49906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}