The Senate is considering a hold on Pentagon nominees if Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new congressional communications memo is fully implemented. According to the memo obtained by NBC News, Department of Defense (DOD) personnel, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will now have to get approval from the legislative affairs office before communicating with Congress.
News of the policy did not sit well with senior senators, including Republicans who voted to confirm Hegseth as defense secretary.
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“We have Senate-confirmed nominees that I dare say [we] would be reluctant to confirm if our access to accurate information from the Department of Defense was inhibited in any way. I think Secretary Hegseth knows that,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in response to the memo.
Cornyn did not respond to Straight Arrow News’ question of whether he personally would be willing to put a hold on nominees.
Agencies and personnel within the DOD were previously able to speak with Congress freely. The new policy is effective immediately, and Hegseth wrote that it is designed to achieve the department’s legislative goals.
“Unauthorized engagements with Congress by [Department of War] personnel acting in their official capacity, no matter how well-intentioned, may undermine Department-wide priorities critical to achieving our legislative objectives,” the memo states.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, called it a “concealment policy” that has to end. Cornyn said he does not want to be Chicken Little and act as if the sky is falling, given the power Congress has.
“It’s a two-way street, and so I expect that to be worked out,” Cornyn said. “I think more communication is better so we can understand each other and we can conduct our proper oversight.”
Congress has direct oversight of the Defense Department and sets the Pentagon’s budget and policy each year through the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.
According to the political appointee tracker by the Partnership for Public Service, there are currently 25 nominees being considered by the Senate for senior positions at the Pentagon. That includes the comptroller/CFO, the chief information officer, multiple general counsel positions and assistant secretary positions.
The Senate Armed Services Committee considers about 50,000 civilian and military nominations every year for the Department of Defense and each military branch.
Blumenthal confirmed to Straight Arrow News that he would be willing to put a hold on those nominees.
“I think we need to exercise every tool and power that we can to make sure that there’s adequate disclosure and coverage of what’s happening in the United States Pentagon,” he told SAN. “Americans deserve to know how a trillion dollars of taxpayer money is spent by the Pentagon.”
The Pentagon is on track to have a $961 billion budget in 2026, the biggest in history. The Department of Defense is composed of 1.3 million active duty military members, 761,000 reserve members and 950,000 civilians.
“You’ve got to trust your chain of command. This is too large of an organization to have that kind of a tight clamp on it,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told reporters. “Particularly when we have members that want specific answers, not going through protocol.”
In addition to blocking nominations, Congress also has subpoena power. It can also try to reverse the new policy in the 2026 NDAA, which has yet to be approved. If included in the NDAA, it would no longer be a policy but a law.
