Hundreds of Defense Department employees are under investigation for comments they made online that are critical of slain conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, The Washington Post found. The inquiry is the latest of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s changes in the agency’s operation that have faced criticism.
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The Post reported the Pentagon’s investigation is continuing as nearly 300 employees — contractors, service members and civilian workers — faced disciplinary action over social media posts that criticized Kirk, an often-polarizing figure who was shot to death Sept. 10. The investigations were a directive from Hegseth, who in September ordered his staff to actively search for posts that appeared to either mock or condone Kirk’s killing, defense officials told NBC News.
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The Department of Defense is the nation’s largest employer, with 2.9 million people on active military duty, serving in the National Guard and Reserves and employed in civilian positions.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told The Post that “those in our ranks who rejoice at an act of domestic terrorism are unfit to serve the American people.”
Parnell later defended Hegseth for laughing about a 2022 hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of then-Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. That incident, Parnell said, “is not the same” as Kirk’s assassination.
“An American was assassinated,” Parnell told The Post. “We will not tolerate military or civilian personnel who celebrate or mock the assassination of a fellow American.”
Kirk, 31, who founded Turning Point USA in 2012, was a close ally of President Donald Trump, getting credit for helping Trump win the 2024 presidential election by organizing young supporters.
The Trump administration moved in the days following Kirk’s death to end partnerships with groups that labeled Turning Point as extremist, threaten to remove television hosts, warn about criminal charges for job refusals and label the antifascist movement (or antifa) a terrorist organization.
Defense employees investigated
The Defense Department is the nation’s largest employer, with about 1.3 million military personnel, nearly 800,000 members of the National Guard and Reserves and about 811,000 civilian workers, according to the agency’s 2024 financial report.
Documents obtained by The Post revealed that as of Sept. 30, 128 service members have been investigated. Most of those cases are still under review. Twenty-six have been reprimanded, which could harm chances for promotions or assignments. Three members received nonjudicial punishment, which is reserved for when corrective action is deemed inadequate due to the nature of the offense, according to the Joint Service Committee on Military Justice. Three people are in the process of exiting the military, the paper reported.
Among the non-military workforce, 158 employees have been investigated as of Sept. 30, with two being removed from their jobs. The Post said documents were obtained following a request from the House Armed Services Committee, which Republicans currently lead. Committee leaders have not commented on the findings, according to the committee’s website.
The Post noted that military personnel could be prosecuted for violating certain articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. One article — Article 88 — pertained to “contemptuous words” against their military or civilian leaders, or against elected officials. Other violations could fall under Article 133 for “unbecoming conduct” or Article 134 for conduct prejudicial to good order.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., a ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a press release he’s concerned by reports of service members being targeted online for their political views. He said the harassment included instances of sharing personal information, which he accused other Defense employees of doing.
He added that further actions that Hegseth ordered could violate employees’ First Amendment rights.
“Even more troubling, recent reports suggest DoD is punishing individuals for views expressed in a personal capacity,” Smith said. “Disciplinary or administrative actions based solely on constitutionally protected speech are unacceptable.”
He said Hegseth’s aim of going after employees whose political views contradict his own sends a message that “lawful dissent will be punished, and harassment will be tolerated — even encouraged.”
Hegseth’s vision of the Defense Department
Hegseth took reins of the Defense Department in January. Nearly two months later, he landed in hot water after adding a journalist into a group chat on secure messaging platform Signal.
The group chat, nicknamed “Houthi PC small group,” included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, then-National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and The Atlantic’s top editor, Jeffrey Goldberg. Goldberg revealed the messages in The Atlantic weeks after the attack after initially doubting the authenticity of the message before he aligned them with the actual strikes. Hegseth later messaged the group with the exact strike plans.
Hegseth has fired people for serving in military-assigned roles, stripped a gay rights icon from a Naval ship, continued his use of Signal for official business and ordered “fat troops” out of the military in a televised meeting with active-duty generals and admirals in Quantico, Virginia.
“Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations or really any formation and see fat troops,” Hegseth said.
His most recent change sparked swift reaction from the news media after modifying press access to the Pentagon. It’s a softened approach from the initial policy, but still allows for the government to revoke credentials for anyone deemed to be a security risk. The Pentagon has given newsrooms a week to adhere to the changes.
Parnell said the approval applied to federal employees, not reporters and “does not infringe upon First Amendment protections,” The New York Times reported. Refusal to sign could mean a loss of credentials.
The Society of Professional Journalists condemned an earlier version of the restrictions as unconstitutional for “reeking of prior restraint.” Now, the Pentagon issued a revision that threatened to revoke credentials from journalists who ask anyone in the Defense Department for information without an official’s approval, The Associated Press reported.
Hegseth told Fox News over the weekend that reporters will need to be escorted and wear a badge if they want to move around the Pentagon, and “we have expectations that you’re not soliciting classified or sensitive information.”
