I’ve been covering the U.S. military for more than 30 years. I’ve seen the real cost of war — not the sanitized version, but the overworked people, the ones that didn’t come home, the burnout, and the betrayal. I’ve walked the halls of the Pentagon, sat in press briefings, and asked the questions the brass are uncomfortable answering.

Now, many of my colleagues are being kicked out of the building for refusing to sign a loyalty oath. Not to the Constitution. Not to truth. But to the narrative.

This isn’t the first time the brass tried to control the message. In 2015, the Pentagon’s Law of War Manual labeled civilian journalists as potential “unprivileged belligerents” — in plain English, enemy combatants. That’s right: reporters could be targeted like armed fighters. I called it out, along with others. A year later, they backed down. But the mindset? It never left.

And let’s not forget a Washington, D.C.-based contractor the Pentagon used in 2003 to vet military reporters. Not for accuracy. Not for experience. But for loyalty. The contractor scored reporters based on how “friendly” they were to U.S. policy and military leadership. Those deemed too critical were quietly shut out. That wasn’t security — that was censorship, outsourced.

Now it’s happening again, under a new name.

The Pentagon doesn’t just wield weapons. It wields billions in taxpayer dollars. It spends more than any other military on Earth — nearly 40 percent of total global defense spending. And with that comes a state-sanctioned license to kill. That’s not hyperbole. That’s policy.

It’s through the press — the real press — that Americans track how that money is spent, what missions are being ordered, and whose lives are put at risk in support of U.S. policy.

But with watchdogs locked out, what’s left?

Glossy recruitment ads. Scripted social media clips.

And the few who do sign the oath? Let’s be honest. They’re not journalists. They’re mouthpieces. They’ll print whatever the Pentagon feeds them. That’s not watchdog reporting. That’s being a house pet in a flak vest.

Meanwhile, the truth becomes buried even deeper.

Remember the budget trick? Two ledgers: the base budget and the war budget — that sweet, off-the-books “Overseas Contingency Operations” fund. I was told years ago it would be absorbed into the regular budget once the wars ended. Iraq, Afghanistan — over, right?

Wrong. The money never stopped. It just changed labels and kept moving — now even harder to trace, especially with reporters cut out of the loop.

Let me be blunt:

This isn’t about national security. It’s about message control. It’s about secrecy and hide from the public.

It’s about locking out the only people who’ve ever dared to say, ‘Show us the receipts’—and remind them that young American lives are on the line, not just numbers on a spreadsheet.

Freedom of the press isn’t a decoration on a marble wall. It’s the last line of defense between democracy and deception. And right now, that line is under siege.

The press has fought this battle before. And real journalists are not backing down now.