Retired U.S. Army General Who Turned Down Defense Secretary Job Slams Pete Hegseth Move

Retired U.S. Army General Jack Keane, who served as Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army during the first George W. Bush administration, is voicing his opposition to the new Pentagon media access policies which, among other restrictions, prohibit the use of unnamed sources in the military.

News outlets including The New York Times and Newsmax have declined to agree to the new rules issued by President Trump’s Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

On Fox News, Keane said: “It doesn’t seem like the whole story is being told to our viewers here. What they’re really doing, they want to spoon feed to the journalists, and that will be their story. That’s not journalism. Journalism is going out and finding the story and getting all the facts to support it.”

Note: Keane was reportedly offered the job of Defense Secretary during the first Trump administration and turned down the offer. Trump later awarded Keane the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2020. Keane was also a member of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, which in April was disbanded by Hegseth in April.

Keane is not the only retired high-ranking military official to balk at Hegseth’s new policies.

When Hegseth wrote on social media: “Pentagon access is a privilege, not a right, So, here is @DeptofWar press credentialing FOR DUMMIES: Press no longer roams free. Press must wear visible badge. Credentialed press no longer permitted to solicit criminal acts DONE. Pentagon now has same rules as every U.S military installation,” retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, responded.

Hertling wrote: “For the record, there are 17 pages worth of requirements, and the only people that buy this 3-checked shortened version are truly dummies. The more you know…”