Pentagon Stealth Hires Influencers To Pump Up Pete Hegseth
The Pentagon secretly hired conservative military veterans with large social media followings to amplify Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s agenda and attack Trump administration critics, according to The Washington Post. Retired Air Force Colonel Rob Maness (135,000 X followers), retired Army Colonel Kurt Schlichter (620,000 X followers), and retired Army Colonel Thomas Anderson, who writes as Cynical Publius (323,000 X followers), were assigned to the office of Anthony Tata, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, with active civilian government email addresses as of late August 2026.
Pentagon spokesman Joel Valdez refused to disclose whether the three influencers draw taxpayer-funded salaries, their specific roles, or the duration of their assignments, contradicting Trump administration claims of running “the most transparent Defense Department ever.” The secrecy surrounding their placements and compensation demonstrates the administration’s use of government resources to orchestrate propaganda through influencers who then amplify official messaging to civilian audiences without public accountability.
All three individuals declined to comment to The Post about their positions and activities. Tata and Hegseth also refused to respond to questions about the program, leaving no official explanation for how the Pentagon justifies placing active political operatives on the public payroll or what oversight, if any, monitors their work.
The revelation follows reporting that Democratic and Republican politicians pay influencers on TikTok and other platforms to promote their agendas, but the Pentagon’s covert hiring of active-duty adjacent figures represents a direct weaponization of military resources for partisan message amplification by the Trump administration.