Day 13 of the U.S.-Iran war, and a reporter who has never covered a war is sitting in one of the good seats at a Pentagon briefing. The date is Friday the 13th. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth changed press access rules last year: no outside beverages, no movement inside the building without an escort, journalists locked to their seats and their handlers.
The Verge sent a policy reporter, not a war correspondent, into that room. That displacement is the story. What gets said, what gets performed, and who gets scolded when Hegseth addresses the press corps during an active military conflict is worth understanding in detail.
The full piece is a firsthand account from inside a room most reporters never enter, during a war that started with no public warning. Read it for the texture of how the Pentagon manages information when the shooting has already started.
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