The new rules, which include changes on how quickly inspector generals must process complaints, threaten to undermine the role of a key federal watchdog.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sprinkled several new rules into his Tuesday speech to military leaders that will carry more serious consequences than grooming and exercise — likely undermining the department’s inspectors general just as a report on the Pentagon chief’s own behavior wraps up.
The changes call into question the credibility of the office ahead of an upcoming report on Hegseth’s controversial release of sensitive information in a Signal group chat about military strikes in Yemen. They include new restrictions on how IGs process complaints and when they should provide updates on investigations, likely reducing the number of both.
The move, part of a wider Trump administration effort to lessen the role of inspectors general and legal advisers, threatens to further weaken a key federal watchdog and discourage troops from coming forward with concerns about military safety and conduct.
“Whistleblowers provide critically important information,” said Robert Storch, who served as the Pentagon’s inspector general until President Donald Trump fired him and other independent inspectors general in January. “It’s particularly important in a department of the size and complexity of the DOD that people who are on the front lines — and in the case of the DOD they may literally be on the front line — be encouraged and...
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