July 10, 2018

Pentagon Questioned Over Blackout On War Zone Troop Numbers

For more than a decade, if you wanted to know how many U.S. troops there were in war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan, you could readily find that information at a public Pentagon website that's updated every three months.

But since late last year, the Pentagon's stopped posting those numbers for Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

That public information blackout, along with the recent suspension of Pentagon reports on airstrikes and collateral damage in Afghanistan, has some lawmakers on Capitol Hill raising red flags.

"What's your view on the detail of the information that should be released?," Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed asked Lt. Gen. Scott Miller at his June 19 confirmation hearing to be the next U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

Miller assured Reed, the Senate Armed Services Committee's top Democrat, that if confirmed, he would be "very transparent" about what's going on in Afghanistan during appearances before Reed's oversight panel. Listen to this story and more from NPR

  • Commentary
    • Sharper
    • November 20, 2024
    Sharper: Trump 2.0

    Donald Trump's return to the White House is widely expected to reshape America's global priorities. With personnel choices and policy agendas that mark a significant break fro...

    By Charles Horn & Gwendolyn Nowaczyk

  • Podcast
    • November 18, 2024
    Team America

    Kate Kuzminski, Deputy Director of Studies, and the Director of the Military, Veterans, and Society (MVS) Program at CNAS, joins to discuss President-elect Donald Trump nomina...

    By Katherine L. Kuzminski

  • Podcast
    • November 12, 2024
    The All-Volunteer Force and Mobilization with Katherine Kuzminski, CNAS

    Katherine Kuzminski, the Deputy Director of Studies, and the Director of the Military, Veterans, and Society (MVS) Program at CNAS, joins Squaring the Circle to discuss the al...

    By Katherine L. Kuzminski

  • Podcast
    • October 24, 2024
    Episode 7: Kate Kuzminski, CNAS

    Kate Kuzminski is Deputy Director of Studies and Director of the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). She is an expert on ...

    By Katherine L. Kuzminski

View All Reports View All Articles & Multimedia