Bradley Peniston
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navybook.bsky.social
Bradley Peniston
@navybook.bsky.social
500 followers 330 following 28 posts
Executive editor, Defense One. Author of two books about the U.S. Navy. Knows just enough about scripting to be dangerous.
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navybook.bsky.social
Defense One reporters will turn in their Pentagon passes today rather than sign a Defense Department agreement that threatens to punish them for routine but vital journalism. This morning, we joined seven other defense-oriented publications in a statement:

www.defenseone.com/ideas/2025/1...
Defense Trade Press Statement on Media Restrictions at the Pentagon
www.defenseone.com
October 15, 2025 at 4:07 PM
navybook.bsky.social
Defense One’s reporters will not be signing the Pentagon’s agreement.
October 15, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Bradley Peniston
bgrueskin.bsky.social
Pete Hegseth’s Defense Department tried to bar a CNN journalist from serving as a pool reporter for an upcoming foreign trip.

Other reporters threatened to boycott the trip.

Guess what happened next.

The Pentagon caved.

Via @oliverdarcy.bsky.social

www.status.news/p/pete-hegse...
I've learned that in the lead-up to Hegseth's upcoming trip to Singapore, the Pentagon quietly attempted to block CNN producer Haley Britzky from serving as the designated television pooler. Because space on such trips is limited, the press corps designates a small group of reporters to travel with the secretary and share information with the broader press. Britzky had been slated for the role. But Pentagon officials- apparently irked by some of her tweets, despite their innocuous nature - relayed to CNN brass that she was not welcome. The move was a plain act of retribution, a targeted attempt by the Pentagon to sideline a journalist for doing her job in a way that it did not like. It triggered immediate backlash. Reporters from other news organizations expressed outrage, with other outlets indicating that if Britzky was excluded, they too would pull out of the trip—effectively denying Hegseth the press coverage he relies on for visibility. “They don’t get to decide who covers them,” one correspondent told me. After a brief standoff, I'm told the Pentagon relented. Britzky will travel with Hegseth as originally planned. A CNN spokesperson declined to comment and a Pentagon spokesperson did not respond to a request for one Monday evening.
May 27, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Bradley Peniston
joncduffy.bsky.social
I wrote for Defense One (@defenseone.bsky.social) on why banning books at the Naval Academy is a betrayal of everything we’re supposed to stand for: www.defenseone.com/ideas/2025/0...
I went to the Naval Academy to defend freedom, not to dismantle it
Stripping the library of books undermines our Navy—and mimics regimes we spent decades confronting.
www.defenseone.com
April 22, 2025 at 6:11 PM
navybook.bsky.social
A quick 1,000-word tour through the state of the U.S. Navy: www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/...
State of the Navy 2025
Could a new, more productive era in shipbuilding be on the horizon?
www.defenseone.com
April 18, 2025 at 4:16 PM
navybook.bsky.social
On this day in 1988, the USS Samuel B. Roberts struck an Iranian naval mine in the wartorn Persian Gulf. The explosion blew a hole in the hull and broke the ship’s keel. Over the next five hours, the ship’s crew fought fire and flood to save their ship.
April 14, 2025 at 6:35 PM
navybook.bsky.social
The White House released seven executive orders today. In its rush, someone mixed up several of the URLs. A thread:
April 10, 2025 at 12:08 AM
navybook.bsky.social
On Friday, SecDef Pete Hegseth ordered senior DOD leaders to propose plans to shrink and reorganize their commands, agencies, and departments. He gave them a deadline of less than two weeks.

Read: www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/...
SecDef gives DOD leaders less than two weeks to lay out cuts, changes
A Friday memo opens a new phase in Hegseth’s hurried effort to shrink the defense workforce.
www.defenseone.com
March 29, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Bradley Peniston
travistritten.bsky.social
"How are soldiers supposed to interpret this?" an Army brigade commander said. "It's a cartoonish lapse in security."

Story by @stevenbeynon.bsky.social, @ktoropin.bsky.social, @dflawrence.bsky.social + @kheel.bsky.social
'Different Spanks for Different Ranks': Hegseth's Signal Scandal Would Put Regular Troops in the Brig
Despite what amounts to among the most startling security snafus in recent memory -- one that would almost certainly trigger severe disciplinary action for lower-level personnel -- Hegseth and others ...
www.military.com
March 26, 2025 at 11:08 PM
navybook.bsky.social
Here's how a former Air Force manpower chief views Signalgate: "To hold no one accountable would undermine operational security and send a corrosive message to troops."

Read his oped at @defenseone.bsky.social:

www.defenseone.com/ideas/2025/0...
Heads must roll for Signal-chat debacle
To hold no one accountable would undermine operational security and send a corrosive message to troops.
www.defenseone.com
March 26, 2025 at 11:51 PM
navybook.bsky.social
The Pentagon is placing probationary employees on leave in advance of mass firings. The terminations are expected within weeks under plans to fire nearly one-tenth of DOD’s 55,000 “probies.” By Meghann Myers at Defense One:
www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/...
Pentagon is placing probationary employees on leave in advance of mass firings
The terminations are expected within weeks under plans to fire nearly one-tenth of DOD’s 55,000 “probies.”
www.defenseone.com
March 7, 2025 at 5:33 PM
navybook.bsky.social
This has begun: "Defense officials have said they aim to fire a total of 5,400 probationary employees as the first step in what will ultimately be a 5- to 8-percent reduction in the Pentagon’s roughly 764,000-member civilian workforce."

www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/...
At least one Pentagon agency has begun firing probationary workers
The Defense Logistics Agency has begun dismissing its share of the Defense Department’s 5,400 targeted employees.
www.defenseone.com
March 6, 2025 at 4:14 PM
navybook.bsky.social
Update: SecDef Hegseth says firings of "poor performers" among new and recently promoted Defense employees to be followed by department-wide hiring freeze, then firings of "redundancies" and "underperformers."

www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/...
As Defense Department preps for mass firings, Hegseth says a hiring freeze and more firings are coming
SecDef confirms a "reevaluation of our probationary workforce"—and adds that a hiring freeze is coming, during which a more comprehensive search for "redundancies" and "underperformers" would be condu...
www.defenseone.com
February 21, 2025 at 3:22 AM
navybook.bsky.social
Firing of new and recently promoted employees of the Defense Department are expected soon; leaders have been drawing up lists all week.
Defense Department prepares for mass civilian firings within days
The dismissals are expected to be widespread, though commanders and agency leaders are scrambling to carve out exemptions for their own workers.
www.defenseone.com
February 21, 2025 at 1:41 AM
navybook.bsky.social
It's been a long road for the Navy's unmanned MQ-25 tanker, but the naval air forces commander says the Boeing UAV will be operating from aircraft carriers next year. Lauren Williams and I report from the USS Abraham Lincoln: www.defenseone.com/technology/2...
The Navy’s robot refueler is coming—even as the fleet works out integration
The MQ-25 will “unlock” other manned-unmanned teaming, naval aviation leader says.
www.defenseone.com
January 29, 2025 at 8:50 PM
navybook.bsky.social
Tracking Trump’s national-security conflicts of interest: Having declined to divest as most feds must, the president enters office with most of the conflicts of interest from his first term—plus many newer ones.

By Sarah Sicard for defenseone.bsky.social

www.defenseone.com/threats/2025...
Tracking Trump’s national-security conflicts of interest
Experts say the businessman-turned-president has even more entanglements this time around.
www.defenseone.com
January 21, 2025 at 8:10 PM
navybook.bsky.social
Trump orders the U.S. military to produce a plan to “seal the borders.” Experts say the order is worded unclearly and invites legal challenge that turns on the word “invasion.”

Read my report for Defense One: www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/...
Trump orders military to plan to ‘seal the borders’
Inaugural-day executive order instructs NORTHCOM to “repel forms of invasion”—a legal formulation that might not stick.
www.defenseone.com
January 21, 2025 at 4:23 PM
navybook.bsky.social
The Russian "ICBM" that Kyiv says struck near Dnipro on Thursday was in fact a shorter-ranged ballistic missile, an official tells reporters on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus.
Russia launches intercontinental ballistic missile in attack on Ukraine, Kyiv says
Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from its southern Astrakhan region during a morning attack on Ukraine on Thursday, Kyiv's air force said, the first time Russia has used such a powerful, long-range missile during the war.
www.reuters.com
November 21, 2024 at 8:37 AM
Reposted by Bradley Peniston
defenseone.bsky.social
All I want for Christmas is GSOMIA: Classified-info pact sets stage for closer US-Philippines cooperation
by @navybook.bsky.social reporting from Manila: www.defenseone.com/policy/2024/...
Classified-info pact sets stage for closer US-Philippines cooperation
And a new coordination center will replace “random conference rooms.”
www.defenseone.com
November 18, 2024 at 11:34 PM
navybook.bsky.social
Come for the photo of SecDef Austin meeting a ghillie-suited Aussie soldier, stay to learn how the US is turning two bilateral relationships into a trilateral one:
US, Australia, Japan deepen defense cooperation
Austin and his counterparts vow to coordinate military planning—and discuss AUKUS' prospects under Trump.
www.defenseone.com
November 17, 2024 at 7:42 PM
Reposted by Bradley Peniston
defenseone.bsky.social
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin talks with a ghillie-suited soldier of the Royal Australian Army’s 1 Brigade at HMAS Coonawarra, the country’s busiest naval base. Austin came to Darwin for a Nov. 17 trilateral meeting with senior Australian and Japanese officials. Photo by @navybook.bsky.social
November 17, 2024 at 4:07 AM
navybook.bsky.social
The actual lead for an actual story I just wrote: "A former Army National Guard major who has led two political advocacy organizations has been tapped for the 'nearly impossible job' of U.S. defense secretary."
Trump taps Fox host Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary
The combat veteran and “anti-woke” crusader lacks senior military or national-security experience.
www.defenseone.com
November 13, 2024 at 4:27 AM
navybook.bsky.social
DOHA, Qatar—Five months after forging a weeklong ceasefire in Gaza, the lead mediator for the Israel-Hamas conflict is frustrated. Minister Al-Khulaifi draws back the veil on Qatar's global-negotiation teams and how they do their work. #GSF2024
www.defenseone.com/policy/2024/...
Meet the frustrated negotiators seeking a Gaza ceasefire
Qatar is increasingly the world’s mediator, but this is the energy-rich sheikdom’s toughest case yet.
www.defenseone.com
May 21, 2024 at 6:53 AM