Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg have ordered all Defense Department personnel to route any communication with Congress or state officials through the Pentagon’s Office of Legislative Affairs, requiring prior approval for meetings, reports, information requests, and correspondence.
The October 15 directive marks a significant shift from previous policy, which allowed military branches, combatant commands, and other Defense Department agencies to manage their own congressional contacts through independent legislative affairs teams.
The order applies to senior Pentagon leaders, service secretaries and chiefs, combatant commanders, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense agency directors. It excludes the inspector general’s office and preserves existing authorities for the Pentagon’s comptroller and general counsel. The memo also affirms that service members and employees retain whistleblower protections and the right to communicate with Congress as granted by law.
Hegseth and Feinberg further directed the assistant secretary of legislative affairs to conduct a 90-day review of the Pentagon’s congressional engagement process to identify inefficiencies and propose reforms.
