The Pentagon has quietly placed several conservative military veterans with large social media followings into government jobs, The Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the matter and records the newspaper reviewed. Those people said the Defense Department has not publicly described the assignments even as the influencers have backed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and criticized people who question the Trump administration.
At least some of the veterans were placed in civilian posts that people familiar with the matter said could affect policy. The newspaper said neither the Pentagon nor the people involved have disclosed their government roles, despite administration claims that this is the most transparent Defense Department ever.
Pentagon records reviewed by The Post showed that retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness and retired Army Col. Kurt Schlichter had active official government email addresses as of last week. Both were listed as assigned to the office of Anthony Tata, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. The addresses carried a “.civ” suffix, which the newspaper said marks them as civilian employees rather than military members or contractors.
Pentagon records listed the veterans in Tata’s office as civilian employees
Maness has more than 135,000 followers on X. Schlichter has nearly 620,000. A third retired Army colonel, Thomas Anderson, who writes online as Cynical Publius and has more than 323,000 followers on X, was listed earlier this year with a “.civ” email address in Tata’s office, people familiar with the matter and records reviewed by The Post indicated. Those people said he was no longer listed late last week.
The assignments for all three had not been previously reported, The Post said. Pentagon spokesman Joel Valdez declined to say whether any of the three are paid with taxpayer money, what their jobs are, or how long the work is expected to last. Tata did not respond to a request for comment. Maness and Schlichter did not respond to messages. Anderson declined to comment in a short phone call.
People familiar with the issue said the individuals were assigned as special government employees or highly qualified experts. Schlichter appears in a government database with an “HQE” designation after his name, according to material reviewed by The Post.
Special government employees are limited by law to no more than 130 days of work in any 365-day period. Highly qualified experts may work full-time or part-time, with or without pay, according to government guidance from 2023. The Post said it was not clear what pay deals were reached or when each assignment began.
Tata’s office has taken on culture-war matters that include reviewing war colleges for what Hegseth has called “woke” ideology and examining how the Biden administration applied covid vaccine rules to U.S. troops. Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Army National Guard officer, last year added new limits on the Pentagon press corps that the newspaper said forced dozens of journalists out of the building and later brought in a new, mostly right-wing press group. Separate reporting said the Pentagon barred reporters from its press office.
The attention grew after conservative influencer Jennica Pounds, who writes as DataRepublican, accused a State Department official this month of trying to get her to publish government secrets.
Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, later said on social media that she was the official who contacted Pounds and posted the documents herself, saying it was not a “trap.”
Pounds later said she regretted “making a public spectacle.” The Pentagon and Pounds then disclosed that she works as a special government employee for the Defense Department. She said she became an employee in July after holding a Pentagon press credential until June.
Former Republican congressman and Air Force veteran Adam Kinzinger wrote that it appears the Pentagon “is using your tax dollars to hire influencers on X to put out partisan talking points.” He asked how many other verified X users posting for the federal government, Trump, and the Republican Party “are actually special government employees.”
Maness, Schlichter, and Anderson appeared in May on behalf of the Pentagon’s Senior Service College Task Force at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, two people familiar with the visit said.
Hegseth said in March that the task force was formed to root out ideology he called “toxic” or “woke.” One of those people said the task force has finished its research and prepared a report that has not been released.
While there, the visitors met students and professors and asked about Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, one person said. Some students were unsure how candid they should be, that person said. The other person said the group raised concerns about a class syllabus on how officers talk to Congress.
Maness retired from the Air Force in 2011, ran for U.S. Senate in Louisiana, and is listed as chairman of GatorPAC. In a Daily Caller article last month, he argued that Hegseth’s team needs to remove “disloyal” career employees and did not say he now works at the Pentagon.
In a Campus Reform article published Wednesday, he wrote, “Secretary Hegseth’s outrage is justified,” over an Army decision on ROTC academic rules, again without mentioning a government job. A July letter to the editor in The Post defending Hegseth on officer fellowships at elite universities described him only as a retired Air Force officer. A Post spokesperson said Maness did not disclose any Pentagon ties before publication.
Schlichter, a Townhall columnist, wrote on Aug. 6 that Trump was a “hero for finally fighting back against Iran” and that he “had the courage to do what was necessary to stop these bastards before they made it impossible to prevent them from getting a [nuclear] bomb.”
On Aug. 14 he posted a video of Hegseth praising sailors and wrote, “We are lucky to have @PeteHegseth.” His X profile lists him as a retired Army colonel, lawyer, and columnist, and does not list current Pentagon work.
Anderson wrote in The Federalist in April that there is “a cancer in America’s military ranks, and it must be expunged before it’s too late.” This past week, he defended Pounds as a special government employee while declining to say whether he held the same status.
“The law does not view such people the same as civil servants, and they are legally allowed to continue whatever other private endeavors they were undertaking,” he wrote. “In many cases, they are prohibited from revealing their status because of the sensitive nature of their work.”
Maritime writer John Konrad said he talked with the administration this spring about becoming a special government employee at the Pentagon and later felt “ghosted.” The Pentagon also brought on Jerry Dunleavy of Just the News to help Hegseth’s team review the fall of Afghanistan and disclosed that role in May. Another report said the Pentagon hired a convicted Jan. 6 rioter for an office that handles classified information.
Published: Aug 31, 2026 10:30 am