Pentagon taps conservative veterans for undisclosed government posts

The Pentagon has quietly appointed three conservative military veterans with large online platforms to civilian government positions that were not publicly disclosed, placing them in roles that could shape defense policy while they promote the agenda of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to a report by The Washington Post on Sunday.

The appointees — retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness, retired Army Col. Kurt Schlichter, and retired Army Col. Thomas Anderson — hold active government email accounts in the office of Anthony Tata, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, the records showed. Pentagon files reviewed by the newspaper indicate the ".civ" designation in their email addresses classifies them as civilian employees rather than military personnel or contractors. Sources familiar with the hiring said the men were appointed as either "special government employees" or "highly qualified experts," categories that allow the department to bring in specialists without standard disclosure requirements.

Conservative commentators and online reach

Maness commands more than 135,000 followers on the social media platform X, while Schlichter's audience approaches 620,000 and Anderson — whose name was removed from Pentagon records late last week according to the sources — writes under the pseudonym Cynical Publius to a base of roughly 323,000 followers. After leaving military service, all three shifted to conservative political commentary and have built substantial audiences through vocal support for the Trump administration and sharp criticism of its detractors.

Maness called for the removal of "disloyal" Pentagon employees in an article last month, while Schlichter praised President Donald Trump as a "hero" for confronting Iran in a recent column. Anderson has frequently criticized opponents of the administration and defended Hegseth's restructuring efforts, writing in April that there was "a cancer in America's military ranks" that "must be expunged."

Military education task force

The three veterans also visited the Army War College in May as part of a Pentagon task force aimed at eliminating what Hegseth has described as "toxic" or "woke" ideology from military education curricula, according to two sources familiar with the assignment. Their involvement in the initiative underscores the administration's broader effort to reshape military culture through personnel changes and curricular reviews.

The appointments have drawn scrutiny as the Pentagon undergoes sweeping leadership changes under Hegseth, who has pledged to root out diversity initiatives and what he terms ideological infiltration within the armed forces. The Washington Post first reported the undisclosed positions on Sunday, noting that the influence of the online commentators could extend beyond public advocacy into internal defense policy deliberations regarding personnel and education standards.