Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has restored but downgraded an independent, internal Pentagon think tank focused on future wars, seven months after dismantling the agency in the name of accountability and efficiency, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post and people familiar with the matter.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has launched a far-reaching probe into online comments by Defense Department personnel after the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, turning a smoldering controversy into a full-blown test of military discipline and speech.

A new memo on communications with Capitol Hill, signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his deputy, follows restrictions on reporting out of the Pentagon.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered that Pentagon personnel be required to coordinate all interactions with Congress through the building’s central legislative affairs office,

A memo obtained by CBS News directs nearly all correspondence with Congress to go through the assistant secretary for legislative affairs.

Hegseth’s new rules were issued the same day that the Pentagon’s dedicated press corps was effectively kicked out.

In an Oct. 15 memo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his deputy, Steve Feinberg, ordered Pentagon officials — including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — to obtain permission from the department’s main legislative affairs office before they have any communication with Capitol Hill.

Most Pentagon personnel will need approval from the legislative affairs office before talking to members of Congress or state legislators, according to a memo.

The “broad spectrum” of media figures covering the department now includes correspondents from the right, the far right and the conspiratorial fringe.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that his department has carried out a second deadly strike in the Pacific Ocean, killing three people he described as “terrorists.” In a post made to X less than eight hours after his previous post announcing the Trump administration’s first strike on a vessel in the Pacific,