At Issue: The Remaking of the Pentagon Featuring New York Times Pentagon Reporter Greg Jaffe, Erik Slavin, Former Editor-in-Chief of Stars and Stripes, & The Atlantic’s Nancy A. Youssef

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has systematically reshaped and disrupted the Pentagon through high-profile purges of military leadership, the dismantling of advisory and civilian-protection programs, and aggressive institutional restructuring. The Pentagon has undergone a radical remaking: its leaders depleted much of the U.S. arsenal in a war with Iran.  An aircraft carrier’s crew became demoralized and exhausted after a very lengthy deployment, then the Pentagon punished a military newspaper, Stars and Stripes, that covered those sailors, firing top editors including Erik Slavin. Over the past year and a half, news reporting shows how far Hegseth has gone to remake the agency in MAGA’s image. Reporters Greg Jaffe, Erik Slavin and Nancy Youssef have chronicled this chaotic transformation.

Greg Jaffe has long been interested in the people and culture of the U.S. military. Prior to joining The Times, Jaffe spent 13 years at The Wall Street Journal and 15 years at The Washington Post. Much of that time writing about the U.S. military and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and frequently embedding with troops. Jaffe also covered the White House for two years and wrote about poverty, labor and was part of The Post’s democracy team, focusing on domestic issues and writing about Americans trying to negotiate this intensely polarized and partisan moment.