Inside the Pentagon's political speech crackdown that's driving troops to scrub their social media

"Pentagon leadership's intensifying scrutiny of speech that is critical of conservatives and the Trump administration is fueling anxiety in the ranks and has some service members scrambling to protect their careers. In interviews with Business Insider, troops and legal advisors detailed how behavior has changed amid the recent crackdown, which has some facing administrative actions that can end a career without a court-martial."

"An enlisted Marine says a mentor warned her to erase any public-facing support for progressive causes. "I had to take my pronouns off my LinkedIn. I've scrubbed everything that has ever mentioned or supported" LGBTQ causes, the Marine sergeant told Business Insider. She said her mentor warned that Pentagon officials may be looking for "anything that could be construed as contrary to the vision that the current administration has.""

Intensifying Pentagon scrutiny of speech critical of conservatives and the Trump administration is producing anxiety and self-censorship across the armed forces. Troops and legal advisors report behavioral changes and administrative actions that can end careers without court-martial. Service members are deactivating social accounts, avoiding political discussions, and removing LGBTQ or progressive indicators from public profiles. The Defense Department has opened an investigation into a senator's video urging troops to defy unlawful orders, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth framed policies as an effort "to rip out the politics" from the services. Some military law experts view the scrutiny as an abuse of authority.

Read at Business Insider