WASHINGTON — Defense Department personnel will now have to coordinate all interactions with Congress through the Pentagon’s central legislative affairs office, according to a memo obtained by Breaking Defense — a change in policy that could further curb the flow of information streaming from the department to Capitol Hill.
In the Oct. 15 memo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg direct Defense Department personnel — with the exception of the Pentagon’s inspector general office — to coordinate with the office of the assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs for all engagements and communication with Congress and state elected officials.
“The Department of War (DoW) relies on a collaborative and close partnership with Congress to achieve our legislative goals. This requires coordination and alignment of Department messaging when engaging with Congress to ensure consistency and support for the Department’s priorities to re-establish deterrence, rebuild our military, and revive the warrior ethos,” Hegseth and Feinberg wrote in the memo, which uses a secondary name for the Defense Department.
“Unauthorized engagements with Congress by DoW personnel acting in their official capacity, no matter how well-intentioned, may undermine Department-wide priorities critical to achieving our legislative objectives,” Hegseth and Feinberg wrote later in the memo.
Under the terms of the directive, all interactions between Defense Department personnel and Congress or state elected officials, including those outside of the national capital region, require approval from the Pentagon’s legislative affairs office. Communication with Capitol Hill — including congressional reporting requirements, requests for information, drafting and technical assistance and legislative correspondence — must also be routed through the office.
The directive is a shift from previous policy, which allowed the military services, combatant commands and other Defense Department agencies to manage their own interactions with Congress — with senior leaders for those organizations often driving the level of engagement on Capitol Hill and each service having its own legislative affairs team.
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Rep. George Whitesides, D-Calif, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told Breaking Defense that the move is unlikely to be received well on Capitol Hill.
“Congress decides who Congress will talk to, and the continued efforts of the secretary to wall off the department is not consistent with past tradition, and I frankly don’t think it’ll fly with the members or leaders of the committee,” he said.
One congressional aide told Breaking Defense that the new policy “could potentially backfire” on the department, especially as Congress hammers out details of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act and the corresponding appropriations bill. Sometimes, the staff writing those bills need information from the Pentagon, military services or combatant commands “within minutes.” If those details need to be cleared by the Pentagon’s main legislative affairs office, they may not arrive in time to impact pending legislation and may result in language that adversely impacts the military, the aide said.
After publication, Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that the memo is a “pragmatic step” to internally review the department’s processes for communicating with Congress.
“The Department intends to improve accuracy and responsiveness in communicating with the Congress to facilitate increased transparency. This review is for processes internal to the Department and does not change how or from whom Congress receives information,” he said.
The memo applies to senior department leaders, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joint Staff, combatant command heads, service secretaries and chiefs, directors of Defense Department agencies, and congressional affairs officials, amongst others.
However, the directive does not limit the authorities of the Pentagon’s comptroller, with the memo noting that the comptroller’s budget and appropriations affairs office will continue to service as the principal legislative liaison for the appropriations committees and the Congressional Budget Office. The authorities of the Pentagon’s general counsel also remain unchanged, and servicemembers and department employees still retain whistleblower protections and other rights granted by law to communicate with Congress, the memo states.
In addition to the new restrictions on congressional interaction, Hegseth and Feinberg have ordered the Pentagon’s assistant secretary of legislative affairs to conduct a comprehensive review of the department’s interactions with Congress. That report, which is expected in 90 days, should address “current issues, inefficiencies or misalignments in congressional engagement processes” and include proposals to “streamline activities” and “enhance compliance” in the realm of congressional affairs, the memo stated.
The memo authorizes the legislative affairs office to form working groups across the department to support the ongoing review. Meanwhile, Pentagon component heads and principal staff assistants have been given 30 days to provide contact information for the personnel supporting legislative affairs, organizational charts showcasing roles and responsibilities, and information on tools used to track congressional engagements.
Updated 10/21/2025 at 8:50 p.m. ET with a statement from Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell .
Ashley Roque contributed to this report.