Trying to Battle Leaks, Pentagon Restricts Classified Access

The Pentagon has removed decades of classified military planning documents from a secret network used across the U.S. defense establishment, tightening access as the Trump administration intensifies efforts to prevent sensitive information from reaching the media.

Files linked to the Secretary of Defense Orders Book, or SDOB, were taken off an internal portal on the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, according to three people familiar with the move.

The restriction followed publication of a report detailing reservations among senior U.S. military commanders over the sustainability of the war with Iran, The Washington Post wrote.

Access to Secret Planning Files Reduced

SIPRNet carries information classified at the secret level and is used by defense officials and U.S. military personnel. More sensitive top-secret material is held on networks available to a smaller group of users.

It remains unclear whether the SDOB documents can still be accessed through other systems or how broadly the Pentagon has restricted their availability.

Leak Crackdown Expands

The move comes as the Trump administration pursues a wider effort to stem unauthorized disclosures to journalists.

Measures have included polygraph examinations for some personnel, subpoenas issued to journalists and, in one case, a search of a Washington Post journalist’s home in which electronic devices were seized.

The removal of the SDOB material could sharply narrow the group of personnel able to review documents that underpin military planning and force allocation.

A former defense official who regularly reviewed the documents told the Post moving or removing the material from SIPRNet would “dramatically reduce the number of people who have direct access to it.”

Iran War Concerns Put Orders Book in Focus

The SDOB records the location and availability of U.S. warships, military formations, weapons systems and other resources.

It also provides senior commanders with a formal mechanism to register objections to directives while continuing to execute them. Officers can “non-concur”, documenting concerns about an order or its consequences for other military plans.

The document came under scrutiny after several senior generals and admirals were reported to have warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that extending large-scale operations against Iran was unsustainable and could weaken U.S. preparedness elsewhere.

Those registering non-concurrences included Gen. Alexus Grynkewich of European Command, Gen. Francis Donovan of Southern Command, Adm. Samuel Paparo of Pacific Command and Adm. Daryl Caudle, the chief of naval operations.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach and acting Army Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve backed Hegseth’s plan to extend some deployments but warned that the decision carried significant risk.

Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, later said much of the reporting was “inaccurate” without identifying specific errors.

“Non-concurs are standard,” he said. “The Secretary sees them constantly. That’s how you run a real military. We are in great shape around the world.”

Restrictions Could Complicate Planning

The access changes come as senior U.S. officials have raised concerns about the cumulative cost of the Iran conflict, now in its seventh month after President Donald Trump initially said it would last only a few weeks.

Those concerns include expenditure of Patriot missile interceptors and Tomahawk cruise missiles, as well as mounting pressure on the U.S. Navy as it enforces the administration’s blockade of Iran.

The former defense official said commanders and their staffs use the SDOB to support time-sensitive decisions, including the movement of aircraft, weapons and other resources between commands.

Reducing direct access would not eliminate the ability of personnel to obtain strategic and operational documents, the former official said, but would make the process “certainly more difficult.”