A popular pro-Trump anonymous account on X turned out to be run by a woman on the Defense Department payroll, a bad look for an administration that says it opposes government influence operations.

• The account "Data Republican," with close to a million followers, is Jennica Pounds, hired in July as a special government employee at the Defense Department.
• She outed herself in public after a State Department official offered her a leaked document about Cuba and she panicked that it was a trap to get her prosecuted.
• Pounds first rose to prominence defending Elon Musk's DOGE cuts, including reduced staffing at Social Security offices.
• Her first big push after being hired was an attack on Candace Owens over her questions about the Charlie Kirk assassination, raising the question of whether the Pentagon is running messaging campaigns against American citizens.
• Her followers were angrier at her for hiding the government job than at the official who approached her.

Outlook: Expect pressure on the Pentagon to explain what it hired her to do, and more scrutiny of anonymous political accounts with large followings.