The Pentagon has been quietly paying right-wing veterans to push pro-war messaging on social media without telling readers they work for the government, which is bad for anyone trying to judge whether commentary is honest.

• Retired officers Rob Manis, Kurt Schlickter and Thomas Anderson hold government email addresses tied to a Pentagon office, and post about war policy without disclosing it.
• They are attached to what is billed as a task force on "woke" policies, but their posts mostly praise Pete Hegseth and defend the Iran war.
• All of them have also attacked Candace Owens over her questions about the Charlie Kirk killing, which has nothing to do with the Pentagon.
• One of them wrote a newspaper letter backing Hegseth's policies without mentioning he was on the Pentagon payroll.
• The Iran war is six months in, with American troops killed and hundreds wounded, while these paid voices keep telling the public it is going well.

Outlook: Expect more names to surface and pressure on the Pentagon to explain who is being paid and what they were told to say.