The Department of Defense is drawing a hard line under President Trump’s renewed America First doctrine, with new orders to blacklist think tank events pushing globalist agendas. In a bold move, the Pentagon has suspended participation in high-profile policy forums—starting with the once-influential Aspen Security Forum.
According to a leaked staff email obtained by Politico, the DOD is halting all senior official attendance at events hosted by what it now calls “America Last organizations.” This follows Acting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s earlier decision to block Pentagon leaders from appearing at Aspen, citing the forum’s globalist leanings.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson made the department’s new direction crystal clear. “The days of ‘business as usual’ are OVER!” he declared on X. “No DOD official will attend events by America Last organizations that promote globalism and hate.”
In other words: if your event is focused on advancing a globalist worldview or celebrating institutions that undermine American sovereignty, don’t expect Pentagon brass to show up.
The new rules are sweeping. Any event that Defense officials want to attend now requires prior vetting. Speakers must submit remarks and talking points for approval by the Office of Public Affairs. Final clearance comes only after a rigorous internal review.
One major name already caught in the crosshairs is the Halifax International Security Forum, a Canadian-based annual gathering of Western officials and defense thinkers. Halifax frequently hosts top DOD figures and even offers the “John McCain Prize” to international leaders it deems champions of “human justice.” That kind of branding clearly doesn’t sit well with the new Trump-era Pentagon, which is cracking down on what it sees as virtue signaling cloaked in foreign policy credentials.
The message from Defense leadership is unmistakable: American defense officials will no longer serve as props for elite institutions that prioritize global consensus over national strength.
Hegseth and his team are clearly aiming to realign the Pentagon with Trump’s broader foreign policy shift. Rather than appease multinational think tanks or echo elite Beltway narratives, they want to make sure defense voices are rooted in America First principles—secure borders, strong deterrence, and no entanglements that don’t serve American interests.
So far, the Pentagon hasn’t commented publicly beyond Wilson’s social media posts, but insiders say this is just the beginning. The crackdown is part of a larger review of how the military engages with policy forums, academic institutions, and corporate partners.
Under Biden, defense officials routinely attended events that embraced climate change activism, DEI ideology, and international treaties prioritizing global governance. That’s over now.
Critics of the new policy will likely accuse the Pentagon of political overreach or anti-intellectualism. But supporters say this is exactly the kind of overdue correction the military needed after years of creeping ideological capture.
By shutting out organizations that push anti-sovereignty or anti-American messages, the Trump administration is reminding the world—and Washington—that U.S. military power should serve the American people, not global elites.
And if that means elite forums like Aspen and Halifax lose their Defense Department guest lists, so be it. The Pentagon’s loyalty, under Trump, is no longer for sale.
