Troops are self-censoring and scrubbing social media amid a Pentagon crackdown on political speech

• Troops are scrubbing their social media amid fears over a Pentagon crackdown on political speech.
• "I had to take my pronouns off my LinkedIn," a Marine sergeant told Business Insider.
• Pentagon leaders have said their moves are intended to depoliticize the military.

Pentagon leadership's intensifying scrutiny of speech that is critical of conservatives and the Trump administration is fueling anxiety in the ranks and has some service members scrambling to protect their careers.

In interviews with Business Insider, troops and legal advisors detailed how behavior has changed amid the recent crackdown, which has some facing administrative actions that can end a career without a court-martial.

• A service member deleted his social media post that called the US attacks on boats in the Caribbean lawless after someone at his command saw it.

• A field-grade officer deactivated their Facebook and avoids responding to colleagues who text news articles, worried about being baited into criticizing the Trump administration.

• An enlisted Marine says a mentor warned her to erase any public-facing support for progressive causes.

"I had to take my pronouns off my LinkedIn. I've scrubbed everything that has ever mentioned or supported" LGBTQ causes, the Marine sergeant told Business Insider. She said her mentor warned that Pentagon officials may be looking for "anything that could be construed as contrary to the vision that the current administration has."

These individual acts of self-censorship mirror a broader chill sweeping the ranks, especially as the crackdown has burst into the open at the highest levels. Tensions flared again this week as the Defense Department said it was launching a command investigation of Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly after a preliminary review of his video urging troops to defy unlawful orders.

The Trump administration says it has a prerogative to police speech it deems offensive or inappropriate, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the administration's policies are intended "to rip out the politics" from the services. Some experts on military law say the scrutiny and its repercussions are an abuse of the military's authority.

One of the flashpoints has been the September murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Top Pentagon leaders have said it's "unacceptable" for troops "to celebrate or mock" the killing.

After Kirk's killing, some service members said things online like "glad he's dead." Others criticized his rhetoric or, more broadly, complained about Trump administration policies or conservatives. In one case, a colonel was suspended for lamenting to friends the angry arguments that followed Kirk's death.

More than 120 service members have been investigated for political comments since Kirk's death, according to a tally reported by The Washington Post.

Nearly a dozen military-law experts told Business Insider the punishments generally wouldn't hold up in a military courtroom because they lack the elements of speech crimes, such as "contemptuous" words against an elected leader, or because the comments were unrelated to the military and not said in uniform.

"What we're seeing now is abuse of speech restrictions," said Rachel VanLandingham, a Southwestern Law School professor and retired Air Force JAG who is an expert on military speech.

"Our service members understand that their rights are more restricted within the military. Now they're being chilled into giving up the rights they actually do have," she said. "It's unprecedented."

A wide range of allegations

Military leaders have disclosed that they are tracking "unprofessional" social media use. An October message from the Navy secretary encouraged sailors and Marines to "refrain from social media engagement" about official government or military policies.

"This is more than just policing manners," said Frank Rosenblatt, a professor at the Mississippi College School of Law and a retired Army JAG. "A wider muzzling of the military seems to really serve what they're trying to do — identify these deep state people who are not politically trustworthy."

The Uniform Code of Military Justice imposes some restrictions on troops, criminalizing speech that disrespects officers and civilian leaders, or that undermines the obedience necessary to carry out orders. Troops retain many First Amendment protections; hate speech, for instance, is lawful unless it has a military connection, such as if it was uttered on a base or warship.

The hunt for speech crimes is fueling suspicion and distrust among some. The field-grade officer who shut down her Facebook said she now worries that a casual remark could brand her as liberal and thus politically suspect.

She has begun scrutinizing parts of her career she never imagined — where her office is located, who works nearby, whether to respond to articles shared in group chats, and even whether to travel with coworkers she doesn't know well.

"It just takes one person to flag you as disloyal to end your career — or worse," said the officer, who asked for anonymity to avoid official retaliation.

'You better be careful'

Don C. King, a civilian defense attorney, said he got a call recently from a worried service member. They'd written a social media post critical of the Trump administration's lethal attacks on suspected drug-smuggling boats near Venezuela. Someone at their command saw it and told them, "'Hey, you better be careful with your social media.'"

"I've been in the military my entire adult life, over 30 years, and I've never seen any of the services or DoD scout social media for what it considers to be inappropriate speech," said King, who retired as a Navy JAG in 2022 and owns the King Military Law firm specializing in military clients.

The allegations against rank-and-file troops are unfolding in the military's administrative system, which can discipline troops and end careers outside of public court proceedings.

"These cases are early, and both the government and the affected individuals are figuring out how they want to fight," said Eugene R. Fidell, an influential military law expert and senior research scholar at Yale. "The simple wear and tear of having to defend and try to overturn one of these administrative sanctions is itself a punishment."

First Amendment restrictions on troops stem from the military's apolitical role and its reliance on obedience to orders. Officers can face criminal penalties for "contemptuous" words about the president, as can all personnel for disrespecting a senior officer. However, troops can comment politically, donate to a campaign, or display bumper stickers. Their protections are strongest when their comments are in a personal capacity, made out of uniform and without any hint of official endorsement.

Social media can amplify a service member's comments far beyond a bumper sticker, regardless of intention. That poses higher risks that the military as an institution could be seen as backing a political party or objective, said Peter Feaver, a professor of political science at Duke University who authored a 2023 book, "Thanks For Your Service," about how high confidence in the military has depended on beliefs about its competence and its avoidance of partisan politics.

"The military is becoming combatants in the culture wars," he said. Part of the way to change that, he said, "requires the military not to sound like they're culture warriors."

"So you may have a right to say it, but it wouldn't be right to say it," he added.

Military law criminalizes conduct that disgraces an officer or damages good order and discipline; however, case law has set a high bar when the conduct at issue is purely private speech otherwise protected by the First Amendment.

Brent Sadler, a defense expert at a leading conservative think tank, said speech monitoring is justified to enforce the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

"The issue is more about professionalism and protecting any appearance of the military interfering with political-civil control," said Sadler, a retired Navy captain and senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

"I do think numerous conservatives in the military have been persecuted legally and professionally," he said, pointing to the 8,000 troops kicked out for refusing the COVID vaccine mandate before the Pentagon rescinded it in 2023.

Mark Jensen, a former Army JAG who retired earlier this year, said the Pentagon's policing has expanded over the past few months from "despicable" speech about Kirk, to rebukes of his politics, to advocacy for transgender people, to criticism of the Trump administration.

Jensen represents four military clients and a civilian who face punishment for their speech. The fact that some of the allegations are public is the result of an anti-"woke" online army that publishes hearsay and leaked comments on sites like X.

On top of being "smeared," Jensen said, these troops undergo the stress of an investigation, a relief if they're in leadership, a poor evaluation, a reprimand by a general, and face a review that can reduce their rank.

"It's like a 1-2-3-4-5 punch," Jensen said. "All of it with minimal due process."

Kelly is not the only veteran to unexpectedly face punishment. In one recent case, an ex-soldier on the inactive reserve — a roster of those who can be reactivated in a national emergency — told a civilian attorney he was investigated by military officials for a private social media post, the attorney said.

"Even when people are in the normal reserves, the regulations are pretty clear that conduct in a civilian capacity shouldn't be punished in a military capacity," said Cody Harnish, a private defense attorney and former Army JAG who specializes in UCMJ cases.

"They're way out of their depth here."

Staff writer Kelsey Baker contributed to this report.