Pentagon Restricts Public Access to Decades of Weapons Testing Reports

The Pentagon has removed 25 years of unclassified weapons testing publications from its public website. The department stated that this was a proactive measure to strengthen operational security, arguing that foreign adversaries could use artificial intelligence to compile unclassified data into detailed vulnerability profiles of US defense capabilities and critical infrastructure. Access to these annual reports now requires military grade credentials and FBI background checks, limiting availability to authorized personnel.

Critics of the move, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, argue that the restriction reduces transparency and may endanger service members by hiding reports on weapons malfunctions. Senator Warren also suggested that the director of the Pentagon's weapons testing office, Amy Henninger, may have misled Congress given her previous pledges to be as transparent as possible.

Additional context provided by reports indicates that the Pentagon's test office has seen significant staffing cuts, reducing from 126 to 30 employees. Furthermore, other officials recently blocked the public release of a congressionally mandated GAO report on the F-35 program by labeling it Controlled Unclassified Information. While center and center right sources both report the facts of the restriction and the AI justification, the center right framing provides more extensive detail regarding the specific administrative cuts and the legislative conflict surrounding the decision.