Was Air Force's Media Freeze Justified? Defense Experts Weigh In

Bleak times may be ahead for the relationship between the press and U.S. military branches as officials maintain that operational security should outweigh public outreach, according to a former senior Defense Department official and a national security expert.

What's more, recent decisions designed to protect national security may become strict conditioning factors for how future leaders and public affairs officers engage with the press, and an illegitimate way to project strength over weakness, the experts said.

"A natural concern for OpSec is pushing us into a situation where I believe the Defense Department is becoming unhealthy in its outlook toward engagement with the public and with the press," said a former senior Pentagon public affairs official, who asked not to be named because of current employment implications.

Read the full article on Military.com.