Unclassified info is now being withheld from the public.

This is my baseless speculation and opinion.

I personally believe the Joint Chiefs and SecDef are overwhelmed/feckless/confused.

I believe that the entire enterprise is spirling.  They are having to meet the challenge of two potentially hostile powers, numerous smaller threats and trying to do that during a time when the country is divided, technology is rapidly changing and the very fabric of military discipline/life/culture is under attack.

The latest (a reader brought this up in open comments and I was gonna post about it Sunday) news is stunning.

On Thursday, the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation published the public version of its annual report, and for the first time ever, a version with “controlled unclassified information” was also made available to Defense Department personnel and Congress — out of sight of taxpayers who foot the bill for the multi-million dollar programs.

In December, Raymond O’Toole, then the acting head of the DOT&E office, explained the decision to release a controlled version of the report, saying that some of the unclassified information “shouldn’t wind up in our adversaries’ hands.” He said the services would ultimately determine what information is considered CUI for each weapons system.

But for the experts at think tanks and journalists who rely on DOT&E’s report for an independent assessment of whether a program is meeting requirements, the 2021 report is missing much of the detail provided in previous years — especially regarding specific technical flaws that could hamper a weapon’s ability to perform in combat.

Dan Grazier, a fellow at the Project on Government Oversight, raised alarms over the current state of the report, saying that the decision to conceal unclassified details in a CUI version has grave implications to the future of independent operational testing.

“It is concerning to see the leaders of DOT&E bending to pressure from the services on their anti-transparency push,” Grazier wrote in a statement to Breaking Defense.

Here 

Transformation isn't working and we've been seeing substandard systems being introduced for over a decade now because of it.

What's worse is that DOT&E is just plain lying.

China, Russia, France, the UK and anyone else that is trying to get a peek at our systems has us so thoroughly penetrated that its a joke.

The only people that won't know this info is the general public.

The reality?

The Pentagon has taken a MASSIVE public relations hit.  Confidence in our military is falling like a rock.  News of wasteful spending and weapon systems that don't work will not help the cause.

Additionally recruiting is in the toilet.

The Army is giving 50K bonuses?  That's telling.  Additionally recruiting in the other services is getting even more difficult (and that doesn't even touch on the fact that many that are interested are obese, have criminal records and other things that make them ineligible).

Long story short?

The Pentagon is a storm of its own making (along with Congress...too many cocktail parties and hanging out too long in the beltway has jaded too many) and I don't see a way out anytime soon.

Hiding information (unclassified info at that) from the general public is an indication that they no longer have the courage/moral fortitude to be honest with the people they have sworn to protect.

That type of weakness is disgusting and fills my nostrils.