Pentagon Purges Classified Documents After Military Warnings on Iran

The United States Department of Defense removed decades of classified documents from the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) following reports that senior military leaders warned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth about the sustainability of a prolonged war with Iran.

The purged records were part of the Secretary of Defense Orders Book (SDOB), a system used to track military resources and facilitate a non-concurring process. This process allows generals and admirals to formally disagree with orders issued by President Donald Trump and Secretary Hegseth. In an August 14 edition of the SDOB, leaders from the Pacific, Southern, and European Commands, as well as the chief of naval operations, argued that large-scale operations against Iran could weaken the ability of the U.S. to confront other global threats.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell declined to discuss the removal of the documents, stating that the department does not publicly discuss internal operational deliberative processes. Parnell defended the administration's operational processes and asserted that some media reports regarding the situation were inaccurate.