Pentagon's plan to limit contact with Congress is 'not going to work,' lawmakers say

Senior Republican lawmakers predicted that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's new policy restricting communication between Pentagon personnel and Congress will crash and burn.

WASHINGTON — Senior Republican lawmakers predicted Wednesday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's new policy restricting communication between Pentagon personnel and Congress will crash and burn.

"It is ill-advised, and it's not going to work," House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, whose panel provides funding for the Pentagon and the rest of the federal government, said in a telephone interview with NBC News.

Cole, a Republican whose Oklahoma district includes Tinker Air Force Base and Fort Sill, said he and his staff receive important information from personnel up and down the ranks on a regular basis on a wide range of topics, including the effects of a political stalemate in Washington that has paused certain government operations.

“Do you think I’m not going to be able to talk to those command generals on a regular basis about things like the shutdown?” Cole asked rhetorically. "I don't understand what they're worried about," he said of the department.

Hegseth announced the new policy in an Oct. 15 memo that was obtained by NBC News on Tuesday, after its existence was revealed by Breaking Defense. It is part of the secretary's broader effort to control the flow of information out of an agency that employs more than 3 million people.