FEBRUARY 28, 2025 – Recently appointed Pentagon Press Secretary Sean Parnell, yesterday, recorded the first of a series of weekly, pre-taped video updates on Defense Department accomplishments.
Dubbed “Weekly Sitrep” — sitrep being a military acronym for situation report — the intent of the approximately two-minute address is to convey transparency on the part of DOD.
“The purpose of this is to be the most transparent DOD in American history for the warfighters and the American people,” Parnell said at the outset of his report, then added that it was “an action-packed, ‘America first’ week.”
Parnell then listed five department accomplishments over the week, including the nomination of the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and confirmation of the next Army secretary; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visiting American service members at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; the United Kingdom pledging to increase defense spending; the order to remove all diversity, equity and inclusion content from DOD websites and social media platforms; and Hegseth’s promise to provide the American people accountability for the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Parnell said he hopes the weekly videos will help reestablish trust between the Defense Department and American citizens.
“I think [the sitreps] are important because the American people, over the last four or five years, have lost an enormous amount of trust in once venerated institutions here in this country,” Parnell said.
“And our goal, especially here at the Department of Defense [and] across the government, is to be radically transparent and try to gain some of that trust back … And we’re going to do it through deeds, not words,” he continued.
In addition to fulfilling the duties of press secretary, Parnell — an Army combat veteran of the Afghanistan War — also serves as assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, a dual-hatted role he said he takes quite seriously.
“The mission charge of communicating to the American people, communicating to the American media and communicating what we’re doing here at the Department of Defense, and what the warfighters’ mission is … it’s unbelievably important,” Parnell said.
“On the forefront of my mind, all the time, is that we are standing on the shoulders of giants here at the Pentagon, of those who came before us, who sacrificed so much for everything we have here in this country … It’s just an awesome responsibility,” he added.
The sitreps are scheduled to air weekly across DOD’s various social media channels.
By Matthew Olay, DOD News