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Home / US-Israel-Iran / “Casually Cover-Up”: The Pentagon Is Hiding U.S. Losses Under Trump in the Middle East
US‑Israel‑Iran, Iran, Middle East

April 1, 2026

“Casually Cover-Up”: The Pentagon Is Hiding U.S. Losses Under Trump in the Middle East

“CENTCOM and the White House should be providing accurate and timely information on the costs and casualties involved in this war. After all, it is American taxpayers who are funding it and U.S. economic prosperity and economic wellbeing that is being undermined by it,” Jennifer Kavanagh, the director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a think tank that advocates for measured U.S. foreign policy, told The Intercept.

Kavanagh, who previously called attention to the vulnerability of U.S. outposts in the Middle East, echoed Votel. “It has been clear for years that the rapid proliferation of drones and cheap missiles would put U.S. bases and U.S. early detection radars in the region at risk, yet the Pentagon did little to protect them,” she said. “The failure to invest in hardened infrastructure was a choice. Congress should see this failure as evidence that simply giving the Pentagon more money is not a path to national security.”

“We would be better off if bases across the region were closed for good,” she added.

Read at The Intercept

Featuring

Jennifer
Kavanagh

Senior Fellow & Director of Military Analysis

Defense Priorities

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