Luggage are lined on the tarmac as U.S. Air Force servicemen board a plane bound for the U.S. at al-Asad air base in Iraq's western province of Anbar in this November 1, 2011 file photo. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen/Files (IRAQ - Tags: TRANSPORT MILITARY)
NPR: Pentagon Questioned Over Blackout On War Zone Troop Numbers
For more than a decade, if you wanted to know how many U.S. troops there were in war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan, you could readily find that information at a public Pentagon website that's updated every three months.
But since late last year, the Pentagon's stopped posting those numbers for Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
That public information blackout, along with the recent suspension of Pentagon reports on airstrikes and collateral damage in Afghanistan, has some lawmakers on Capitol Hill raising red flags.
"What's your view on the detail of the information that should be released?," Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed asked Lt. Gen. Scott Miller at his June 19 confirmation hearing to be the next U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
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WNU Editor: The blogger in me always likes to obtain information, post it, and to then discuss it. So this black-out of numbers is a disappointment. But when I put on my military hat, I understand the need for secrecy and to not feed information to the enemy. And let's face it, troop numbers is intel that the enemy will use. My hope is that some middle ground will be found, and that these numbers are posted at a later date instead of every three months.
