The Pentagon isn’t required to disclose every troop injury. Here’s what the rules say
Iranian forces killed two U.S. troops in Jordan over the weekend in the latest escalation between the countries. While President Donald Trump has repeatedly said the U.S. is “winning” this war, new reporting indicates Americans are being left in the dark on some matters, specifically when it comes to troop well-being.
A new report from The New York Times on Monday says the Pentagon is withholding dozens of U.S. injuries from the Iran war. Reporters spoke to several U.S. officials, who said the Friday attacks in Jordan that killed 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25 and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, injured dozens more.
It’s the latest incident of the Trump administration and the Pentagon keeping the war in Iran close to their chest, sparking criticism from the general public and lawmakers.
But U.S. military officials argue the Pentagon is not required to disclose troop injuries.
Injuries and deaths spark backlash and unbalanced headlines
On Friday, U.S. Central Command announced Gonzales’ and Feehan’s deaths, saying four other troops were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals. The statement added that other personnel were evaluated for minor injuries and returned to duty, but didn’t disclose how many were involved.
The two deaths on Friday, and a third in Iraq this weekend, bring the U.S. troop fatalities for the Iran war up to 17. Six were killed in Kuwait after an Iranian drone strike at a civilian port.
A seventh died following an Iranian attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
Six more were killed when a KC-135 refueling aircraft supporting U.S. military operations against Iran crashed in Iraq, plus another died when a Navy pilot died in a helicopter crash in the Arabian Sea.
But the lack of reporting on injuries is sparking backlash online — and a wide variety of news headlines.
While some news organizations like The Independent stick to the facts, using the headline “Pentagon did not disclose dozens of US military injuries in Iran war: report,” others used language that could make the Pentagon’s non-disclosure look intentional and malicious.
The New York Times, in its reporting, said the Pentagon “withheld” dozens of injuries, while other news organizations used words like “concealed” and “kept quiet.”
What some of the organizations fail to acknowledge is the legalities and procedure behind the Pentagon’s decision to withhold injury information.
What the law says about injury and death disclosures
The Department of Defense is required to publicly disclose military casualties. However, the timing varies based on when next of kin are notified.
Under DoD Instruction 1300.18, the DoD can’t publicly announce any casualty information to the general public or media until at least 24 hours have passed since family was notified in person.
After those 24 hours have passed, the DoD typically releases the names, ranks, units and hometowns of troops killed in action. There are some exceptions when troops killed were part of a classified mission or an ongoing operation — both situations where delays and redactions occur.
Things get a little more tricky, however, when it comes to troop injuries.
The U.S. military generally is not legally required to publicly disclose all troop injuries, particularly when those injuries are minor, and the troop quickly returns to duty. While transparency in such government functions would be in the public’s interest, reporting every injury in a combat situation could prove a task that not even the federal government could do with any type of speed or accuracy.
The military can also withhold troop injuries through the Freedom of Information Act Exemption 1. The exemption allows the military to withhold information on casualties and injuries if its release would jeopardize national defense, reveal troop locations or compromise ongoing military operations.
Essentially, if the U.S. government were to say a specific Iranian attack led to a dozen injuries, it could inform the Iranian government where troops are located and how many they could potentially harm if launching another attack.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
