Pete Hegseth is sounding the alarm on China. “There’s no reason to sugarcoat it,” President Donald Trump’s defense secretary said at a summit in Singapore. “The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent.

These days, the Pentagon is a battleground, where, for the first time in decades, the cadre of reporters embedded in the building faces a civilian leadership that is openly hostile to their traditional role as watchdogs on behalf of the public.