Pentagon Pundits "Under Review"

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Five days after its military analyst program was exposed by the New York Times, the Pentagon announced that "briefings and all other interactions with the military analysts had been suspended indefinitely pending an internal review." Pentagon spokesperson Robert Hastings "could not say ... how long this review might take. 'We'll take the time to do it right,'" he told Stars and Stripes. Hastings, who just became the principal deputy assistant secretary of Defense for public affairs last month, also said "he is unaware of the Defense Department's past activities with retired military analysts." The Pentagon's promise to investigate, without clarifying its standards or timeline, is great crisis management. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman later told Reuters the suspension is "temporary" and "he does not think the program violated any laws."