Pentagon removes decades of weapon test reports from public view

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has quietly removed decades of weapons testing publications from its public website, saying adversaries could exploit the data with artificial intelligence even as critics said the move raised transparency concerns.

The director of the Pentagon’s weapons testing office, Amy Henninger, restricted access to 25 years’ worth of unclassified annual reports on the status of major weapons programme evaluations on July 30, the department said in a statement, describing it as “a proactive measure designed to strengthen US operational security posture”.

That is because foreign adversaries could use AI and other advanced tools “to compile disparate, unclassified data points into highly detailed vulnerability profiles targeting US critical infrastructure and defence capabilities”, it said. The “annual reports were transitioned to a secure, authenticated network”, it added.

The annual testing office reports have often outlined unclassified effectiveness and maintenance shortcomings in systems, but they will now only be available to authorised personnel possessing a military standard “Common Access Card”, according to a Pentagon statement. Those cards are only issued after FBI background checks.

The reports, along with a separate yearly assessment by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), are the public’s main source of unclassified information about the status of major defence acquisition efforts, including the US$1.6 trillion (S$2.05 trillion) F-35 programme.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who pledged to run “the most transparent Department of Defence in history”, has cut staffing and funding for the Pentagon’s test office as part of broader efforts to streamline the department. The test office staff was slashed to 30 from 126, and had 90 programmes removed from its oversight, according to the GAO.

Other defence officials earlier in 2026 blocked the public release of a congressionally mandated annual GAO report on the controversial F-35 programme for the first time since its performance assessments were initially issued more than 20 years ago, restricting the document by labelling it “Controlled Unclassified Information”.

Senate Armed Services Committee member Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, said in a statement to Bloomberg News that “hiding reports that expose weapons malfunctions could cost service members their lives and waste billions in taxpayer funds”.

She criticised Henninger, the Pentagon test office’s director, for not following through after pledging during her nomination hearing in 2025 to be as transparent as possible with the office’s reports.

“This is a dangerous reversal,” Warren said. “And it raises questions as to whether Dr Henninger intentionally misled Congress.”

Henninger did not respond to a request for comment.

Warren’s statement referenced an exchange in which she asked if Henninger could “promise to ensure that the testing office’s reports inform the public as much as possible about the problems that we need to fix in order to make sure that our weapons are safe”?

Henninger replied: “Yes, Senator. To the maximum extent possible.”

The annual reports were removed from the Pentagon website for a brief period after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks by officials who cited the need to limit their circulation. Still, hard copies were provided to news organisations.

The 1983 law creating the test office “made it clear the office should issue annual reports that are unclassified” and don’t require dissemination controls, said Greg Williams, defence policy director with the Project on Government Oversight. He also pointed to a 2011 law that was “similarly clear that each unclassified report delivered to Congress” – including the annual test assessment – should be made available to the public by being posted online.

“This language is extraordinarily plain,” Williams said. “I don’t see how it can be circumvented without involving Congress.”

Access to the annual reports “are not restricted for defence partners”, rather, they have been transitioned to a secure” site “to ensure they are accessed exclusively by authorised personnel supporting the defense mission”, the Pentagon said in its statement. Bloomberg