OUR PICKSPete Hegseth’s Pentagon Is Becoming a Bubble | Five Misconceptions Blocking National Security Reform | Every Scientific Empire Comes to an End, and more

Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon Is Becoming a Bubble  (Nancy A. Youssef, The Atlantic)
An already insular Defense Department is sealing itself off from outside thinkers.
Last month, a group of seven U.S. generals and admirals—including the top admiral in charge of U.S. military operations in the Asia-Pacific region—prepared to travel to the Aspen Security Forum, in Colorado. Security officials had spoken at the annual conference for years, including during Donald Trump’s first term, and were set to discuss topics such as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, the future of AI, and threats from China. But a day before the forum began, the officers’ staff got calls from the Pentagon telling them to stay away. On social media, Sean Parnell, the Defense Department’s top spokesperson, later made clear why: The forum, he said, was “hosted by an organization that promotes the evils of globalism, disdain for America, and hatred for our great president, Donald J. Trump.”
Troops and civilians attend hundreds of events annually on behalf of the Pentagon, and have been doing so for decades. 
Previous administrations have required military personnel to secure approval to attend conferences. The difference, this time, is the apparently partisan slant to the vetting process. By prohibiting DOD personnel from engaging with viewpoints that the administration disagrees with, defense officials and conference planners told me, the Pentagon risks groupthink that could have real consequences.
If the department continues to ban conference attendance in a substantial way, it will also make U.S. forces more like their Russian and Chinese counterparts, which in many cases can seek outside views only through state-sanctioned academics. 

Every Scientific Empire Comes to an End  (Ross Andersen, The Atlantic)
America’s run as the premier techno-superpower may be over.

Trump Promised to ”Drill, Baby, Drill. The New Rigs Are Nowhere to Be Found  (Deep Vakil, Wired)
With clean energy more cost-competitive than it once was, the White House’s oil-first strategy is faltering.

Trump Administration Climate Report a “Farce,” Scientists Say  (Dharna Noor and Oliver Milman, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
A new Trump administration report which attempts to justify a mass rollback of environmental regulations is chock-full of climate misinformation, experts say.