Pentagon Revokes Approval for Officers to Speak at Aspen Security Forum

ASPEN, Colo.—The Pentagon has prohibited its officers from speaking at a summit of international security leaders, saying that the program would not support the Trump administration’s agenda.

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced that permission to speak at the Aspen Security Forum was revoked for 12 military commanders on July 14, just one day before the forum was slated to begin.

In a statement shared with The Epoch Times, Parnell said that the Aspen Institute’s values “do not align with the values” of the Defense Department.

“The Department will remain strong in its focus to increase the lethality of our warfighters, revitalize the warrior ethos, and project Peace Through Strength on the world stage,” Parnell said. “It is clear the ASF is not in alignment with these goals.”

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson, in a statement to Just the News, said the department has “no interest in legitimizing an organization that has invited former officials who have been the architects of chaos abroad and failure at home.”

Speakers this year include former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, European Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius, and former U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

It is unclear at this time if any actions by the Aspen Institute triggered the abrupt pullout.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on whether the Pentagon had consulted it in deciding to withdraw from the summit.

The Aspen Institute describes itself as a nonpartisan think tank. Its strategy group, which organizes the annual security forum, was founded in 1984 partly as a means for top officials to hash out disagreements about then-President Ronald Reagan’s military buildup and missile defense plans.

Its annual forum was founded in 2010 as a means to bring together national security and foreign policy leaders from around the world.

Twelve military officials were slated to speak at the forum on a suite of pivotal issues, such as confronting Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific and containing conflict with Iran.

The organization’s speaker roster still includes current officials from the State Department and former officials from the prior Trump administration. They include Adam Boehler, U.S. special envoy for hostage response, and Mark Esper, who served as secretary of defense during President Donald Trump’s first term.

For its part, the Aspen Institute said that it extended invitations to numerous senior Trump administration officials, including several Cabinet-level leaders. The Pentagon speakers had been approved to appear at the conference until July 14.

The organization said in a statement shared with The Epoch Times that it would continue to facilitate discussions of vital security issues and encourage a diversity of viewpoints regardless of the political affiliations of those who espouse them.

“For more than a decade, the Aspen Security Forum has welcomed senior officials—Republican and Democrat, civilian and military—as well as senior foreign officials and experts, who bring experience and diverse perspectives on matters of national security,” the statement reads.

“We will miss the participation of the Pentagon, but our invitations remain open.”

Nicholas Burns, who previously served as U.S. ambassador to China under the Biden administration and now serves as co-chair of the Aspen Strategy Group, said that the forum’s doors would remain open to the Trump administration and strategic discourse more broadly.

“Of course, [the door is open] to our government, because our government was duly elected, and we want them to succeed,” Burns said during his opening remarks on July 15.

“Our door is open this summer, next year, and every year, because that’s the American way.”