(José Niño, Headline USA) A journalist probing Pentagon leadership has found himself facing intimidation rather than answers.
Six weeks before publication, journalist Dan Friedman received an email from Jack Posobiec asking whether he had a “creepy fetish for Asian women”, according to a report by Mother Jones.
Posobiec said he planned to include the allegation in a story about him. The message arrived one day after Friedman contacted the Pentagon press office with questions about Eric Geressy, a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The timing raised immediate concern. Friedman interpreted the message as a warning. Publish the story and get smeared.
Geressy plays a central role in the Pentagon campaign to instill a warrior ethos and currently leads a review of the role of women in the armed forces. The Mother Jones report noted that Hegseth has described him as both mentor and critic and awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross for actions during a 2007 ambush in Baghdad.
While reporting, Friedman discovered that Geressy’s email address was linked to a public Goodreads account listing pornographic titles centered on cuckolding and sexualized depictions of Asian women. Those books appeared alongside military histories and works authored by Hegseth. The page disappeared one day after Friedman contacted both Geressy and the Pentagon.
Friedman’s inquiries also addressed a 1997 domestic violence allegation, past foreign relationships, and whether those relationships had been reviewed during security clearance evaluations. The Pentagon delayed responses before chief spokesman Sean Parnell issued a statement saying Geressy “has never posed a security risk or engaged in improper behavior” and accused Mother Jones of publishing a “shoddy hit piece.”
Posobiec’s questions mirrored Friedman’s reporting and arrived with the same deadline she had given the Pentagon. Both Posobiec and Pentagon officials denied coordination. Geressy declined to comment. Friedman concluded that the message served as a form of intimidation aimed at his professional peers and his family.
Rather than retreat, Friedman and her editors pursued further verification. They relied on data from OSINT Industries — a UK-based organization whose platform links personal identifiers such as email addresses and phone numbers to corresponding online accounts — to confirm the email address had an associated account. CEO Nathaniel Fried said “it’s 100 percent that that email has an account.” Either Geressy created it or someone used his personal information.
Amazon, which owns Goodreads, said it no longer retained identifying data for deleted accounts. Because the account vanished immediately after inquiries began, the response failed to undermine the connection.
Former intelligence officials told Friedman that personal conduct matters when evaluating national security risk. Former CIA officer John Sipher explained “It’s all about whether you are susceptible to a foreign service getting any leverage against you. It may not be disqualifying, but it should be looked at.”
Geressy lived in 2016 with a woman believed to be a Chinese national who briefly formed a company referencing Chinese investment at his home address. The Pentagon declined to say whether the relationship factored into clearance reviews.
The reporting also found that Geressy’s identifying information appeared in multiple adult website data breaches, including Ashley Madison and AdultFriendFinder. Cyber researchers said this did not confirm usage but acknowledged such exposure would typically trigger scrutiny.
The controversy unfolded amid a broader crackdown on press independence. The Pentagon now requires credentialed reporters to accept restrictions on publishing unauthorized information. Most outlets refused. The New York Times sued the Pentagon, arguing the policy violates the First Amendment. Posobiec accepted the terms and now holds Pentagon access.
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson has appeared on Posobiec’s program and thanked him for complying with the rules, praising him as an “incredible journalist.”
After weeks of silence, Posobiec resurfaced and said he was “finalizing my story,” asking whether Friedman, her wife, or her in-laws wished to comment.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
