A podcast host who denies climate change and spreads conspiracy theories is now a top communications official at the Department of Defense.
Graham Allen, who hosts the “Dear America” podcast, announced on Monday that he had been appointed to a DOD job that he would not name. His post on social media website X said only that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth invited him to Washington “specifically to help with the Pentagon side of things.”
“Congratulations Graham! Looking forward to working together to serve the Country and the American warfighters,” Hegseth wrote in response to Allen’s post.
A DOD spokesperson who would only speak on background said Allen is the agency’s director of digital media, a position they noted does not require Senate confirmation. Neither DOD nor the White House provided any further response on Allen’s work.
Allen’s appointment comes after the Pentagon, which has long avoided appearing political, launched a verified “rapid response” X account — similar to those used in political campaigns — that it states is “Fighting Against Fake News!” Hegseth has already reposted the account multiple times.
Allen is a right-wing podcast host and Iraq war veteran who has frequently railed against the “climate cult.” He has a long history of attacking climate policies and science and has claimed that a warmer world does not threaten the country.
Allen launched an unsuccessful bidfor a House seat in South Carolina’s 7th Congressional District in the 2022 race, even though he did not live in the district. He dropped out after failing to gain traction in the primary.
He was also a media personality for Turning Point USA — the conservative organization headed by Charlie Kirk — which promoted videos of Allen dropping a “TRUTH BOMB on (a) Leftist student” and tearing “apart the The Left & Oppressive Big Government.”
Like Allen, Hegseth has characterized climate change as a government control conspiracy. Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has called climate change a “religion” and said it is used by the left wing to “control your life.” He has also pledged to eliminate all of the Pentagon’s climate work.
For years, Allen has frequently shared and embraced climate denial and conspiracies.
“Climate Change is yet ANOTHER attempt of the left to spin FEAR into your everyday life,” Allen wrote on X in 2022.
He falsely claimed former Vice President Kamala Harris was pushing population control as part of her climate policy, highlighting a verbal misstep Harris made in a speech while ignoring her correction.
“Kamala just said that ‘reducing population’ is a goal of the climate change movement?!?! They are not even trying to hide it!!! This is insanity!!!”, he wrote in 2023. The official White House transcript showed that Harris meant to say “reduce pollution.”
He also attacked climate activist Greta Thunberg, saying she had a “Children of the Corn vibe” and that her parents were guilty of child abuse.
“Martin Luther King had a dream, and I’m pretty sure that dream did not include some Swedish girl telling us Americans what we can do with our air conditioners,” he said in one rant recorded from the cab of a pickup truck and posted to Facebook.
Allen’s fiery rhetoric stands apart from the military approach to climate, which has long treated global warming as apolitical and a threat to its operations as well as American security in general. The Pentagon has spent years incorporating climate change research into its military planning measures, through both Republican and Democratic administrations, including Trump’s first term.
DOD has used climate science to help rebuild bases damaged by extreme weather, train troops to operate in different climatic conditions and track global conflicts throughout the world that could be intensified by increased drought or other climate effects.
To stay ahead of those who wish to harm the country, the military needs to be “able to assess all risks” on the battlefield and in objective planning, said Sherri Goodman, a former deputy undersecretary of Defense and the author of “Threat Multiplier: Climate, Military Leadership, and the Fight for Global Security.”
“You can’t be blind to any kinds of risk,” she said. “It’s not about greening the military. It’s more about climate proofing, so that we can reduce risk to our forces, to our bases, and be able to operate in and through a changing climate.”
In addition to criticizing climate policy, Allen has used his public persona to frequently embrace and share other internet conspiracies.
He falsely claimed that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. the former Democratic vice presidential candidate, changed his state’s flag to “resemble the Somalian flag.” Last year, he called Taylor Swift “a witch and a devil” and said she built her global fan base on “some kind of satanic music.”
Earlier this month, Allen suggested there may have been two shooters in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
