Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office pressed the two crew members of an F-15 downed over Iran to appear on 60 Minutes for the program’s 59th-season premiere, according to a new report.
CNN reported that Hegseth took what sources described as an “unusually hands-on role” in the effort to secure the interviews.
After both airmen initially voiced hesitation, Hegseth met with them privately and asked whether they wished to participate rather than compelling them to do so, sources told the network.
Still, one of the airmen raised concerns that he could be ordered to participate, the report said.
Three of the multiple sources who spoke with CNN said military officials feared the interview could result in classified information about the rescue operation being disclosed.
Two sources said unnamed political appointees in Hegseth’s office remained “adamant” that both members of the crew take part in the sit-down.
According to CNN, one man ultimately agreed after his private meeting with Hegseth, while the other continued to decline.
The interview with the unnamed weapon systems officer, who spent two days alone and injured in Iran after the April incident, is scheduled to air Sunday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took an “unusually hands-on role” in what CNN described as an aggressive push by his office to secure interviews with the two crew members of an F-15 shot down over Iran in April.
![Sources told the network Hegseth 'met privately with [both airmen] and asked whether they wanted to participate rather than forcing their cooperation' after each initially expressed reservations about doing the interview, with only one ultimately accepting](https://i.dailymail.com/1s/2026/09/12/22/111212551-16126473-image-a-9_1789248061070.jpg)
Sources told CNN that Hegseth met privately with both airmen after they initially expressed reservations, asking whether they wanted to participate rather than forcing them to do so. Only one ultimately agreed.
A Tuesday press release touted the interview as the colonel’s ‘first public account of what happened.’
The weapon systems officer, identified only as ‘Bravo,’ tells correspondent Norah O’Donnell in a promotional clip: ‘That day was just another day in the war for us.
‘Until the moment we got hit by an Iranian weapon.’
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He and the other airman quickly ‘hit the ground going somewhere between 70 and 100 miles an hour,’ he recalled.
His partner, a pilot identified by the call sign ‘Alpha,’ was rescued within a matter of hours, after the two found themselves split up.
The colonel, however, had to hide in a mountain crevice and evade capture for two days, during which time he evaded Iranian forces until his rescuers arrived.
The CNN report acknowledged the ‘fierce’ push to interview the pilots that followed, from multiple outlets ‘including CNN.’
Hegseth and his staff were reportedly ‘very enthusiastic to broadcast a dramatic retelling of the incident with both crew members’ after being approached by CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, three of the sources said.
The piece also accused the secretary of ‘working to craft the narrative around the Iran war’ as it becomes increasingly unpopular
The interview with the unnamed weapon systems officer, who spent two days injured behind enemy lines back in April, airs on Sunday
The ejected seat from the US aircraft is pictured. The airman hid in a mountain crevice for nearly 50 hours with nothing but a handgun to protect himself before he was rescued
The Pentagon, however, has aggressively pushed back on the report, going as far as to call the ‘entire story’ a ‘complete lie.’
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told the network in a statement: ‘The decision to participate in the interview was each pilot’s alone – because it is their story.’
‘As CNN notes, one pilot decided to participate and one did not. Additionally, the Department took great care to ensure operational security, sources, and methods were protected.
‘To suggest otherwise is to denigrate every member of our military who participated in and supported the interview.’
The Daily Mail approached CBS News for comment. Weiss assumed her position in October, and recently oversaw an overhaul of 60 Minutes.
Newly minted Executive Producer Nick Bilton also spoke with Hegseth during the interview orchestration process, CNN reported. The episode features an interview with the secretary as well, and US Central Command head Brad Cooper.
