Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office made an aggressive push to secure interviews with the two crew members aboard an F-15 that was shot down over Iran, according to a new report ahead of 60 Minutes’ 59th-season premiere.
CNN reported that Hegseth took an unusually direct role in efforts to bring the airmen onto the program.
Multiple sources told the network that Hegseth met privately with both crew members after they initially voiced reservations. During those meetings, he asked whether they were willing to participate rather than requiring them to appear.
However, one of the airmen reportedly remained concerned that taking part could effectively become an order from military leadership.
Three sources said military officials had worried that the television interview might expose classified information connected to the rescue operation.
Despite those concerns, two sources said political appointees working in Hegseth’s office were determined to have both crew members participate.
CNN reported that Hegseth’s private meeting persuaded one of the men to agree to the interview. The other ultimately chose not to appear.
The interview with the unnamed weapons systems officer, who was reportedly injured and spent two days alone in Iran after the April incident, is scheduled to air Sunday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly took an unusually hands-on role as his office pressed to secure interviews with the two crew members of an F-15 shot down over Iran in April, according to CNN.
![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 and asked if they wanted to participate after they expressed initial doubts about the interview. Only one ultimately agreed to appear.
A news release issued Tuesday described 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.’
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.
