Current and former national security officials have reportedly spoken out after the Pentagon decided to bail on attending the Aspen Security Forum on Monday.

Many forum attendees responded to the boycott with eyerolling while others had genuine questions about what the Pentagon was thinking when they pulled roughly a dozen members of the Pentagon from the event, according to Politico. Sources reportedly used words such as “moronic” and asked what the Trump administration means by “globalism.”

The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboardPentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said Monday that the Defense Department was not interested in giving legitimacy to an organization that “promotes the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the President of the United States.” Just the News first reported on the Pentagon’s decision.

Organizers of Aspen denied such accusations to Politico, claiming the organization was not partisan. Some attendees and organizers suggested that Trump officials could have convinced attendees of their America First agenda if they had shown up. Nearly all of the sources were granted anonymity to shelter them from feared Trump retaliation, according to the outlet.

Officials said they believed the pullout was a publicity stunt, a distraction from Trump’s administration’s decision not to release the Epstein Files. Others questioned why the Pentagon wouldn’t come to the conference to debate ideas with people who may disagree with them, the outlet reported.

WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 07: British Foreign Secretary David Cameron speaks at the Aspen Security Forum on December 07, 2023 in Washington, DC. Cameron spoke on the need to continue to provide military aid to Ukraine to stop Russia’s advancement and urged the U.S. Congress to pass the stalled funding bill. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

One foreign lawmaker claimed the administration is doing “what autocrats do — they don’t want to hear criticism.”

“I think sometimes they are nervous about engaging in a real debate about their policies,” a former Biden-era official told Politico, adding that it wasn’t healthy.

“A lot of what’s happening in the world is making all of us who are experts in this field reassess our assumptions, and so actually engaging with people who think differently helps you do that, right?” Anja Manuel, the forum’s executive director, said.