Members of Congress should be demanding answers in regard to a "profiling" program by the Department of Defense. It sounds very much like an attempt to manipulate news coverage of the war in Afghanistan - and that is entirely unacceptable.

A company under contract to the Pentagon, The Rendon Group, has been providing various services to the military. They include writing news releases and analyzing press coverage of the war in Afghanistan.

It was revealed last week that The Rendon Group also has been preparing profiles of reporters assigned to Afghanistan. The $1.5 million contract for that has been terminated.

U.S. officials maintain that "profiling" of reporters was used only to help military commanders know more about reporters who would be covering them, and about questions the journalists would be likely to ask.

But critics have said an ulterior motive was in play: Reporters whose profiles showed too much negative coverage of the war were limited in access to U.S. military units and activities. That would amount to an attempt to manage news from Afghanistan. It is something the American people should not tolerate.

Again, we encourage lawmakers to investigate, and insist that no attempts to manage the news be permitted in the military.