Pete Hegst, the US Secretary of Defense, prohibited the use of non-public information by Defense Department employees for betting on the US military operation. This is according to a memorandum obtained by Cibias News Network - the American partner of the BBC.

According to Sibias, Pete Guest informed Pentagon officials and combatant commanders in his Oct. 20 memo that this ban includes both classified and unclassified information. This order specifically includes prediction markets such as "Polymarket and Kalshi" whose names are mentioned in this note.

The US Secretary of Defense has warned that making financial transactions in prediction markets could expose information related to sensitive military movements to foreign enemies and endanger the lives of US troops.