The Enskog kinetic equation for dense hard sphere gases is analyzed by separating the time reversible and time irreversible parts of the collision operator. The reversible part is responsible for the screening of a weak external potential. The short time behavior of the two‐time density correlation function can be calculated or equivalently, the second‐ and fourth‐frequency moments of its Fourier trans form. The Enskog predictions for the second moment agree with the exact microscopic result of de Gennes to the first power of the density. The disagreement for higher powers of the density can be traced to a fundamental defect of the Enskog collision frequency functional. The exact theory yields an infinite value for the fourth‐frequency moment, in contrast to the finite value predicted by the Enskog equation.