Media within the Pentagon covering the U.S. military will face new restrictions on the information they are allowed to report or face loss of access to the Pentagon, according to a memo officials distributed to reporters on Friday.
Members of the press will be required to sign a document acknowledging they should not disclose either classified or controlled unclassified information that is not formally authorized for publication, says the memo from the Department of Defense, which the Trump administration has renamed the Department of War. It says Pentagon reporters may lose their press credentials for “unauthorized access, attempted unauthorized access, or unauthorized disclosure” of classified information or anything designated as “controlled unclassified information.”
The memo also says “DoW information must be approved before public release … even if it is unclassified.”
Compliance with the directive would mean that journalists would not be able to use unnamed U.S. military sources in much of their reporting without risking loss of access to the Pentagon.
Reporters’ movements within the Pentagon will also be more limited. Reporters will need an official escort within much of the facility, even with a press pass.
In May, the Pentagon informed reporters that it intended to impose new restrictions intended to reduce leaks or “unauthorized disclosures” and began requiring journalists to be escorted throughout the building. Friday’s memo formalizes the earlier directives and includes a Pentagon map detailing which areas are off limits entirely and which require an escort. The earlier memo did not include the restrictions on sources of information.
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“The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon — the people do,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted on X Friday evening. “The press is no longer allowed to roam the halls of a secure facility. Wear a badge and follow the rules — or go home.”
The Pentagon Press Association Board said in a statement that it is aware of the new directive and is reviewing it.
National Press Club president Mike Balsamo called the new regulations “a direct assault on independent journalism.”
“If the news about our military must first be approved by the government, then the public is no longer getting independent reporting,” Balsamo said in a statement. “It is getting only what officials want them to see. That should alarm every American.”
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to The New York Times that the guidelines were “in line with every other military base in the country,” and said they were “basic, common-sense guidelines to protect sensitive information.”
