Journalists who cover the Defense Department at the Pentagon can no longer gather or report information, even if it is unclassified, unless it’s been authorized for release by the government, defense officials announced Friday. Reporters who don’t sign a statement agreeing to the new rules will have their press credentials revoked, officials said.
Multiple press associations quickly condemned the new rules and said they will fundamentally change journalists’ ability to cover the Pentagon and the U.S. military. They called for the Trump administration to rescind the new requirements, arguing they inhibit transparency to the American people.
The National Press Club denounced the requirement as “a direct assault on independent journalism at the very place where independent scrutiny matters most: the U.S. military.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the new measures, writing on X Friday: “The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon — the people do.”
The Pentagon sent a memo describing the new measures to its in-house press corps late Friday afternoon as a part of new security requirements.
Defense Department “information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified,” the memo said, citing that the department must “safeguard” classified national security information.
The memo said the Department of War — the new secondary name for the Department of Defense adopted as part of a rebranding— may provide controlled unclassified information to individuals “when there is a lawful governmental purpose for doing so.” Further, only “authorized persons” with “favorable determinations of eligibility for access, signed approved non-disclosure agreements, and have a need-to-know may be granted access to” classified national security information.
Those who fail to abide by the rule could be suspended or have their Pentagon access revoked.
