The Pentagon has rolled out sweeping new rules for reporters that cover the Department of Defense, requiring journalists to sign a pledge not to obtain or report information unless it’s been officially approved for release...even when that information is unclassified. Reporters who don’t sign, or who violate the agreement, risk losing their press credentials and access to the building. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has defended the restrictions as necessary for security and order inside a sensitive facility.
Several outlets report the change marks a sharp break with past practice: reporters’ movement in the Pentagon will be tightly limited, and the department will have broader discretion to label journalists “security risks” and revoke access. Press groups from across the spectrum , National Press Club, Knight First Amendment Institute, and others, have condemned the policy as a form of prior restraint that chills independent reporting on the military.
Hegseth has publicly signaled a harder line on media access in recent months, curbing free movement in Pentagon corridors and reducing on-site workspace for legacy outlets. The new pledge is the most sweeping step yet and fits a broader pattern of the administration’s friction with independent media.
Why it matters: The First Amendment protects a free press so the public can understand what government does in our name, especially when it involves war and the armed forces. Time, place, and manner rules are normal for secure spaces; rules that condition access on publishing only pre-approved information are something else entirely. If the rule stands, day-to-day accountability reporting on budgets, deployments, and contractor influence could get thinner and slower-precisely where sunlight matters most.
We’ll keep tracking legal and policy challenges as they emerge. For now, the signal is unmistakable: the space for independent defense reporting just got smaller.
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