Pentagon, journalists on collision course as restrictions on reporting loom

[Thiệu Ngô]

Facing a deadline next week on whether to sign a statement acknowledging new restrictions on how they do their jobs or risk being thrown out of the Pentagon, journalists who cover the U.S. military appear headed toward a showdown with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

By DAVID BAUDER

Negotiations over changing some of the restrictions “have not been as successful as we had hoped,” the Pentagon Press Association said Wednesday.

The rules limit where reporters can go without an official escort and convey “an unprecedented message of intimidation” for anyone in the Defense Department who might want to speak to a reporter without the approval of Hegseth’s team, the association said in a statement.

When the new policy was issued two weeks ago, news organizations were concerned that signing the rules conveyed agreement with them, including to a restriction that they not report on any news — even if unclassified — without official approval.

The Pentagon is now saying it can’t block journalists from reporting news but can revoke the credentials of reporters who ask anyone in the Defense Department for information without an official OK.

“We acknowledge and appreciate that the Pentagon is no longer requiring reporters to express agreement with the new policy as a condition for obtaining press credentials,” the press association said. “But the Pentagon is still asking us to affirm in writing our ‘understanding’ of policies that appear designed to stifle a free press and potentially expose us to prosecution for simply doing our jobs.”

The association is not making any recommendations about whether members should or should not sign. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which has also been talking to the Pentagon about the policy, said it still has concerns and expects “that it will pose a significant impediment as journalists weigh with their employers whether or not to sign.”

RCFP did not respond to messages asking whether it was recommending a course of action for reporters.

Changing rules that have worked for years under different presidents

The Pentagon Press Association also said it was surprised to learn that the department was planning to move the press corps from its current work space, suggesting it will likely further isolate journalists.

Pentagon reporters have been operating under the same rules since the Eisenhower administration, including President Donald Trump’s first term in office, the association said, and any suggestion that they are prowling in offices where they are not allowed is preposterous.

A Pentagon spokesperson, Sean Parnell, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

In an interview with Fox News last weekend, Hegseth said that “we’re not playing games. We’re not allowing everybody to roam around the building.”

“Yes, you can be in the press area, briefing room, but if you want to move around the building, you’re going to have a badge, it’s going to be cleared, you’re going to be escorted when you do so, and we have expectations that you’re not soliciting classified or sensitive information,” he said. “I think the American people see things like that as absolute common sense. The Pentagon press corps can squeal all they want.”

Trump has applied pressure on news organizations in several ways, with ABC News and CBS News settling lawsuits related to their coverage. Trump has also filed lawsuits against The New York Times and Wall Street Journal and moved to choke off funding for government-run services like the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

“Limiting the media’s ability to report on the U.S. military fails to honor the American families who have entrusted their sons and daughters to serve in it, or the taxpayers responsible for giving the department hundreds of billions of dollars a year,” the Pentagon Press Association said in its statement.

“The American people deserve to know how their military is being run.”