News organizations reject Pentagon restrictions

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

The new requirements violate 'the rights of Americans who seek to know how taxpayer-funded military resources and personnel are being deployed'

(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)

What happened

News organizations from across the ideological spectrum Monday said they would not sign a new Defense Department press policy that limits the information reporters can request from Pentagon employees and requires journalists to have an escort even in unclassified parts of the building, among other restrictions. The policy is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s latest move to limit press access at the Pentagon.

Who said what

The new requirements “violate our First Amendment rights, and the rights of Americans who seek to know how taxpayer-funded military resources and personnel are being deployed,” said The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. The New York Times, Newsmax, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Washington Post, Reuters, The Washington Times and Task & Purpose were among the other organizations that said they would not sign by this evening’s deadline.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said reporters were having a “full-blown meltdown” over “common sense” restrictions that ask them “just to acknowledge that they understand what our policy is.” Hegseth posted a series of wave-goodbye emojis over online statements from news organizations. Trump’s former Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot said Hegseth “should drop the Soviet-style restrictions” and follow the lead of the president and “every other Cabinet secretary by engaging regularly, confidently and conversationally with reporters of all stripes.”

What next?

The Pentagon Press Association said most of its members “seem likely to hand over their badges” rather than “acknowledge a policy that gags Pentagon employees and threatens retaliation against reporters who seek out information that has not been preapproved for release.” The “only publication that has said it will sign the agreement is the right-wing One America News,” The Washington Post said. “Fox News, Hegseth’s former employer, has not yet said whether it would sign the pledge.”

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.