Trump administration places new limits on reporters at Pentagon

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth listens throughout an occasion with President Donald Trump within the Oval Office of the White House, on May 23, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday (May 23, 2025) issued orders that require journalists to have official escorts inside a lot of the Pentagon constructing, the most recent in a collection of Trump administration restrictions positioned on the press.

The measures, which take impact instantly, bar credentialed reporters from many of the Department of Defence headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, until they’ve an official approval and escort.

“While the Department stays dedicated to transparency, the Department is equally obligated to guard CSNI (labeled intelligence) and delicate info – the unauthorized disclosure of which may put the lives of U.S. Service members at risk,” Mr. Hegseth mentioned in a memorandum.

He known as the safety of labeled nationwide intelligence info and operational safety “an unwavering crucial for the Department.”

The Pentagon Press Association, a membership group representing the pursuits of the press corps overlaying the U.S. army, mentioned the brand new guidelines seemed to be a “direct assault on the liberty of the press.”

“The determination is purportedly primarily based on considerations about operational safety. But the Pentagon Press Corps has had entry to non-secured, unclassified areas within the Pentagon for many years, below Republican and Democratic administrations, together with within the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 assaults, with none concern about OP-SEC from DoD management,” the assertion mentioned.

The Pentagon didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for touch upon the press affiliation’s assertion.

Since President Donald Trump returned to workplace in January, the Pentagon has launched an investigation into leaks that resulted in three officers being positioned on administrative depart.

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It has additionally required legacy media organizations, together with the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN and NBC News, to vacate their Pentagon workplace areas in a brand new rotation system that introduced in others, together with shops typically pleasant to the Trump administration such because the New York Post, Breitbart, the Daily Caller and One America News Network. The Trump administration says the transfer is meant to permit different media shops the chance to report as resident members of the press corps.

More broadly, the Trump administration has deployed lie detector checks to research unclassified leaks, with some Department of Homeland Security officers being instructed they may very well be fired for refusing polygraphs, Reuters reported on Friday (May 23, 2025). The White House says Mr. Trump won’t tolerate leaks to the media and that federal staff who achieve this must be held accountable.

Mr. Hegseth’s Friday (May 23, 2025) order additionally requires members of the Pentagon press corps to acknowledge a accountability to guard nationwide intelligence and delicate info, and says they are going to be issued with new credentials that extra prominently determine them as members of the press.

“We additionally anticipate a forthcoming announcement of extra safety measures and enhanced scrutiny on the issuance of (credentials),” the memo mentioned.