The Defense Department has designated its public affairs office as a classified workspace and restricted journalist access, a move press advocates say further narrows reporting on the military.
The new policy, announced Monday, redesignates the Pentagon press office as a sensitive compartmented information facility and will equip the space with the secret internet protocol router network (SIPRNet). Pentagon officials said speechwriters from the Office of the Secretary would be moved into the room, prompting the change. The designation prevents reporters from meeting informally with public affairs officers in the space where they have long conducted briefings and interviews.
Reporters assigned to military coverage already face tight limits: litigation is underway over a Pentagon rule that requires journalists to be escorted while moving through the building, and many reporters have been largely barred from the building pending the outcome. A federal court earlier struck down the escort requirement, but the government has appealed.
Press freedom advocates and news organizations condemned the latest step as an escalation. Ben Grazda of Reporters Without Borders North America said the decision represents a new low in efforts to silence independent journalism and warned it will further hamper reporters’ ability to hold the Defense Department accountable for operations, budgets and the lives affected by military decisions.
Acting Pentagon press secretary Jose Valdez framed the redesignation on social media as a response to speechwriters sharing the facility and stressed the department’s commitment to communicating about its work. Reporters, however, described the move as “Orwellian,” arguing it comes at a sensitive moment as the U.S. helps mediate talks related to the conflict that began in February involving the United States, Israel and Iran.
The policy also follows recent controversies surrounding Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, including his push for reporters to sign so-called loyalty pledges and a New York Times report that he blocked the promotions of several Navy officers that had been recommended by senior admirals. Critics say those actions reflect a pattern of politicizing decisions that have historically been handled on a nonpartisan, merit-based basis.
Trip Gabriel of The New York Times and other reporters said closing the longstanding press workspace signals that current DOD leadership is trying to limit scrutiny. The National Press Club called the move a troubling escalation in efforts to restrict independent reporting, and Mark Schoeff Jr., president of the organization and a reporter at CQ Roll Call, warned it is part of a broader pattern: limiting access to information, revoking credentials for routine reporting practices, and physically displacing journalists from established workspaces.
Schoeff said labeling a press workspace as classified does not increase transparency; rather, it erects another barrier between journalists and information the public needs. He emphasized that independent coverage of the military is essential for transparency and oversight, and that restricting access diminishes the public’s ability to stay informed.
The decision to close the press office to journalists comes eight months after hundreds of reporters staged a walkout at the Pentagon in protest of a prior policy that barred them from seeking information the administration had not expressly authorized for release. That earlier policy was widely criticized and ultimately struck down by a court, but the appeal means reporters’ access remains unsettled.
News organizations and press advocacy groups say the redesignation will make it harder for reporters to conduct day-to-day reporting on the Pentagon and will further limit the informal exchanges that have long informed coverage of military policy and operations. They urged the Defense Department to restore customary access and warned that continued restrictions should alarm anyone who values a free, informed society.
(Common Dreams)
