Pete Hegseth imposes fresh restrictions on reporter access to Pentagon

By Nick Wadhams

 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth imposed a new round of restrictions on news outlets that cover the Pentagon, declaring large portions of the building off-limits to reporters unless they have an escort.

 

In a memo released Friday, Hegseth said he was imposing the restrictions to protect classified national intelligence information, or CNSI. Reporters will be required to complete a form that details their “responsibilities to protect” that material and must be be escorted by credentialed staff in the building.

 

“While the Department remains committed to transparency, the Department is equally obligated to protect CNSI and sensitive information — the unauthorized disclosure of which could put the lives of US Service members in danger,” Hegseth said in the memo.

 

Friday’s directive was the latest bid to restrict media access by Hegseth, a former Fox News host who has repeatedly lambasted the “fake news media,” and said news outlets are “full of hoaxsters that peddle anonymous sources from leakers with axes to grind.” 

 

He had come under fire in recent weeks for sharing details of a pending attack on Houthi militants in Yemen in two chats on Signal, an unsecured online platform, that included the editor in chief of The Atlantic. Hegseth denied sharing classified information.

 

In February, Hegseth removed four news outlets including the New York Times from their Pentagon office space as part of a new media-rotation program. After reporters protested, the Pentagon removed another four. Hegseth has also cut back the news outlets allowed to travel with him on overseas trips and has yet to green-light regular briefings by his spokesperson.

 

The latest move provoked protest from the Pentagon Press Association, which said it “appears to be a direct attack on the freedom of the press and America’s right to know what its military is doing.”

 

“Journalists working from the Pentagon everyday will now have less freedom of movement than officers from foreign countries who are assigned to the US military’s headquarters, as well as maintenance staff and concessions workers scattered throughout one of the world’s largest office buildings,” the association said in a statement.

 

The Pentagon has been an outlier among government agencies for the wide-ranging access allowed to the media. Before Hegseth’s memo, accredited Pentagon reporters had almost total access to the building’s hallways. Most other agencies impose severe limits on media access to their headquarters. 

 

“The Defense Department remains committed to transparency but must ensure that transparency is balanced with both physical and information security requirements throughout the Pentagon,” Sean Parnell, the department spokesman, said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon. “These updated measures are a necessary step to protect sensitive information and to keep our US service members protected from preventable risks.”

 

He added that the changes would unfold “in the coming weeks.”