News stories show that reporters may have left the Pentagon, but they
haven't stopped working
[October 18, 2025]
By DAVID BAUDER
Two days after dozens of journalists left their desks at the Pentagon
behind rather than agree to government-imposed rules on how they report
about the U.S. military, it's apparent they haven't stopped working.
Reporters have relied on sources to break and add nuance to stories
about U.S. attacks in the Caribbean on boats suspected of being involved
in the drug trade, as well as military leadership in the region.
This comes as many are still navigating how their jobs will change —
where will they work? who will talk with them? — brought on by the
dispute. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanded reporters relinquish
their Pentagon workspaces if they didn't acknowledge rules the
journalists say would punish them for reporting on anything beyond what
he wants them to say.
The Pentagon has characterized the changes as “common sense” and accused
journalists of mischaracterizing them.
“The self-righteous media chose to self-deport from the Pentagon,”
Hegseth's chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, said on social media. “That's
their right — but also their loss. They will not be missed.”
Breaking news on a U.S. attack with survivors
While most press may have departed the Pentagon, it was clear from
stories that some sources were still talking.
Reuters broke news Thursday about the first U.S. attack on a boat in the
Caribbean where some of the passengers survived. Reporter Phil Stewart,
stationed at the Pentagon before leaving Wednesday, sourced it to a
“U.S. official” who was not named. President Donald Trump confirmed the
attack on Friday as more details emerged, including that two people were
taken into U.S. custody.
The New York Times reported on the sudden retirement of U.S. Navy Adm.
Alvin Holsey, leader of the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees
operations in Central and South America, including use of the military
in the administration's drug-fighting efforts.
Times reporters Eric Schmitt, who covers national security, and Tyler
Pager, based in the White House, quoted two unnamed officials saying
that Holsey had expressed concerns about the mission and attacks on the
boats. The reporters pointed out the unusual nature of a retirement one
year into Holsey's expected three-year command.
Both Hegseth and Holsey released social media statements late Thursday
announcing the retirement, with neither addressing reasons for it. A
Times spokesman would not comment about whether the newspaper had begun
inquiring about Holsey before the retirement was publicly announced.
The Washington Post reported Friday that 15 people had signed the new
press policy. They included reporters from conservative outlets the
Federalist and the Epoch Times and two from One America News. The others
were foreign outlets and freelancers, including six from Turkey. No
legacy media outlets agreed.
The newspaper cited a “government document viewed by The Washington
Post.” The story was written not by a Pentagon reporter, but by media
writer Scott Nover.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens as President Donald Trump
speaks before a lunch with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
One reporter says stories show there are reasons to be hopeful
News outlets that said this week they would leave the Pentagon
rather than agree to Hegseth's rules stressed that it would not stop
them from reporting on the military.
“There are reasons to be hopeful that people can still deliver,”
Nancy Youssef, a reporter for The Atlantic, said Friday. After
leaving the Pentagon, she's largely been working at The Atlantic's
Washington office about three miles away.
As much as the access issues raised by the Pentagon exit, reporters
expressed concerns that it will make it easier for Hegseth and his
team to avoid questions about their actions. For instance, Youssef
said she had asked about what weapons had been used in an earlier
boat attack, what the legal basis for the action was and the
identities of those killed. She received no answer.
Youssef said she also wondered whether journalists who did not sign
on to the Pentagon's rules would be permitted to visit other
military sites or be embedded to cover military operations. That
remains unclear.
“If you're in the Navy in charge of the carrier strike group, would
you invite a journalist now?” she asked. “Practically speaking, are
we allowed to go?”
Even before this past week, Hegseth had taken steps to ban reporters
from accessing large parts of the Pentagon without a government
escort. He and his team have held only a handful of briefings for
journalists.
Two journalists who spoke on background because their outlets would
not permit on-the-record interviews said they're concerned about
having fewer opportunities for face-to-face contact with people who
work in the Pentagon. Hegseth had begun requiring reporters get an
escort to visit press offices for the military's individual
branches, but there were still public information officials near
where the reporters worked.
Many Pentagon reporters have developed sources in the building over
the course of many years working there. It remains to be seen how
many will still answer their calls. “Some people are going to be
scared,” one reporter said. “I think that's inevitable.”
Youssef, however, noted in an article for The Atlantic that
mid-level service members had reached out to her, unsolicited, to
promise they would keep providing journalists with information. They
said they would be doing this not to disobey current leadership but
to uphold constitutional values, she wrote.
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