Pentagon steps up media restrictions, now requiring approval before
reporting even unclassified info
[September 22, 2025]
By MORGAN LEE
The Pentagon says it will require credentialed journalists at the
military headquarters to sign a pledge to refrain from reporting
information that has not been authorized for release — including
unclassified information.
Journalists who don't abide by the policy risk losing credentials that
provide access to the Pentagon, under a 17-page memo distributed Friday
that steps up media restrictions imposed by the administration of
President Donald Trump.
“Information must be approved for public release by an appropriate
authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified,”
the directive states. The signature form includes an array of security
requirements for credentialed media at the Pentagon.
Advocates for press freedoms denounced the non-disclosure requirement as
an assault on independent journalism. The new Pentagon restrictions
arrive as Trump expands threats, lawsuits and government pressure as he
remakes the American media landscape.
“If the news about our military must first be approved by the
government, then the public is no longer getting independent reporting.
It is getting only what officials want them to see,” said National Press
Club President Mike Balsamo, also national law enforcement editor at The
Associated Press. “That should alarm every American.”
Hegseth says no more permission to ‘roam the halls’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News Channel personality,
highlighted the restrictions in a social media post on X.
“The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon — the people do. The press is no
longer allowed to roam the halls of a secure facility,” Hegseth said.
“Wear a badge and follow the rules — or go home.”
The Pentagon this year has evicted many news organizations while
imposing a series of restrictions on the press that include banning
reporters from entering wide swaths of the Pentagon without a government
escort — areas where the press had access in past administrations as it
covers the activities of the world’s most powerful military.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during the POW/MIA National
Recognition Day Ceremony at the Pentagon, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The Pentagon was embarrassed early in Hegseth's tenure when the
editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently
included in a group chat on the Signal messaging app where the
Defense secretary discussed plans for upcoming military strikes in
Yemen. Trump’s former national security adviser, Mike Waltz, took
responsibility for Goldberg being included and was shifted to
another job.
The Defense Department also was embarrassed by a leak to The New
York Times that billionaire Elon Musk was to get a briefing on the
U.S. military’s plans in case a war broke out with China. That
briefing never took place, on Trump’s orders, and Hegseth suspended
two Pentagon officials as part of an investigation into how that
news got out.
Media organizations clap back
On Saturday, the Society of Professional Journalists also objected
to the Pentagon's move, calling it “alarming.”
"This policy reeks of prior restraint — the most egregious violation
of press freedom under the First Amendment — and is a dangerous step
toward government censorship," it said in a statement Saturday.
"Attempts to silence the press under the guise of “security” are
part of a disturbing pattern of growing government hostility toward
transparency and democratic norms."
And Matt Murray, executive editor of The Washington Post, said in
the paper's columns Saturday that the new policy runs counter to
what's good for the American public.
“The Constitution protects the right to report on the activities of
democratically elected and appointed government officials,” Murray
said. “Any attempt to control messaging and curb access by the
government is counter to the First Amendment and against the public
interest.”
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