Pentagon Closed to Press

Nearly the entire Pentgon press corps turned in their credentials in protest Wednesday, as the "War Department" imposed new conditions for continued access to reporting on the nation's military.

Below, the October 15 Pentagon Press Association statement:

"Today, the Defense Department confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America.

It did this because reporters would not sign onto a new media policy over its implicit threat of criminalizing national security reporting and exposing those who sign it to potential prosecution.

"The Pentagon Press Association’s members are still committed to reporting on the U.S. military. But make no mistake, today, Oct. 15, 2025 is a dark day for press freedom that raises concerns about a weakening U.S. commitment to transparency in governance, to public accountability at the Pentagon and to free speech for all."

In a September 18 directive that precipitated the move, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called for a clampdown on the press, including personal escorts and the submittal of reporting for review prior to publishing.

The Columbia Jouranlism Review notes: "That directive was at odds with decades of practice and key legal precedents, including the 1971 Supreme Court ruling that rejected prior restraint and enabled the continued publication of the Pentagon Papers."

“Any time you are required to submit something for a review by a governmental entity, that’s a prior restraint,” Jane Kirtley, a professor of media law at the University of Minnesota, told the CJR.