Journalists forced to obtain approval to publish stories in new Pentagon restrictions

The Pentagon says it will require journalists credentialed to sign a pledge to refrain from reporting on information that has not been authorised for release, including unclassified information.

A 17-page memo released by the US Department of War, recently renamed by the Trump administration from the Department of Defence, detailed that journalists who do not abide by the policy risk losing their credentials that provide access to the Pentagon.

“Information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified,” the directive states.

Advocates for press freedoms denounced the non-disclosure requirement as an attack on independent journalism. The new Pentagon restrictions arrive as US President Donald Trump steps up threats, lawsuits and pressure as he looks to reshape the landscape of US media.

“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 Mike Balsamo, President of the National Press Club

“That should alarm every American,” he added.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth highlighted the new restrictions in a social media post, stressing that the press “does not run the Pentagon, the people do”.

He also announced that media professionals will no longer be permitted to freely roam the halls of the US military headquarters.

“The press is no longer allowed to roam the halls of a secure facility,” he noted. “Wear a badge and follow the rules — or go home.”

The restrictions follow a series of recent leaks

The Pentagon has evicted many news organisations this year 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.

The Pentagon was embarrassed early in Hegseth's tenure when the editor-in-chief of US media outlet ‘The Atlantic’, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently included in a group chat on the Signal messaging app where the Defence 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 Defence Department was also embarrassed by a leak to The New York Times that billionaire and former Trump aide, Elon Musk, was to get a briefing on the US 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 organisations strike 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."

Executive Editor of The Washington Post, Matt Murray, said in the publication’s columns on 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.”