Overview

• A 17-page directive distributed Friday requires credentialed journalists to sign an agreement not to gather or publish information that has not been authorized for release, including unclassified material, or risk losing their building access.
• The memo imposes stricter movement rules inside the headquarters, limiting reporters to designated areas unless escorted and ending long-standing hallway access.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the press will no longer roam the halls and Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell described the rules as standard security practices aligned with other military bases.
• Press groups including the National Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists denounced the policy as prior restraint and urged the Pentagon to rescind it.
• The rules will take effect over the next two to three weeks and will apply to roughly 90 credentialed reporters who cover the building.