Overview
- An NSC memo effective immediately bars credentialed reporters from entering Room 140, the Upper Press area near the Oval Office, without a scheduled appointment.
- The guidance says White House communications staff now handle sensitive national security material, while reporters may still speak with aides in the Lower Press workspace outside the briefing room.
- Communications Director Steven Cheung claimed on X that some reporters secretly recorded and ambushed officials, assertions made without presented evidence in the coverage.
- The White House Correspondents’ Association opposed the change, warning it restricts questioning of officials and undermines transparency and accountability.
- News organizations link the move to a broader tightening of access that includes disputed Pentagon credential rules and the administration’s earlier shift to control press pool assignments, with coverage noting a similar Clinton-era limit that was later rescinded.