Chicago – September 21, 2025
Journalists who cover the Defense Department at the Pentagon can no longer gather or report information, even if it is unclassified, unless it’s been authorized for release by the government, defense officials announced Friday. Reporters who don’t sign a statement agreeing to the new rules will have their press credentials revoked, officials said.
Multiple press associations quickly condemned the new rules and said they will fundamentally change journalists’ ability to cover the Pentagon and the U.S. military. They called for the Trump administration to rescind the new requirements, arguing they inhibit transparency to the American people.
The National Press Club denounced the requirement as “a direct assault on independent journalism at the very place where independent scrutiny matters most: the U.S. military.”
Democratic lawmakers also criticized the decision, with Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee calling the restrictions “an ill-advised affront to free speech and freedom of the press.”
“Secretary Hegseth’s restrictions on the press are part of a broader attempt by this Administration to cover up missteps, stifle independent journalism, and obscure the truth,” Reed said. “American journalists are not, should not, and must not be mere stenographers for the party in power or the Pentagon itself.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the new measures, writing on X Friday: “The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon — the people do.”
