Signalgate? Musk’s Top-Secret China briefing? $600 toilet seats? Pentagon papers? Under the watchful if bloodshot eye of Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon has issued a 17-page memo telling the media that “the press does not run the Pentagon, the people do.” Henceforth, the press will no longer have unfettered access to the Pentagon and can only publish officially approved information.
The Pentagon unveiled new restrictions on reporters covering the Defense Department (DOD) on Friday, asking them to pledge not to publish information that has not been authorized by the administration or risk losing access to the building.
Hegseth’s concern is that the Pentagon leaks like a sieve and given how many embarrassing and incompetent things that happen under his warfighter control, he’s had enough of looking like a blithering idiot.
“[The Department of War] remains committed to transparency to promote accountability and public trust,” the Defense Department wrote in a memo, using President Trump’s updated title though it is not official without Congressional approval. “However, DoW information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.”
“Failure to abide by these rules may result in suspension or revocation of your building pass and loss of access,” the department continued in the 17-page document circulated to news organizations.
Officially, the contention isn’t about Hegseth’s personal failings, but about the security of the nation.
The Pentagon argued that unauthorized disclosure of classified information is a security risk that could hinder national security and place DOD personnel in “jeopardy.”
Kinda like ICE agents covering their faces. Unofficially, since the memo isn’t limited to classified information or even information that has the potential to hinder national security, it’s just about humiliating the administration for its incompetence.
The move is part of an effort by the Trump administration to help quash leaks to the media and continue to impose restrictions on the news outlets. In the note, the Pentagon also said it would limit the allowed movement of reporters within the building, marking large areas unavailable unless journalists have escorts.
By controlling access to the Pentagon, the memo seeks to prevent staff from talking to reporters outside of officially approved channels. If you can’t walk around the halls, nobody can stop you in the halls and chat you up anymore than you can stop someone else in the halls and ask a question.
“If news media require access to other areas or offices within the Pentagon for in-person interviews or other engagements, they must be escorted to and from those spaces by authorized DoW personnel,” the department wrote.
To no one’s surprise, the Pentagon doesn’t see any issue with its changes and its requirement that journalists take a pledge of loyalty to Hegseth.
“The guidelines in the memo provided to credentialed resident media at the Pentagon reaffirms the standards that are already in line with every other military base in the country,” Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement. “These are basic, common-sense guidelines to protect sensitive information as well as the protection of national security and the safety of all who work at the Pentagon.”
The media. on the other hand, is less than thrilled with the Pentagon’s new demand.
The National Press Club (NPC) characterized the changes as a “direct assault on independent journalism at the very place where independent scrutiny matters most: the U.S. military.”
“Independent reporting on the military is essential to democracy. It is what allows citizens to hold leaders accountable and ensures that decisions of war and peace are made in the light of day,” NPC President Mike Balsamo said in a statement on Friday. “This pledge undermines that principle, and the National Press Club calls on the Pentagon to rescind it immediately.”
Is the Pentagon right that it’s protecting national security by restricting media to only reporting approved information or is this a direct assault on independent journalism? What would be the consequences of the press having no ability to report on Hegseth incompetence or Pentagon corruption, or as the Pentagon Papers revealed, outright lies to the American public? Is the Department of Defense War beyond the reach of a free press and the oversight of the American people? Should it be?
*Tuesday Talk rules apply.
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Of course the War Department is not beyond the reach of a free and independent press. FOX News will take the Pledge, and it doesn’t get any more free and independent than that. And of course the War Department will be under the oversight of the American people. Didn’t you see the hundreds of thousands of loyal Americans gathered in Arizona on Sunday for six hours? They have been empowered now and have been given a great commission. They are taking back the government and that includes oversight of the War Department. It’s what Charlie wants. In the coming weeks and months we will learn more of what Charlie wants (FOX News will tell us) and HIS will be done! Hallelujah! And remember taking Tylenol is not good if you are with child, it causes autism, so don’t take Tylenol. The President has just announced it’s not safe. It’s bad. Don’t do it!
From The Hill link in the OP.
“Areas that are off limits now include Hegseth’s office spaces and the Joint Chiefs of Staff office spaces “without an official approval and escort from the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs,” according to a May 23 memo signed by the Pentagon chief. ”
I imagine the innermost areas of Microsoft and Ford don’t allow reporters to wander without an escort.
I’m sure the expense reports for bar bills will go up for the reporters as they meet their leakers over drinks. If a reporter can’t find someone at the puzzle palace to blab they need to find another job. That place will still leak like a colander.
No WiFi or desks? Tough. You’re not on the government payroll. Use your phone hotspot or Starbucks.
I too thought the escort policy seemed reasonable. It has been the practice everywhere I have worked that if you dont work there you need to be escorted throughout the building. Seems reasonable to prevent random people (albeit with pressure credientials) from just wandering around the building.
I was unaware that Microsoft and Ford were part of the government. Who knew?
I think you’ve misunderstood what they were saying. First, it’s not only Hegseth’s and the Joint Chief’s offices that are off limits, but they are “included.” Second, they aren’t talking about their offices, but the halls outside where they can ask questions of Hegseth and the Joint Chiefs. And as needed, of others in the Pentagon who are involved in newsworthy issues of national importance. It’s not just leakers, but access to the people who are spending our money, putting our troops at risk and killing others in our name. These seem to be things we would want the press to be able to do.
Scott, I know you hate everything Trump and suffer the most severe case of TDS ever, like up there with Rosie O’Donnell bad, but I know you’re better than this. Forget everything you ever thought you knew, especially the way blown out of proportion signalgate, and consider that war is serious business and should not have pesky journalists around, unless they are praising the warfighters because even the most bureaucratic of the many bureaucratic officers at the Pentagon are now supposed to be focused on warfighting despite not having any active wars to fight except for the one against Venezuelan fishermen which by all accounts is going extremely well. Maybe they’re preparing for the invasion of Greenland as we speak. One can only hope that’s the real reason for the hush hush. They don’t need you radical leftists pissing in their cheerios. Great things are on the horizon. Besides it’s so much more pleasant pretending everything is hunky dory.
The Epstein files must be released.
Talk to Ernie Pyle about this.
[Ed. Note: I believe PK was being sarcastic.]
Ernie’s dispatches were read by censors before they were sent stateside for publication.