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Pentagon: Press Office Classified Space06/02 06:07
NEW YORK (AP) -- In another of a series of moves restricting media access at
the Pentagon, the Defense Department has declared that its press office is now
a classified space inaccessible to journalists.
On X, acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez confirmed the move, saying
there was "nothing controversial" about it and that it came because
speechwriters, who use classified material, were now occupying the space.
"The Pentagon Press Office has been redesignated as a Sensitive
Compartmented Information Facility due to speechwriters from the Office of the
Secretary of War sharing the facility," Valdez wrote.
"These speechwriters routinely handle classified material ... as a result,
journalists will no longer be permitted to enter the office space. There's
nothing controversial about that."
The latest move, first reported by The Washington Post, took place against a
backdrop of escalating tensions between the U.S. media and the second Trump
administration, which has played out both in the public arena and at times in
the courts.
For many years, Pentagon reporters had credentials granting them wide
movement in the building as they sought to interact with press officials there.
But last October, most news outlets turned in access badges and walked out of
the Pentagon rather than agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work,
The New York Times sued the Defense Department on May 18 for the second time
in five months, arguing that a requirement that journalists be escorted while
on Pentagon grounds violates the First Amendment and is "an unconstitutional
attempt by the Pentagon to prevent independent reporting on military affairs."
The paper said it had filed the additional lawsuit after first suing the
Pentagon in December over new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,
to challenge an interim policy "that the Pentagon hastily put into place after
a federal judge ruled in The Times's favor in its original lawsuit." The new
policy included the requirement that journalists be accompanied by escorts at
all times while in the Pentagon.
The policy was implemented in March following a ruling by U.S. District
Court Judge Paul L. Friedman that had struck down earlier restrictions. The
following month, the judge ruled that the interim policy violated his March
order. But the escort policy remained in place when an appeals court stayed
part of Friedman's ruling while the government appeals. The appeals process is
ongoing.
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