Politico reports:

The Pentagon on Friday said reporters who cover the agency could access the building only if they agreed not to publish certain information, an unprecedented move that demands media outlets hand the department vast control over what they publish.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, in a Friday evening email, said journalists could continue to enter the Defense Department only if they sign a note saying they will not publish classified information or some less sensitive documents that are not explicitly labeled as government secrets. The rule will take effect over the next two to three weeks.

Defense Department “information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified,” read the note for reporters to sign. “Failure to abide by these rules may result in suspension or revocation of your building pass and loss of access.”

Officials indicated the action was needed because any unauthorized disclosure “poses a security risk that could damage the national security of the United States and place [Defense Department] personnel in jeopardy.”

The move follows a pattern of increasingly restricted access to the country’s largest federal agency under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has a tense relationship with much of the press. The new rules give the Pentagon wide latitude to label journalists as security threats and revoke passes for those who obtain or publish information the agency says is unfit for public release.

They also come in the middle of Defense Department efforts to crack down on troops and civilians accused of mocking Charlie Kirk’s killing on social media — and amid a broader debate about potential limits to free speech. [Continue reading…]