New Pentagon credential restrictions ship “message of intimidation,” DoD press corps says

The Pentagon press corps’ negotiations with the Protection Division over easing proposed restrictions on their reporting have reached an deadlock, based on the Pentagon Press Affiliation — although the Pentagon says it has negotiated in good religion.

In an announcement Wednesday, the Affiliation mentioned it “has been cautious” with its public statements in regards to the restrictions as negotiations had been underway over revising the brand new guidelines, which reporters are required to log off on or else lose their Pentagon press credentials.

“Sadly, these negotiations haven’t been as profitable as we had hoped,” mentioned the Affiliation, which represents reporters who cowl the Pentagon.

In September, the Protection Division despatched reporters a memo saying that they’d be required to signal a doc acknowledging they might not disclose both categorized or managed unclassified info that isn’t formally licensed for publication. It warned Pentagon reporters they may lose their press credentials for “unauthorized entry, tried unauthorized entry, or unauthorized disclosure” of categorized info or something designated as “managed unclassified info.”

The memo additionally mentioned, “DoW info should be authorized earlier than public launch … even whether it is unclassified.” The Trump administration has sought to rename the Protection Division to the Division of Conflict, although a everlasting renaming may require congressional approval.

Presently, information organizations, together with CBS Information, are assigned workspaces and credentials that permit journalists restricted entry within the Pentagon.

Compliance with the directive would imply that journalists wouldn’t be capable of use unnamed U.S. navy sources in a lot of their reporting with out risking lack of entry to the Pentagon.

Many media retailers balked on the directive and vowed to push again. The New York Instances mentioned in an announcement the restrictions had been “at stark odds with the constitutional protections of a free press in a democracy.”

Over the course of negotiations over the restrictions, the Pentagon dropped a requirement for reporters “to specific settlement with the brand new coverage as a situation for acquiring press credentials,” the Affiliation’s assertion mentioned. But it surely went on to say that “the Pentagon continues to be asking us to affirm in writing our ‘understanding’ of insurance policies that seem designed to stifle a free press and doubtlessly expose us to prosecution for merely doing our jobs.”

The Affiliation mentioned that the brand new credentialing coverage “nonetheless leaves open the specter of the Division of Protection revoking credentials for reporters who train their First Modification rights by in search of info that hasn’t been pre-approved for formal launch, even when the knowledge is fully unclassified.” 

“The coverage conveys an unprecedented message of intimidation to everybody throughout the DoD, warning in opposition to any unapproved interactions with the press and even suggesting it is legal to talk with out categorical permission — which plainly, it’s not,” the assertion mentioned.

Information retailers had been requested to signal the revised pointers by subsequent week.

The Affiliation additionally mentioned it was “shocked and disturbed to study by means of the brand new coverage assertion that the Pentagon plans to maneuver all of our information organizations from our devoted workspaces,” a transfer it fears will isolate reporters and make it harder to speak with sources and navy spokespeople.

“We hope the Pentagon reconsiders,” the Affiliation mentioned.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell mentioned on X that the division has taken an “accommodating strategy” and “engaged in good-faith negotiations with the Pentagon Press Affiliation, sustaining open dialogue with its members and accepting a lot of their advised edits.”

Parnell mentioned reporters are usually not required to clear their tales with the Pentagon, and are solely being requested to substantiate that they perceive the division’s insurance policies on how info is dealt with.

“Entry to the Pentagon is a privilege, not a proper and the Division will not be solely legally permitted, however morally obligated to impose cheap rules on the train of that privilege,” Parnell wrote.