The Pentagon has redesignated its press office as a classified space and said journalists can no longer enter it, tightening access inside the Defense Department’s headquarters in a move that takes effect immediately. Jose Valdez announced the change on social media, saying the press office now qualifies as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility because speechwriters from the Office of the Secretary of War share the space.
Valdez said the change was driven by the fact that speechwriters handle classified material, and he added that journalists will no longer be permitted inside the office. He also posted, “This is the most transparent war department in history. No amount of spin from the Fake News media will change that.”
The decision lands while the Pentagon is already in a widening fight with the press over access. The defense department began rolling out new restrictions in September, when it demanded that journalists pledge not to gather any information, including unclassified documents, that had not been authorized for release or risk losing their press passes. In October, it announced sweeping restrictions on journalists’ work and unveiled a next generation of the Pentagon press corps featuring 60 journalists from far-right outlets.
For credentialed reporters, the press office has long been one of the most important access points in the building. The new restriction narrows that access further, and it comes after the department previously imposed an interim escort policy that limited movement inside the Pentagon.
That policy has already been challenged in court. sued the Pentagon over the earlier designation of journalists as security risks, and a federal judge ruled in the newspaper’s favor in March. After the interim escort policy was put in place, a district judge said it violated his order, though an appeals court stayed part of that ruling to give the government time to appeal. In May, the Times sued again, arguing that the escort requirement was an unconstitutional attempt to stop independent reporting on military affairs.
The new redesignation leaves one question hanging over the latest restriction: what access, if any, journalists will be given now that they are barred from the office they have long used to cover the department. The Pentagon has not said. What it has said is that the press room is now off-limits, and that the fight over who gets to watch the military from inside its headquarters is not easing.
