Pentagon asks court to keep its restrictions on journalists
The Pentagon on Friday asked a federal judge to allow it to continue requiring escorts whenever journalists enter the military complex, a restriction that it argues is essential to guarding against national security leaks.
Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has twice tossed out major parts of the department’s restrictions on reporters, saying they were unconstitutional, after The New York Times challenged them in a lawsuit.
The Pentagon has vowed to appeal those decisions, and it asked the court Friday to keep in place the escort policy while it pursues its case.
“Allowing members of the public unfettered access to the Pentagon poses unique and acute dangers,” the filing said.
Since taking office in early 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has repeatedly moved to limit journalists’ access to the Defense Department. He previously proposed denying access to the Pentagon to a reporter from NBC News, then removed several news organizations from their on-site workstations.
In a declaration issued alongside the Pentagon motion Friday, Kingsley Wilson, the Pentagon press secretary, argued that credentialed reporters had capitalized on a loosely regulated environment.
“Unescorted access allowed journalists to maintain a persistent physical presence near sensitive spaces within the Pentagon,” she said. “This presence enabled journalists to observe activity patterns — such as which officials were meeting, when, and in what configuration — that could be used to identify individuals with access to specific sensitive information and to time inquiries accordingly.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Times said, “It is telling that Ms. Wilson provides not a single example or any evidence of any kind to support her claims.” An attorney for the Times argued in a March hearing that it was “undisputed” that “there has never been a physical breach of security at the Pentagon involving journalists.”
This article originally appeared in .
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