Hegseth issued Pentagon press policy requiring reporters to sign pre-publication approval agreements

On September 19, 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a 17-page Pentagon press policy requiring all credentialed journalists to sign agreements stating that Department of Defense information — even if unclassified — must be "approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official" before reporters may publish it. Journalists who declined to sign, or who were found gathering information without prior clearance, would lose their 24/7 Pentagon access badges. The policy also authorized the Pentagon police to revoke credentials for broadly defined "unprofessional conduct," without requiring any criminal conviction. Hegseth announced the policy on X: "The press is no longer allowed to roam the halls of a secure facility. Wear a badge and follow the rules — or go home."

The Pentagon's Correspondents' Corridor had for decades given credentialed journalists unescorted access throughout the building during working hours, enabling continuous contact with officials and real-time coverage of military developments. The new policy designated the unescorted movement and unsanctioned information-gathering that characterized that access as violations subject to credential revocation. The National Press Club and the Freedom of the Press Foundation both characterized the pre-publication approval requirement as an unconstitutional prior restraint — a form of government censorship that the Supreme Court has subjected to heightened scrutiny. Multiple unnamed Pentagon officials told The Intercept the policy was unworkable and would make leaks worse, not fewer.

This policy is the originating act in a documented escalation: in March 2026, following a federal court order enjoining earlier Hegseth press restrictions, the Pentagon closed the Correspondents' Corridor workspace entirely and required escorts for all journalist movement — a move the New York Times and Pentagon Press Association called a retaliatory narrowing of access. In April 2026, a federal judge found the Pentagon's subsequent "Interim Policy" a "transparent attempt to negate" his order. This September 2025 policy is the foundational institutional assertion that pre-censorship of unclassified military information is a condition of press access.