Dem
47
GOP
53
Up until now, reporters who covered the Pentagon for major news outlets got a pass that allowed them to roam most of the Pentagon except for areas clearly marked as requiring a security clearance. They could talk to anybody willing to talk to them and could write stories about anything they wanted without getting prior approval from the Office of the Censor. Those glory days are now over.
Starting last Friday, new
rules
apply to defense war reporters. They are not allowed to roam the halls anymore unless accompanied by an Official
Minder from the government. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said: "These are basic, common-sense guidelines to protect
sensitive information as well as the protection of national security and the safety of all who work at the Pentagon."
Pete Hegseth tweeted: "The 'press' does not run the Pentagon—the people do. The press is no longer allowed to
roam the halls of a secure facility."
Maybe the generals need to stop taping top-secret memos to the walls in the halls and keep them in their offices instead.
Just a thought, though.
The Pentagon already moved out news media that could sometimes be critical of the administration and replaced them with yes-men who could be counted on to always spout the official line. In particular, The New York Times, NPR, Politico, and NBC News have been kicked out of their spaces and have been replaced by The New York Post, Breitbart News, One America News Network, and HuffPost. Probably the Pentagonians don't know what HuffPost is. They are probably thinking of the wolf in "The Three Little Pigs" huffing and puffing.
Among the other new rules is this gem: "However, DoW information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified." In other words, reporters must now submit their stories to the Office of the Censor in advance and get approval before publishing them. Reporters publishing stories without official approval will have their credentials yanked. That works fine in Hungary, Turkey, and North Korea, so why not in the U.S.? (V)