The Pentagon is taking yet another step to keep Americans in the dark about what their military is doing behind closed doors.
The Defense Department has now designated its press office as a classified space, meaning journalists can no longer freely enter an area where they once interacted with public affairs officials, asked questions, and gathered information on behalf of the public.
Officials say the change is necessary because Pentagon speechwriters working in the office require access to classified systems. But others argue the move is really about something else entirely:
“Banning journalists from the ‘press office’ in the Pentagon, where they worked professionally in previous administrations, is simply a sign that current DOD leadership fears accountability,” said Trip Gabriel, a reporter for the Times. Others are saying the move is “Orwellian.”
Placing restrictions on the press isn’t something new to this administration. Last year, officials introduced a new set of rules, and the press was asked to sign agreements that gave the military broad authority over what could be reported and even the power to block the publication of unclassified information. So what this essentially did was turn a reporter’s badge into a censorship contract that binds them to the government’s content rules.
Many longtime reporters refused to agree and began turning over their press passes. The Pentagon responded by replacing those reporters with 60 handpicked journalists.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s response to all this: “The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon — the people do. The press is no longer allowed to roam the halls of a secure facility. Wear a badge and follow the rules — or go home.”
He said the “people” run the Pentagon. Do they really? And let’s be honest: it’s obvious that when the doors close on reporters, they close on the public as well. Hegseth knows this, which may be exactly why access keeps shrinking.
The post The Doors Keep Closing appeared first on Redacted.
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