The United States Department of Defense has barred journalists from physically entering its press office, escalating a series of restrictions on media access that have intensified since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Acting Pentagon Press Secretary Joel Valdez announced the change on Monday, saying the press office had been re-designated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) — a classified workspace — because speechwriters who share the space routinely handle classified material and require access to SIPRNet, the secure computer network used by the Pentagon to transmit classified information. Journalists wishing to contact press officials must now do so by appointment only.

The move, first reported by The Washington Post, is the latest in a chain of restrictions that began taking shape last autumn. In September, the Defense Department demanded that credentialed journalists pledge not to gather any information — including unclassified documents — that had not been officially authorised for release, or face revocation of their press passes. Many veteran Pentagon reporters refused to comply and returned their credentials. In October, the department announced a restructured press corps of 60 journalists drawn largely from right-leaning outlets. When The New York Times sued over those policies — which had labelled journalists as "security risks" — a federal judge ruled in the paper's favour in March. The Pentagon responded by requiring that all journalists inside the complex be accompanied by an official escort, a policy the Times has since challenged in a second lawsuit filed in May, arguing it amounts to an unconstitutional barrier to independent reporting on military affairs.

Valdez, who referred to the Defense Department by the Trump administration's preferred term "War Department" and to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth by the title "Assistant to the Secretary of War for Public Affairs," insisted in a social media post that the Pentagon remains "the most transparent war department in history." Press freedom organisations strongly disagree. The National Press Club, the principal professional body for journalists in the United States, called the latest measure a "troubling escalation," with President Mark Schoeff Jr warning that pushing journalists further from the institutions they cover leaves the public with "less information, less transparency, and less oversight." The Freedom of the Press Foundation was equally critical, questioning what legitimate classified interest the press office could be protecting.

The cumulative effect of these measures is a significant narrowing of the independent scrutiny journalists can apply to one of the world's largest military establishments. Credentialed reporters have historically enjoyed broad access to the Pentagon — the five-sided headquarters of the US military located just outside Washington in Arlington, Virginia — as part of a long-standing arrangement designed to allow public accountability over defence policy and spending. Legal battles are now being fought on multiple fronts, and courts have already pushed back on some restrictions, though appeals have allowed certain policies to remain in place while litigation continues. The outcome of those cases is likely to set important precedents for press freedom and government transparency in the United States.