The Pentagon is defying a court order that required it to restore access to credentialed reporters, a US judge ruled on Thursday.
US District Judge Paul Friedman said the Pentagon must comply with his order and restore reporters' access to the US Defense Department.
Why are Pentagon reporters denied access?
In October 2025, the Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said journalists could be deemed security risks and thus have their press badges revoked if they solicited unauthorized military personnel to disclose classified, and in some cases unclassified, information.
Only one of 56 news outlets in the Pentagon Press Association agreed to sign an acknowledgment of the new policy, with the rest having to hand in their press passes and report on the Pentagon from outside the facility.
The New York Times led a lawsuit challenging the new policy, and Friedman ruled in the journalists' favor on March 20, saying the policy violated protections for news gathered and due process in the US Constitution.
He required the immediate restoration of reporters' access.
The Pentagon then released a new "interim" policy that bars reporters with press passes from entering the building without an escort, according to The New York Times. It also governs when reporters can offer anonymity to a source, as well as preserving other rules that the court had rejected.
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What did the judge say about the Pentagon's policies?
The Pentagon had denied violating Friedman's prior order in a March court filing, saying it was "careful to address all of the legal defects that the court perceived in the prior policy."
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell has said the administration would appeal Friedman's March 20 decision.
Parnell said in a social media post that the department has complied with the judge's orders, reinstating journalists' credentials and issuing "a materially revised policy that addressed every concern" identified by the judge.
But on Thursday, Friedman said that the access the Pentagon made available to permit holders "is not even close to as meaningful as the broad access" they previously had.
"The Department cannot simply reinstate an unlawful policy under the guise of taking 'new' action and expect the Court to look the other way," Friedman wrote in his ruling. The judge called the Pentagon's actions a "blatant attempt to circumvent a lawful order of the Court."
He also argued that the US military operations in Venezuela and Iran make the need for public access to information regarding government activities all the more pressing.
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