Trump recovers “War Bureau” as defense team
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order allowing him to defend. Pete Hegses uses “War Division” as the secondary name of the pentagon.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Defense said reporters attempting to obtain or release information that is not permitted to be published could lose access to the media, according to a new 17-page document obtained by USA Today.
The document that reporters expect to sign, “even if it is not classified, must be approved for information to be made public for public disclosure by public officials.”
Reporters say that if they “engage in a professional act that could help disrupt the operation of the Pentagon,” they may revoke their credentials, including “an attempt to obtain them improperly” or “including categorized national security information or controlled, uncategorized information (not sensitive but uncategorized information).”
“The guidelines in the memo provided to the Pentagon Qualified Resident Media reaffirm the standards already line up with all other military bases in the country,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to USA Today. “These are basic common sense guidelines for protecting sensitive information, national security, and the safety of everyone who works at the Pentagon.”
This document contains other restrictions imposed on reporters. This includes places to roam around the Pentagon itself and whether or not escorts are required.
The Pentagon Press Association, an independent organisation representing reporters covering the military, told Politico it was considering the order. In a statement, president of National Press Club Mike Balsamo wrote that the new mission is “a direct attack on independent journalism where independent scrutiny is most important.”
“If news about our military must be first approved by the government, the people are no longer receiving independent reports. It’s getting just what officials want to see. It should be on the alert for all Americans,” Balsamo said. He called for the restrictions to be lifted.
“The ‘media’ doesn’t run pentagons – people do,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegses wrote in a September 19th post on Defense.
In January, the Pentagon removed several major news organizations, including NBC News, from its workspace after enacting a new “annual media rotation program.”
