Jeffrey Goldberg

The Pentagon says it will require credentialed journalists at the military headquarters to sign a pledge to refrain from reporting information that has not been authorized for release — including unclassified information.

Journalists who don’t abide by the policy risk losing credentials that provide access to the Pentagon, under a 17-page memo distributed Friday that steps up media restrictions imposed by the administration of President Trump.

“Information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified,” the directive states. The signature form includes an array of security requirements for credentialed media at the Defense Department, which Trump has moved to rename the War Department.

Advocates for press freedoms denounced the nondisclosure requirement as an assault on independent journalism. The new Pentagon restrictions arrive as Trump expands threats, lawsuits and government pressure as he remakes the American media landscape.

“If the news about our military must first be approved by the government, then the public is no longer getting independent reporting. It is getting only what officials want them to see,” said National Press Club President Mike Balsamo, also national law enforcement editor at the Associated Press. “That should alarm every American.”

No more permission to ‘roam the halls’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News Channel personality, highlighted the restrictions in a social media post on X.

“The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon — the people do. The press is no longer allowed to roam the halls of a secure facility,” Hegseth said. “Wear a badge and follow the rules — or go home.”

The Pentagon this year has evicted many news organizations while imposing a series of restrictions that include banning reporters from entering wide areas of the complex without a government escort — areas where the press had access in past administrations as it covers the activities of the world’s most powerful military.

The Pentagon was embarrassed early in Hegseth’s tenure when the editor in chief of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently included in a group chat on the Signal messaging app where the Defense secretary discussed plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen. Trump’s then-national security advisor, Mike Waltz, took responsibility for Goldberg being included and was shifted to another job.

The Defense Department also was embarrassed by a leak to the New York Times that billionaire Elon Musk was to get a briefing on the U.S. military’s plans in case a war broke out with China. That briefing never took place, on Trump’s orders, and Hegseth suspended two Pentagon officials as part of an investigation into how that news got out.

On Saturday, the Society of Professional Journalists also objected to the Pentagon’s move, calling it “alarming.”

“This policy reeks of prior restraint — the most egregious violation of press freedom under the First Amendment — and is a dangerous step toward government censorship,” it said in a statement Saturday. “Attempts to silence the press under the guise of ‘security’ are part of a disturbing pattern of growing government hostility toward transparency and democratic norms.”

And Matt Murray, executive editor of the Washington Post, said in the paper Saturday that the new policy runs counter to what’s good for the American public.

“The Constitution protects the right to report on the activities of democratically elected and appointed government officials,” Murray said. “Any attempt to control messaging and curb access by the government is counter to the First Amendment and against the public interest.”

Lee writes for the Associated Press.

July 15 (UPI) — U.N. ambassador nominee Mike Waltz denied any sensitive information was shared during a controversial mobile app chat in March while undergoing a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday.

The hearing was the first Congressional appearance by Waltz since his controversial participation in a Signal app chat that inadvertently included a journalist while discussing a pending military operation in March against Houthi targets in Yemen.

Waltz was the Trump administration’s national security adviser when the chat occurred, but no mention of the Signal chat occurred until past the hearing’s first hour.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., raised using the Signal app to discuss classified matters, which since has been dubbed “Signalgate.”

Waltz said no classified information was shared during the discussion that accidentally included The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.

“That engagement was driven by and recommended by the CyberSecurity Infrastructure Security Agency [and] by the Biden administration,” Waltz said, as reported by ABC News.

Waltz said Signal is an encrypted app that was authorized by the CSISA and recommended by the Biden administration.

“We followed the recommendation,” Waltz said. “But there was not classified information shared.”

Coons responded by saying he had hoped Waltz would express “some sense of regret” over the matter that he said included “very sensitive, timely information about a military strike on a commercially available app.”

Waltz told Coons they have a “fundamental disagreement” because no classified information was shared during the Signal chat.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said the Defense Department’s inspector general and the Air Force have separate investigations ongoing in the matter and have not drawn any conclusions.

“There are two investigations going on at the Pentagon precisely to determine in an objective and independent way whether classified information was shared,” Kaine said.

Waltz declined to comment because the investigations are ongoing.

The U.N. ambassadorship is the last vacancy to be filled by the Trump administration, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, called Waltz one of the nation’s “most well-qualified” U.N. ambassador nominees when introducing him to the committee members, CBS News reported.

Lee said Waltz is skilled at negotiations and has a lot of policy experience to guide him while dealing with the United Nations and representatives of its member nations.

“With Waltz at the helm, the U.N. will have what I regard as what could and should be its last chance to demonstrate its actual value to the United States,” Lee told the committee.

June 7 (UPI) — The Defense Department’s Inspector General is investigating Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s March 13 Signal chat ahead of the U.S. military’s extended aerial strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

The IG’s office initiated the investigation weeks ago and has interviewed current and former Hegseth staffers to learn how the chat and one other that occurred on the Signal encrypted mobile messaging app included civilians, ABC News reported.

A DOD IG spokesperson declined to comment on the investigation because it is ongoing.

Signal supports encrypted group messaging chats, but at least two chats discussed the onset of U.S. military action against the Houthis that started on March 15.

The first erroneously included The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, while a second Signal chat included Hegseth’s wife and brother.

Hegseth in April blamed “disgruntled” former employees and media for the controversy over the Signalchat mishaps that many have dubbed “Signalgate.”

“This is what media does,” Hegseth told media during the annual Easter Egg Roll event at the White House on April 21.

“They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations,” he said.

“We’re changing the Defense Department and putting the Pentagon back in the hands of warfighters,” Hegseth said. “Anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees on old news don’t matter.”

The aerial attacks continued from March 15 until May 6, when President Donald Trump announced the Houthis agreed to stop attacking U.S.-flagged vessels.

The Houthis did not stop attacking Israel or commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.