Pentagon Adopts New Limits for Journalists After Court Loss

The Defense Department said it would close the Pentagon’s work area for journalists, among other changes, after a judge found the existing media policy unconstitutional.

The Defense Department said on Monday that it was taking a new approach to limiting access to media organizations, after a federal judge ruled on Friday that major parts of its current policy were unconstitutional, in a case brought by The New York Times.

The Pentagon is closing the workspace used for years by journalists with credentials to cover the military, Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, wrote in a memo to senior Pentagon leadership. A new area for the press will be set up in an annex outside the main Pentagon building, he said, and all journalists now seeking physical access to the Pentagon will require an escort.