Pentagon Can Temporarily Require Escorts for Journalists

An appeals panel ruled that the Defense Department can require escorts for reporters in the building while it fights an earlier decision that overturned many of the department’s press rules.

The Pentagon can temporarily require all journalists visiting the building to be accompanied by an official escort, an appeals court ruled Monday. The restriction is allowed while the department appeals an earlier ruling that found major parts of the Defense Department’s restrictions on the press unconstitutional.

In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the Pentagon had “supported” its claim that the escort requirement “furthers important national security interests.”