A Bridge Too Far': Fox's Jonathan Turley Shreds the Pentagon's New Press Restrictions

"This is actually quite breathtaking in terms of its implications for the free press. There is no precedent for what they're doing here. Now, it is true that access is something that is a privilege. At the CIA, reporters, journalists are not allowed just to wander as widely as they do in the Pentagon, but the Pentagon has had a long tradition of allowing the media to work with its own representatives and getting the story right."

"Now, there have been times where the press has published what was classified information. Some of those cases are the most significant in our country, like the Pentagon Papers, that produced great reforms, that informed the public of things that they had to know about. This measure is simply a bridge too far. It really does raise core press protections and it would devastate the press corps in the Pentagon."

"I covered the Pentagon for six-and-a-half years and I walked all over those 19-and-a-half miles of corridor in the Pentagon talking to all kinds of officials. If officials came to us and said there is a national security imperative here that this story not come out, we would obviously talk to our supervisors, but for the most part people who covered the Pentagon knew the security implications and the danger of possibly putting people's lives at risk if any sort of classified story"

The Pentagon implemented a requirement for journalists to sign a pledge promising not to use unauthorized information in reporting. Critics described the policy as unprecedented and warned it raises core press protections and could devastate the press corps covering the Pentagon. Historical instances of the press publishing classified information, such as the Pentagon Papers, were cited as examples that led to reforms and informed the public. Longstanding Pentagon practice allowed broad reporter access with back-and-forth handling of sensitive information. Veteran reporters noted that newsroom review and supervisory processes historically managed national-security concerns without requiring a signing pledge. The new mandate reframes access as conditional on a legal pledge, creating concerns about chilling effects on investigative defense reporting.

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