Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has just put new security measures on reporters at the Pentagon, forbidding them access to much of the Pentagon unless they have approval and an official escort.

Hegseth is also going to issue new credentials which will “more prominently identify them as members of the press.”

This is all an effort to protect classified intelligence and sensitive information.

A Pentagon press association claims these new security measures are an ‘attack on freedom of the press’.

Hegseth is also implementing a new rotation system that will bring newer media organizations like Breitbart and The Daily Caller into the Pentagon press office space, forcing garbage media organizations out of these spaces.

Here’s more from Reuters:

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday issued orders that require journalists to have official escorts within much of the Pentagon building, the latest in a series of Trump administration restrictions placed on the press.

The measures, which take effect immediately, bar credentialed reporters from most of the Department of Defense headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, unless they have an official approval and escort.

“While the Department remains committed to transparency, the Department is equally obligated to protect CSNI (classified intelligence) and sensitive information – the unauthorized disclosure of which could put the lives of U.S. Service members in danger,” Hegseth said in a memorandum.

He called the protection of classified national intelligence information and operational security “an unwavering imperative for the Department.”

The Pentagon Press Association, a membership organization representing the interests of the press corps covering the U.S. military, said the new rules appeared to be a “direct attack on the freedom of the press.”

“The decision is purportedly based on concerns about operational security. But the Pentagon Press Corps has had access to non-secured, unclassified spaces in the Pentagon for decades, under Republican and Democratic administrations, including in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, without any concern about OP-SEC from DoD leadership,” the statement said.

It has also required legacy media organizations, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN and NBC News, to vacate their Pentagon office spaces in a new rotation system that brought in others, including outlets generally friendly to the Trump administration such as the New York Post, Breitbart, the Daily Caller and One America News Network. The Trump administration says the move is intended to allow other media outlets the opportunity to report as resident members of the press corps.

Hegseth’s Friday order also requires members of the Pentagon press corps to acknowledge a responsibility to protect national intelligence and sensitive information, and says they will be issued with new credentials that more prominently identify them as members of the press.

“We also anticipate a forthcoming announcement of additional security measures and enhanced scrutiny on the issuance of (credentials),” the memo said.