In an effort to crack down on media leaks, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a new series of restrictions on Friday that ban reporters from large areas of the Pentagon without an escort.

Journalists are now permitted to be unaccompanied only in the Pentagon’s main entrances and food court. Hegseth’s physical office spaces and the Joint Chiefs physical office spaces will now be off-limits “without an official approval from the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and an escort from the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.”

“While the Department remains committed to transparency, the Department is equally obligated to protect [classified national intelligence information] and sensitive information — the unauthorized disclosure of which could put the lives of U.S. Service members in danger,” Hegseth wrote. 

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