After Ruling, Pentagon to Remove Media Offices

The Defense Department announced Monday that it will issue new press credentials but remove media offices from the Pentagon, after a judge sided with the New York Times on Friday in a lawsuit fighting limits on reporters' access to the building. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said reporters will be able to work from an "annex" that will be on Pentagon grounds—no longer from inside the building, the AP reports. He said the new space "will be available when ready" without specifying when that might be. Journalists will have access to the Pentagon for press conferences and interviews arranged through its public affairs staff, but they will have escorts at times, Parnell wrote on X.

The Defense Department will comply with the judge's order, Parnell said, but plans to appeal it. He said the department cannot successfully handle security for the building with working press inside, per the Washington Post. The "Correspondents' Corridor" where journalists have worked for decades, has been closed, Parnell said. In his ruling, per the Hill, the judge ordered the Pentagon to immediately reinstate press passes for seven Times journalists who had surrendered them rather than comply with new restrictions imposed by the Defense Department.