Journalists turn in access badges, exit Pentagon rather than agree to new reporting rules

WASHINGTON — Dozens of reporters turned in access badges Wednesday and exited the Pentagon rather than agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work, pushing journalists who cover the American military further from the seat of its power.

News outlets were nearly unanimous in rejecting new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that would leave journalists vulnerable to expulsion if they sought to report on information — classified or otherwise — that was not approved by Hegseth for release. The U.S. government called the new rules “common sense.”

Many of the reporters waited to leave together at a 4 p.m. deadline set by the Defense Department to get out of the building. As the hour approached, boxes of documents lined a Pentagon corridor and reporters carried chairs, a