The Department of Defense, under Secretary Pete Hegseth, has issued a chilling directive requiring journalists to sign a pledge. This pledge forces them to refrain from gathering or reporting on any information—even unclassified material—that has not been pre-authorized for release. The roughly 90 reporters credentialed to cover the Pentagon will now be forbidden from moving through several floors of the building without a government escort. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took to X to issue a thinly veiled threat, stating, "The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon — the people do. By limiting reporters to only what the administration chooses to release, they are attempting to turn the Pentagon press corps into a state-run publicity machine.