Secretary of Defense Hegseth Expands Pentagon Press Corp

By: Donny Simcha Guttman 

According to a memo first reported by The Daily Mail, Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth directed staff to switch press outlets including The New York Times, NBC News, NPR, and Politico with The New York Post, One America News Network (OAN), and Breitbart News Network.T he Pentagon’s Correspondents Corridor is where reporters maintain an office in the Pentagon and can easily access material from the office of the Secretary of Defense and relevant information to military orders. Furthermore, outlets are able to interview officials, and broadcast from their office and nearby locations in the Pentagon.  This is part of a new initiative where a rotation for access to the Correspondents Corridor will be switched on a yearly basis.

 

The memo states, as reported by Business Insider, “Each year, one outlet from each press medium — print, online, television, and radio — that has enjoyed working from a physical office in the Pentagon will rotate out of the building to allow a new outlet from the same medium that has not had the unique opportunity to report as a resident member of the Pentagon Press Corps.”

 

Furthermore, the memo makes clear that all approved outlets will be able to attend daily briefings, “They will continue to enjoy the same media access to the Pentagon and will be able to attend and cover briefings and be considered for travel with civilian and military leaders in the Department as they have previously.”

 

In response to the new policy, the Pentagon Press Association released a public statement, “Our resident press corps has greatly expanded over the years and we have always welcomed new members and will continue to do so.  We are, however, greatly troubled by this unprecedented move by DOD to single out highly professional media who have covered the Pentagon for decades, under both Republican and Democratic administrations. We have asked for a meeting and we will keep everyone informed.”

 

The rationalization for the policy is as NBC reports, the new White House Press secretary, Karoline Leavitt vowed to “opening up the briefing room to new media voices,” in line with those sentiments, the Department of Defense (DOD) have similarly hashed out policies to provide more access to new media outlets from across the political spectrum.

 

The notable outlets affected at this stage are left-leaning including The New York Times, NBC News, NPR, and Politico, who have been notable opponents of Trump and his administration. In response to the memo, the New York Times told the Daily Mail, “The Department of Defense has the largest discretionary budget in the government, millions of Americans in uniform under its direction and control of a vast arsenal funded by taxpayers.

 

The Times is committed to covering the Pentagon fully and fairly. Steps designed to impede access are clearly not in the public interest.” NBC news also said in a statement, “Despite the significant obstacles this presents to our ability to gather and report news in the national public interest, we will continue to report with the same integrity and rigor NBC News always has.” However, the outlets that are being given more access have been ecstatic.

 

OAN said in a statement to NBC, “[that it] looks forward to having access to physical office space at the Pentagon and will utilize the accommodations full-time as soon as it’s possible.” The Huffington Post, the one left-leaning outlet that has been given new access to the Pentagon said through spokeswoman Lizzie Grams, “If the Trump administration and Secretary Hegseth are interested in more hard-hitting coverage of their stewardship of the Defense Department from HuffPost, we are ready to deliver.”

 

In a public statement, Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot explained the need for the policy saying, “For over a half-century, the Pentagon Press Corps has benefited from working out of individual office spaces that provide coveted and open access to some of the Department’s top military and civilian leaders. In order to broaden access to the limited space of the Correspondents’ Corridor to outlets that have not previously enjoyed the privilege and journalist value of working from physical office space in the Pentagon, beginning February 14, 2025.”

 

Some outlets such as NPR have called on the DOD to expand their press corp offices, to allow more outlets access. In a public statement, NPR stated, “This decision interferes with the ability of millions of Americans to directly hear from Pentagon leadership, and with NPR’s public interest mission to serve Americans who turn to our network of local public media stations in all 50 states. NPR will continue to report with vigor and integrity on the transformation this Administration has promised to deliver.

 

NPR urged the Pentagon to expand the offices available to press within the building so that all outlets covering the Pentagon receive equal access.” NBC, who will be affected from this policy linked their reporting on Secretary Hegseth’s sexual assault allegations during the confirmation hearings as a possible motive for the move. However, a pattern of press transparency from the Trump administration must be noted, as President Trump has given unprecedented access to his administration, from constant press gaggles in the Oval Office, to the traditional White House press briefings which will allow more press outlets to join.

 

Additionally, as a result of the promised increased press access, White House Press Secretary Leavitt promised that they are working “diligently to restore the press passes of the 440 journalists whose passes were wrongly revoked by the previous administration.”