A call by a three-judge federal appeals courtroom panel implies that journalists will be unable to stroll by way of the Pentagon with out an escort for now.
The panel dominated 2-to-1 on Monday in favor of the Division of Protection’s request for a keep of half of a decide’s order hanging down its new entry coverage for reporters. That portion of the resolution will probably be stayed pending the attraction.
This comes after U.S. District Decide Paul Friedman dominated in favor of The New York Occasions in March, which introduced a lawsuit difficult the coverage.
These Protection Division guidelines, applied in September 2025, required reporters to signal a doc advising them that their entry to the Pentagon could be revoked if they’re “fairly decided to pose a safety or security threat,” based mostly on things like “unauthorized entry, tried unauthorized entry, or unauthorized disclosure of” data that could be “delicate,” even when it is unclassified.
In staying the important thing a part of Friedman’s injunction on Monday, the Washington, D.C.-based appeals courtroom pointed to the Pentagon’s argument that it discovered a correlation between reporters’ unescorted constructing entry and alleged leaks of “delicate or labeled data.”
“The Division has thus supported its declare that this side of its coverage furthers necessary nationwide safety pursuits,” the panel stated in its unsigned order.
Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth seems on throughout a briefing on the Iran struggle, on the Pentagon in Washington, April 16, 2026.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
However the judges additionally famous how requiring reporters to comply with sure entry situations, probably limiting the questions they ask — and of whom — and the topics they cowl, may influence newsgathering.
“That burden extends past the press itself, implicating the general public’s curiosity within the free circulate of details about authorities operations,” the judges stated.
In setting apart the escorted-related portion of Friedman’s injunction, the panel discovered the Pentagon’s resolution to require escorts was a authentic response to the decide’s preliminary resolution hanging its entry coverage writ giant. That, the judges stated, needs to be learn as a “new, typically relevant requirement” and doesn’t represent a failure to abide by Friedman’s earlier resolution.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell responded favorably to the appeals courtroom’s transfer, significantly its crediting of the division’s arguments on leaks, posting on X that “journalists proceed to carry legitimate press credentials and retain entry to Pentagon briefings, press conferences, and interviews.”
“Regardless of what many within the media have informed you, the Division’s coverage has by no means been about limiting journalism – it’s about safeguarding labeled data that protects American lives,” Parnell wrote.
Trump-appointed decide Justin Walker and Biden appointee Brad Garcia sided with the Protection Division. However Biden-appointed decide Michelle Childs dissented, arguing that the Pentagon did the truth is search to avoid Friedman’s injunction with its revised coverage.
“As soon as a courtroom has spoken, the celebration sure by its order could not evade it by way of inventive policymaking,” Childs wrote in her dissent.
