The US Defense Department has ordered accredited journalists to vacate their workplaces at the department's headquarters following a court ruling that found the Pentagon had violated media employees' rights. This was stated in a March 23 statement by Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Sean Parnell.

According to him, the Pentagon disagrees with but is complying with the ruling of the District of Columbia court, which granted a lawsuit filed by The New York Times. The department was ordered to restore press passes for seven of the newspaper's correspondents and to lift accreditation restrictions introduced in October of last year.

In connection with this, the Pentagon ordered the immediate closure of the long-standing media workspace at the department's headquarters. "A new workspace will be created in a separate building outside [the Pentagon headquarters], but on its grounds, it will be available as soon as it is ready," Parnell stated.

In addition, Pentagon leadership restricted journalists' unescorted access to the building. Parnell did not specify when exactly the new media workspace will be ready or where journalists' workplaces will be located in the meantime.

On October 16, 2025, the Associated Press reported that several dozen journalists had decided to surrender their Pentagon press passes due to media restrictions introduced by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The New York Times called Hegseth's actions "unprecedentedly hostile," claiming that under his leadership, the Pentagon stripped major media outlets of their workspace, providing it instead to conservative publications, restricted reporters' freedom of movement through the department's corridors, and introduced new strict rules that could lead to the revocation of press credentials. In December, the NYT sued the Pentagon, stating that the restrictions on media coverage of military affairs violated journalists' constitutional rights.