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NEW YORK — <\/span>In another of a series of moves restricting media access at the Pentagon, the Defense Department has declared that its press office is now a classified space inaccessible to journalists.<\/p>\n On X, acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez confirmed the move, saying there was \u201cnothing controversial\u201d about it and that it came because speechwriters, who use classified material, were now occupying the space.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Pentagon Press Office has been redesignated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility due to speechwriters from the Office of the Secretary of War sharing the facility,\u201d Valdez wrote. <\/p>\n \u201cThese speechwriters routinely handle classified material \u2026 as a result, journalists will no longer be permitted to enter the office space. There\u2019s nothing controversial about that.\u201d<\/p>\n The latest move, first reported by The Washington Post, took place against a backdrop of escalating tensions between the U.S. media and the second Trump administration, which has played out both in the public arena and at times in the courts.<\/p>\n For many years, Pentagon reporters had credentials granting them wide movement in the building as they sought to interact with press officials there. But last October, most news outlets turned in access badges and walked out<\/a> of the Pentagon rather than agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work<\/a>,<\/p>\n The New York Times sued the Defense Department on May 18 for the second time in five months<\/a>, arguing that a requirement that journalists be escorted while on Pentagon grounds violates the First Amendment and is \u201can unconstitutional attempt by the Pentagon to prevent independent reporting on military affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n The paper said it had filed the additional lawsuit after first suing the Pentagon in December over new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, to challenge an interim policy \u201cthat the Pentagon hastily put into place after a federal judge ruled in The Times\u2019s favor in its original lawsuit.\u201d The new policy included the requirement that journalists be accompanied by escorts at all times while in the Pentagon.<\/p>\n The policy was implemented in March following a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman that had struck down earlier restrictions. The following month, the judge ruled that the interim policy violated his March order. But the escort policy remained in place<\/a> when an appeals court stayed part of Friedman\u2019s ruling while the government appeals. The appeals process is ongoing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n