‘What’s going on?’: US judge calls aspects of new Pentagon press policy ‘weird’

Key Points:

• Federal judge Paul Friedman criticized the Pentagon's new press policy as "weird" and Kafkaesque, expressing concerns about restricted press access and the requirement for journalists to be escorted within the building.
• The New York Times and other media organizations refused to accept the Pentagon's new restrictions, returning their press passes and suing the Trump administration over the policy, with the Times demanding compliance with a prior court ruling restoring press access.
• The Pentagon's policy limits journalists' ability to compel military staff to answer questions and threatens press credentials if reporters use anonymous sources, raising First Amendment concerns about potential chilling effects on government whistleblowers.
• Pentagon officials defend the policy as necessary to reduce leaks of classified information, denying efforts to monitor anonymous sources and emphasizing the policy aims to prevent solicitation of unauthorized disclosures.
• Judge Friedman requested a legal brief from the government explaining the basis for the new policy after striking down key aspects of the previous one, while Times lawyers warn that press restrictions hinder public access to information amid ongoing conflicts such as the US war on Iran.