Media organizations and lawmakers are pushing back at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new crackdown on journalists working in the Pentagon that would revoke the press credentials of reporters who obtain military or defense information without the building’s approval.

The new policy, laid out in a 17-page memo on Friday, requires credentialed press members to sign a pledge to not report information that has not been authorized for release, including unclassified information, or risk losing credentials that provide access to the Pentagon.

The mandate quickly drew the criticism of Democratic and even some Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who called the move “so dumb that I have a hard time believing it is true.”

“We don’t want a bunch of Pravda newspapers only touting the Government’s official position. A free press makes our country better. This sounds like more amateur hour,”  Bacon wrote on the social platform X, referring to the Soviet Union’s official state newspaper.

Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed (D-R.I.) also condemned the policy, calling it “an ill-advised affront to free speech and freedom of the press.”

“This goes beyond attempting to suppress criticism — Mr. Hegseth’s goal appears to be eliminating a critical check on government corruption, unlawful practices, and the misuse of taxpayer dollars,” Reed said in a statement on Saturday. “American journalists are not, should not, and must not be mere stenographers for the party in power or the Pentagon itself.”

Media organizations and newsroom leaders, meanwhile, have released their own condemnations of the mandate, with The New York Times calling it “yet another step in a concerning pattern of reducing access to what the U.S. military is undertaking at taxpayer expense.”

Reuters said its reporters and editors “are deeply concerned” by the new restrictions as “any effort by the U.S. government to limit journalists’ ability to cover the news undermines fundamental First Amendment protections and constrains the free flow of information that is critical to informed public debate.”

The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post also issued statements criticizing the policy, as did NPR Editor-in-Chief Thomas Evans, who said his outlet would be “working with other news organizations to push back,” foreshadowing a potential legal fight.

In a statement released Friday, National Press Club President Mike Balsamo called the mandate “a direct assault on independent journalism at the very place where independent scrutiny matters most: the U.S. military.”

And the Pentagon Press Association said it was aware of the new directive “and is reviewing it.”

Hegseth’s press office has had a tense and adversarial relationship with reporters, placing a series of restraints on their ability to cover the military since he took on his role at the start of the year.

His office in late January booted four outlets from their Pentagon work spaces in favor of other media outlets, including Breitbart News and One America News Network, that have seemingly given the Trump administration more favorable coverage. When reporters complained to Hegseth’s office about the move, officials removed four additional news outlets, including The Hill, from their desks.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host, in May made certain hallways of the Pentagon off-limits to journalists without an official escort — a major change as reporters previously had access throughout much of the building without an escort.

The new memo seems to further limit reporters’ movement, noting that if news outlets require access to other areas or offices within the Pentagon for in-person interviews or other engagements, “they must be escorted to and from those spaces by authorized” personnel.

In addition, Hegseth has made the Pentagon press briefing room off-limits to reporters unless a briefing is taking place. The room had previously served as a place for reporters without a dedicated work space to gain access to the internet to file stories from within the building. So far, Hegseth and his press officials have held fewer than 10 on-the-record briefings since the start of the year.

Hegseth also has repeatedly accused journalists of attempting to “sabotage” President Trump’s agenda. 

“The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon — the people do,” Hegseth wrote on X on Friday.