The New York Times filed a second lawsuit against the Defense Department this week, arguing that an interim press policy mandating that reporters be escorted at all times while on Pentagon grounds is unconstitutional.
U.S. Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Sean Parnell responded to the lawsuit on social media: “The latest filing by the New York Times, while dressed up to look like a constitutional challenge, is nothing more than an attempt to remove the barriers to them getting their hands on classified information. They want to roam the halls of the Pentagon freely and without an escort – a privilege that they do not have in any other federal building. The Department’s policy is completely lawful and narrowly designed to protect national security information from unlawful criminal disclosure.”
No evidence ever has been presented of reporters obtaining classified information while roaming the halls of the Pentagon.
Those halls, I would add, are unclassified spaces routinely visited by tourists, foreign military personnel, etc.
Classified spaces at the Pentagon are… https://t.co/EWpFL45YNt
— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) May 18, 2026
Dan Lamothe, who covers military affairs for The Washington Post, replied to Parnell: “No evidence ever has been presented of reporters obtaining classified information while roaming the halls of the Pentagon. Those halls, I would add, are unclassified spaces routinely visited by tourists, foreign military personnel, etc. Classified spaces at the Pentagon are locked — as one would expect.”
AP Pentagon reporter Konstantin Toropin chimed in: “Employees working in the Pentagon food court are able to walk the building unescorted. Also, while reporters have walked the building unescorted for decades, this administration has never offered any examples of this resulting in leaked classified info to justify this policy.”
Meghann Myers, land warfare reporter at Defense One, wrote: “This DoD has never presented a single example of classified information being shared in the hallways of the Pentagon. If that were such a risk, CVS employees wouldn’t be allowed to go to the bathroom.”
Roll Call reporter Niels Lesniewski also wrote: “Sure I’m not the first to say this, but I would observe that the Capitol is a federal building.”
Former national security official Brian P. McKeon, who worked with Presidents Obama and Biden, also noted: “Reporters walk the halls of Congress unescorted.”
Retired U.S. Army aviator Fred Wellman, who’s running as a Democrat to replace Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner in Missouri, responded to Lamothe: “Sean is counting on you believing that the Pentagon is a massive secure building with secrets spilling out of the offices. It’s not. It’s a massive office building. There are various levels of security everywhere and you can’t just walk into a secure space. There are literally restaurants, coffee shops, gift shops, and a CVS with people just WALKING AROUND! For decades the Pentagon Press Corps was credentialed and allowed to meet in the building until these cowardly small people took over desperate to hide their lies and [expletive]. They haven’t banned CVS. Just the free press.”
MAGA-aligned Hans Mahncke, author of Swiftboating America: Exposing the Russiagate Fraud, responded to Wellman: “If proximity is suddenly treated as a legal entitlement, then the logic has to run both ways. By that standard, we should all be allowed to wander through New York Times offices and engage with their fake news operatives.”