Politics
Major media outlets reject Pentagon reporting rules
WASHINGTON: US and international news outlets, including The New York Times, AP, AFP, and Fox News, on Tuesday declined to sign new restrictive Pentagon media rules, meaning they will be stripped of their press access credentials.
The new rules come after the Defense Department restricted media access inside the Pentagon, forced some outlets to vacate offices in the building, and drastically reduced the number of briefings for journalists.
The media policy “gags Pentagon employees” by threatening retaliation against reporters who seek out information that has not been pre-approved for release, the Pentagon Press Association (PPA) said.
AFP said in a statement Tuesday that it “cannot sign up to the terms of the Pentagon document that would require media to acknowledge insufficiently clear new policies that appear to fly in the face of US constitutional principles and of the basic tenets of journalism.”
“We shall continue to cover the Pentagon and the US military freely and fairly, as we have done for decades,” the agency added.
TV networks ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC issued a joint statement saying they will not sign the new rules, which would “restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues.”
Alongside Fox, other conservative outlets, The Washington Times and Newsmax are also reportedly refusing to agree to the new policy, which could see a total of some 100 press passes revoked.
The new rules are the latest in a series of moves that restrict journalists’ access to information from the Pentagon, the nation’s single largest employer with a budget in the hundreds of billions of dollars per year.
The Defense Department announced earlier this year that eight media organizations, including The Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NBC and NPR had to vacate their dedicated office spaces in the Pentagon, alleging that there was a need to create room for other — predominantly conservative — outlets.
It has also required journalists to be accompanied by official escorts if they go outside a limited number of areas in the Pentagon — another new restriction on the press.
And it has drastically reduced the number of briefings for journalists — holding some half a dozen this year, compared to an average of two or more per week under president Joe Biden’s administration, which left office in January.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth — a former Fox News host and Army National Guard veteran — has campaigned against leaks from the Defense Department.
But he was inadvertently involved in the release of sensitive information earlier this year, sharing details about upcoming strikes against Yemen’s Huthi rebels in a chat on messaging app Signal to which a journalist had been mistakenly added.
Hegseth has also reportedly used Signal to discuss US strikes on Yemen with his wife and other people not usually involved in such discussions.
His use of Signal has prompted an investigation by the Pentagon inspector general’s office
Muslims across the world are celebrating Eid ul Fitr with traditional zeal and fervour, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Families and communities are coming together for prayers, feasts, and charitable giving, reflecting on a month of fasting, spiritual reflection, and devotion. The celebrations are filled with joy, greetings of “Eid Mubarak,” and acts of kindness that highlight the essence of the festival.
Rescuers were searching for the crew and passengers of a Qatari military helicopter that crashed in the Gulf state´s waters after a “technical malfunction”, the government said early Sunday.
“A Qatari helicopter had a technical malfunction during a routine duty, which led to its crash in the regional waters of the State,” Qatar’s defence ministry said in a statement posted to X. “Searching operation for its crew members and passengers is in progress.”
The interior ministry said that several specialised teams have been deployed.
Qatar has not specified where the helicopter was flying or the number of people on board.
While Qatar has been targeted by several strikes since the start of the Middle East war, no connection has been made between this chopper and the conflict triggered by US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
- TSA staff shortages disrupt major airport travel.
- ICE agents not specifically trained for TSA duties.
- Democrat calls Trump’s ICE airport plan reckless.
US President Donald Trump threatened to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to US airports on Monday if congressional Democrats do not immediately agree to fund airport safety.
Transportation Security Administration personnel are set to miss a second full paycheck on March 27 amid a partial government shutdown in its 36th day as lawmakers clash over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency for TSA and ICE.
TSA officers have called in sick as paychecks have dried up, and the shortage of security agents has disrupted travel at major airports. More than 400 TSA workers have quit since the partial shutdown began on February 14, NBC News reported on Saturday, citing DHS.
“I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.
In a subsequent post, Trump said the deployment would begin on Monday “if the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country.”
TSA has about 65,000 employees, including 50,000 airport security officers.
ICE, central to Trump admin immigration crackdown
ICE agents are not specifically trained for airport security, which is TSA’s domain. ICE has played a central role in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, drawing criticism from many Democrats, civil liberties advocates and immigration advocacy groups.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, criticised Trump’s proposal as “another reckless, lawless threat to misuse ICE agents.”
“He seems to have no concept of what the limits are on ICE, and I think America would be absolutely appalled to see ICE agents roaming through airports, just as they’ve been breaking down doors at homes,” Blumenthal told reporters in Washington.
Homeland Security historically has shifted resources across agencies during emergency staffing shortages, said Stewart Baker, who was a DHS policy official in President George W. Bush’s administration. Keeping TSA going without paying staff creates “serious trouble” for the agency, Baker said.
Using ICE agents for airport security “may be slower than using trained people, but it would be better than having nobody,” he added.
ICE, along with Customs and Border Protection, has deployed agents over the past few months to multiple areas as part of the crackdown, most recently to Minnesota in an operation that resulted in agents fatally shooting American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Their deaths sparked a backlash and led the Trump administration to adopt a more targeted approach in Minnesota.
Trump this month fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem amid growing criticism of the administration’s immigration tactics. The US Senate is considering the nomination of Senator Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, as the next DHS secretary.
Trump has said his immigration policies are intended to curb illegal immigration and improve national security.
Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union said TSA had provided lists of airport travellers to ICE, calling the move a break from TSA’s prior practices.
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