Washington DC - The Defense Department has designated its press office as a classified space, the Pentagon said Monday, making it off-limits to journalists who used to be able to enter the area.

In an X post shared on Monday, Acting Pentagon Press Secretary Joel Valdez explained that "the Pentagon Press Office has been redesignated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility" because speechwriters who "routinely handle classified material" work in the area.

"As a result, journalists will no longer be permitted to enter the office space," he added.

The Pentagon began enacting new restrictions on journalists soon after President Donald Trump returned to office last year.

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Eight media organizations – including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN – were forced to vacate their dedicated office spaces in the Pentagon.

The Pentagon noted that the reason for this was because of a need to create room for other – predominantly conservative – news outlets.

Officials later required remaining journalists to sign a new restrictive media policy in order to maintain access to the building. Several US and international outlets declined to do so, resulting in the stripping of their Pentagon credentials.

In response to a lawsuit brought by the Times, a judge ruled in March that elements of the policy violated the Constitution.

The Pentagon responded with even tighter restrictions, announcing that it would close a press area called the Correspondents' Corridor and saying that all journalists accessing the building would now require an escort.