The Pentagon's Correspondents' Corridor -- where journalists have worked inside the building for decades -- remains closed more than a week after a federal judge ordered the Department of Defense to restore press access and stop screening reporters based on their coverage. [1]

On March 20, U.S. District Court Judge vacated key provisions of the Pentagon's October 2025 media access policy, which had required journalists to submit to ideological screening. Three days later, the Department of Defense announced it had "complied" by closing the corridor entirely and moving press operations to an external annex.

The New York Times, which brought the original suit, accused the Pentagon of conducting an "end-run around the court's ruling." The Guardian reported that the Pentagon's new "interim" policy requires all journalists to be escorted by authorized Defense Department personnel -- a restriction that effectively prevents the kind of independent reporting the corridor had enabled.

On Monday, March 30, a federal judge sharply questioned Pentagon attorneys about whether the department had actually complied with the court's order. Reuters reported that the judge expressed skepticism about the government's characterization of the new arrangements as improved press access.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell has maintained that the annex represents "a new and improved press workspace." Reporters who have visited it describe a stripped-down facility with limited access to officials and no proximity to the building's working offices.

The press access battle continues as the court weighs whether to hold the Pentagon in contempt for defying the original order's intent.

-- ANNA WEBER, Washington