# The Pentagon press contract

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The Pentagon press contract," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-pentagon-press-contract/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*A contract John Kiriakou says every news outlet covering the Pentagon was required to sign in mid-2026, undertaking to publish no information that had not been officially provided by the department. Almost nobody signed: by his count Newsmax, One America News, a Turkish paper, a Hungarian paper and a couple of bloggers.*

- **Requirement:** Publish nothing not officially provided by the Pentagon
- **Imposed:** About three or four weeks before late July 2026
- **Signed by:** Newsmax, One America News, a Turkish paper, a Hungarian paper, a couple of bloggers
- **Effect:** Almost no press coverage from the Pentagon press office
- **Kiriakou's view:** It makes investigative journalism illegal

**The Pentagon press contract** is an undertaking [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) says was put to every news outlet covering the Department of Defense a few weeks before late July 2026, and which he describes himself as appalled by.

## The terms

Every outlet covering the Pentagon had to sign a contract saying that they would not publish any information that had not been officially given to them by the Pentagon.[1]

Kiriakou's summary of the effect is that the only thing an outlet could publish would be propaganda personally vetted by the office of the Secretary of Defense — and that this makes investigative journalism illegal.[1]

## The legal theory behind it

The mechanism he identifies is the [Espionage Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act). The idea, as he puts it, is that if you publish something technically classified that would be espionage and you would be charged. His objection is constitutional: this is protected free press.[2]

## Who signed

Almost nobody. By Kiriakou's count the only organisations that said yes and actually signed were Newsmax, One America News, a Turkish newspaper he had never heard of, a Hungarian newspaper he had never heard of, and a couple of bloggers.[2]

The consequence he reports is a building without reporters: *"otherwise, there's no news coverage of the Pentagon right now, at least not at the Pentagon in the press office."*[3]

## See also

- [Espionage Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act)
- [The Pentagon injury figures](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-pentagon-injury-figures)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. John Kiriakou Podcast: Inside FBI Recruiting, CIA Secrets & Human Behavior (2026-07-03), at 10:55. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkAf70JgQBI&t=655s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-03-the-jk-report-john-kiriakou-podcast-inside-fbi-recruiting-cia/
2. John Kiriakou Podcast: Inside FBI Recruiting, CIA Secrets & Human Behavior (2026-07-03), at 11:26. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkAf70JgQBI&t=686s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-03-the-jk-report-john-kiriakou-podcast-inside-fbi-recruiting-cia/
3. John Kiriakou Podcast: Inside FBI Recruiting, CIA Secrets & Human Behavior (2026-07-03), at 11:56. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkAf70JgQBI&t=716s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-03-the-jk-report-john-kiriakou-podcast-inside-fbi-recruiting-cia/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-pentagon-press-contract/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt