The Pentagon has banned journalists from its press office, designating the workspace as a classified area, according to The Washington Post.

The decision closes off a room that has long served as a physical base of operations for reporters covering the U.S. Defense Department. Details on the reasoning behind the move were not spelled out beyond the classification designation itself.

For the Pentagon press corps, the practical effect is immediate. Reporters who have worked from the building — close to officials, briefings and the informal corridor conversations that often generate stories — now lose that on-site presence.

It also fits a broader pattern. Access for journalists covering national security agencies has tightened in stages over recent years, through restrictions on briefings, limits on on-the-record interviews and shrinking opportunities for direct questioning of officials.

A classification designation gives the department a procedural basis for excluding people without a clearance. Press offices are not typically treated that way; they exist, by design, as an interface between an agency and the media.

No details were available on how long the restriction will last, which office space is affected, or what alternative arrangements — if any — the department will offer reporters who previously worked there.

We will follow this story as more specifics emerge on the scope of the ban and what it means for day-to-day coverage of the Pentagon.