Controversial new guidelines circulated to all Defense Department reporters late last week require journalists to promise that they won’t use any information that hasn’t been formally cleared for release by government officials. Journalists are asked to initial the document acknowledging that their press credentials — the “hard pass” that most full-time journalists covering the Pentagon have — could be revoked.

It’s part of a sweeping package of new rules issued by the Pentagon to its press corps. Other changes apply to journalists’ access to areas of the Pentagon, when escorts will be needed for reporters moving around the sprawling complex, and the process for removing equipment from the site.

The most impactful section deals with the gathering and use of classified information, sensitive material or any other information that the Defense Department has not officially cleared for public release. The Pentagon is casting the new policy as an effort to protect against leaks and minimize security risks. 

But the rules will make it far more difficult for journalists to do their jobs, as reporters could be punished for breaking news that the Trump administration doesn’t like and hasn’t approved. And, critics say, it will have far-reaching impacts on the quality of news coverage coming from the Pentagon. 

The number of major global players recognizing a Palestinian state is growing by the day. Britain, Australia and Canada announced the moves on Sunday, prompting an immediate and angry response from Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the creation of a Palestinian state a threat to “Israel’s existence” and vowed that it wouldn’t happen.

Despite those protests from Jerusalem, the movement is gaining momentum quickly. Later Sunday, Portugal joined the list of nations formally recognizing a Palestinian state. France is expected to do the same this week during the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York.

In a video message explaining his rationale, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he believes the move will “revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis.” 

The theme of a major military conference this week, “Air and Space Power: America’s Decisive Edge,” comes at a crucial moment when growing threats and raging conflicts around the world are colliding with unprecedented leaps forward in technology.

The Air, Space & Cyber Conference, sponsored and organized by the Air & Space Forces Association and held at Maryland’s Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center just outside Washington, brings together key leaders across the military and defense sector.

Officials from some of the nation’s top defense companies told The Washington Times they aim to use the conference as a platform to showcase existing capabilities and also to offer something of a sneak preview of potential contributions to the forthcoming Golden Dome, Mr. Trump’s ambitious proposal to protect the entire continental U.S. from missile attacks.

The Golden Dome will be one of the hottest topics at this week’s show, along with next-generation drones and manned aircraft, satellites and other space assets, new offensive and defense capabilities in cyberspace, electronic warfare weapons and other initiatives spanning the air, space and cyber domains.

One of the key questions swirling around Mr. Trump’s widely anticipated address at the U.N. this week is this: Does he truly believe he still has a chance at the Nobel Peace Prize?

Foreign policy and political analysts say that calculation could drive the content of the president’s speech. He’s had some significant successes in ending conflicts, but the world’s most high-profile wars — the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Israel’s fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip — aren’t just ongoing. They seem to be expanding and growing even more violent.

Mr. Trump is expected to use his speech to promote a peace-through-strength agenda, but that would require him to navigate a rhetorical tightrope. On one hand, he needs to warn U.S. adversaries against escalating conflicts, but he also must temper his remarks so as not to sound as though he has come to the U.N. to threaten war — an approach that would surely harm his chances for the peace prize.

Nearly every European nation asks prospective voters to show a government-issued photo ID. Some even add extra requirements to ensure only the most reliable forms of identification, such as passports, are verified before allowing that person to influence the nation’s future direction. Many European countries also reject in-country mail-in voting.

Could the U.S. learn lessons from those rules? The Times Editorial Board makes that case, arguing that liberal Democrats are quick to embrace European-style, single-payer health care and centralized economic planning but turn quiet about European voting requirements that mirror many of the steps the Trump administration wants to implement here in America. 

“Yet, in their Orwellian fashion, these same Democrats remain preoccupied with global sentiment. They will even insist Mr. Trump is a threat to democracy when he is promoting internationally recognized standards to strengthen it,” the Editorial Board writes. 

• Sept. 22-23 — Cyber Defense Summit 25, Mandiant & Google Threat Intelligence

• Sept. 22-24 — Air, Space & Cyber Conference, Air & Space Forces Association

• Sept. 22-30 — U.N. General Assembly High-level Week 2025, United Nations

• Sept. 23-25 — National Cyber Summit

• Sept. 24 — Rocket Dreams: Musk, Bezos and the Inside Story of the New, Trillion-Dollar Space Race, American Enterprise Institute

• Sept. 25 — Building the Space Force We Need and the Intelligence to Support It, Intelligence Studies Project

• Sept. 25 — Counterforce in Contemporary U.S. Nuclear Strategy, Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance