A newly issued NASA news media policy:

Effective Oct. 1, 2006, all news media entering the access controlled
area of the NASA headquarters building in Washington must be
escorted.

News media accredited by the Office of Public Affairs and issued a
media badge do not need to sign in at the visitor’s desk, but they do
need to arrange an escort from the Office of Public Affairs.
Non-accredited media will be badged as visitors and escorted.

News media will be escorted to their business appointments by a NASA
public affairs employee. Escorts will not be necessary for news media
attending events in the auditorium.

Previously, news media representatives had unlimited access to the
NASA headquarters building. This policy change makes the security
procedures at headquarters consistent with those of NASA’s field
centers.

The rationale is amusing, in that it explains nothing. (They also, for example, could have made the procedures consistent by changing them at the field centers to match those at headquarters.)

I’d love to hear the story behind this one.