The US defense secretary, ⁠Pete Hegseth, ​announced on Monday that the Pentagon and the US Department of Justice have created a “joint taskforce ​to identify and ​prosecute” what he called the “unauthorized disclosure ​of sensitive” information to the press, marking the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s effort to crackdown on leaks.

In a ⁠video ​posted on X, Hegseth said that “to combat the dangers that leaks pose, effectively immediately, I have ​delegated tasking authority ​to the war department’s ‌office ⁠of general counsel, empowering OGC to request and receive ​all ​information, ⁠records and support across the ​department concerning ​media ⁠leak investigations”.

“Leaked information risks lives, these new tools and processes will greatly assist us in protecting our joint force,” he said. “The security of our nation cannot be a bargaining chip for those who seek momentary headlines, access to confidential and secret information is a sacred trust, and those who betray that trust will be met with the full force of the law.”

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In his remarks, he also thanked the acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche, “for his help in this important project”, and said that he was “proud that our departments are working together closer than we have ever before”.

The new taskforce comes as over the weekend, the New York Times said that the Trump administration issued subpoenas to several of the paper’s journalists, after they reported on security concerns regarding Donald Trump’s new Qatari-gifted plane.

On Wednesday, the Times reported that Trump left Turkey onboard the old Air Force One, instead of his new Qatari-gifted aircraft, as a security precaution at the urging of the Secret Service. The following day, the newspaper reported that the new Air Force One lacked some of the advanced security features of the older aircraft. Both stories cited anonymous sources.

On Saturday, the Times said that their reporters had been issued subpoenas, seeking to compel them to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan this week.

According to the newspaper, before publishing its first story, a senior FBI official contacted a reporter and senior editor asking for the article to be withheld, calling it an issue of national security, but declined to explain the security issue. The official also reportedly requested that the Times disclose its sources for the article, which the Times refused to do.

David McCraw, the Times’s top newsroom lawyer, condemned the subpoenas in a statement, saying that the “appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects”.