US military paper 'Stars and Stripes' warns about threat to independence after Pentagon fires staff

The chair of the Stars and Stripes Publisher Advisory Board warned Friday that the Pentagon’s firing of senior staff threatens the US military newspaper’s editorial independence after its publisher, editor-in-chief, and a reporter received separation notices. 

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“The Publisher Advisory Board is deeply concerned that these actions further threaten to interrupt the editorial independence that is essential to Stars and Stripes’ credibility and its ability to serve the military community with trusted, independent journalism,” Chair Rufus Friday said. 

“We hope that the House Armed Services and Senate Armed Services Committees seek explanations to these actions,” he added.

Publisher Max Lederer, who announced his retirement this week, received a separation notice from the Defense Department and told employees in a farewell memo that he disagreed with the decision.

Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte also received notices Friday. Slavin said he and Korte were fired for participating in an interview with CBS News in which he argued that censorship of Stars and Stripes would be unacceptable. 

“I am working for Stars and Stripes. Not for the Pentagon,” Korte told CBS’s Sunday Morning. “Not for any administration. Not for any policymaker. I am here to cover the military community.” 

“I stand by the principle that Stars and Stripes should remain independent for service members,” Slavin told The Washington Post on Friday. 

The Pentagon confirmed the firings and said the three employees have five days to appeal. Neither Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth nor the Pentagon commented further on the dismissals. The Trump administration has criticized the publication over alleged ideological bias. 

US Defense Department aiming to eliminate 'woke distractions'

The Defense Department announced plans in January to overhaul Stars and Stripes and eliminate what it called “woke distractions.” Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the publication would be returned to its “original mission” of reporting for US service members. The Pentagon fired the publication’s congressionally mandated ombudsman in April. She sued the government on First Amendment grounds in June. 

This month, the Pentagon installed active-duty Navy Capt. William Urban. Senate Democrats opposed the move in a letter to Hegseth, arguing it could further compromise the newspaper’s independence. 

Stars and Stripes was first published during the Civil War and has continuously covered the US military community since World War II.