Pentagon Fires Stars and Stripes Leaders Over Editorial Independence

The US Department of Defense has dismissed three senior leaders of the military newspaper Stars and Stripes: editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, longtime publisher Max D. Lederer Jr., and Middle East correspondent Lara Korte. Termination letters cited "insubordination" as the reason.

Fired for Speaking Out on Independence

Slavin linked his dismissal to a CBS News interview in which he drew a "red line" against Pentagon interference: he said he would refuse to publish stories dictated by the Defense Department in place of accurate reporting. Korte, who reports from Germany on the Middle East, was fired after telling a CBS journalist she worked for Stars and Stripes — "not for the Pentagon, any government, or policymakers." Lederer, who had announced plans to retire at the end of September after nearly two decades, was removed three days after that announcement.

Pentagon Seeks to Reshape Editorial Coverage

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's department had previously announced plans to redirect Stars and Stripes coverage away from what it called "woke distractions." A Navy captain, William Urban, was recently installed as military vice-publisher, a move Democratic lawmakers criticized as undermining editorial independence. Stars and Stripes, which dates to 1861, reaches up to 1.4 million readers through its print and digital platforms and operates its European editorial center near the Ramstein Air Base in Kaiserslautern, Germany.