Pentagon fires three at Stars and Stripes, seven months after taking the paper’s rules out of the federal code

The Pentagon issued separation notices on Friday to the editor-in-chief, the publisher and a Middle East reporter at Stars and Stripes. Erik Slavin, the paper’s top editor, told The Associated Press he was dismissed for insubordination after saying in a CBS interview that censorship of news for service members would be a red line.

“I stand by the principle that Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent, as required by law and by the department’s own policies,” Slavin said. He joined the paper in 2005 as a reporter in Japan, embedded with U.S. forces in Iraq, reported from South Korea, ran news operations in Europe and the Middle East, and was named editor-in-chief in September 2025.

Lara Korte, who has covered the Middle East for the paper since December 2024, appeared in the same CBS segment. She wrote on X that she had been told the Department of Defense was firing her for insubordination after she told a CBS reporter that she works for Stars and Stripes. In a statement on Friday she said, “These firings are a shame for the institution and service members.”

Max D. Lederer Jr., the publisher, was given notice days after announcing his retirement, which had been set for September 30 after more than three decades at the paper and nearly two as publisher. In a staff memo he wrote that it had “become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes, differ in fundamental ways from the direction the leadership of the Department of Defense has for the organization.”

Seven months earlier, the rules governing the newspaper came out of the Code of Federal Regulations. On January 15 the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs published a final rule removing 32 CFR part 246, “Stars and Stripes (S&S) Newspaper and Business Operations,” which had been on the books since April 22, 1994. The notice said the regulation “is unnecessary and may be removed from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) because it does not have an impact or burden to the public,” and that “internal policy and procedures governing Stripes will continue to be published in DoD Directive 5122.11.”

The department had proposed the change in April 2024 and taken comments for 60 days. The January notice reports that 91 comments arrived, 88 of them on point, and that “some of the comments also advocated for not changing the existing rule because of perceived concerns that changes would restrict Stripes in continuing its mission of providing editorially independent news and information.” The department’s stated answer was that “the existing rule is outdated and does not reflect the current operation of Stripes, only referencing Stripes as a hardcopy/print publication.” The removal took effect the day it was published. The notice also said publishing the removal for comment was “unnecessary because the underlying rule addresses internal agency policies and procedures.”

Stars and Stripes reported that same day that Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top public affairs official, had said on X that the department would take over editorial content decisions. Parnell wrote that the paper would “be custom tailored to our warfighter” with a focus on “warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY,” and would no longer post “repurposed DC gossip columns” or “Associated Press reprints.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted the statement. The report noted that Directive 5122.11 says “there shall be a free flow of news and information to its readership without news management or censorship.” It also relayed a Daily Wire account, citing unnamed defense officials, that the Pentagon planned for active-duty service members to produce all of the paper’s content, with about half of its website made up of department-generated material.

The Pentagon in March outlined an overhaul that barred certain news wire services and said content must be “consistent with good order and discipline,” according to Stars and Stripes.

In April the department removed Jacqueline Smith, the newspaper’s ombudsman. In a column published on April 23, Smith wrote that Congress created the position in 1991 out of concern over military attempts to suppress unfavorable news, that the ombudsman “is charged with safeguarding the editorial independence of the newspaper and reports directly to Congress, specifically to prevent interference from the Department,” and that she had informed both armed services committees of her concerns. She sued the Pentagon in federal district court in Washington on June 25, alleging retaliation for protected speech and asking to be reinstated. Her three-year term ran through December 2026.

On August 20, Senators Richard Blumenthal, Jeanne Shaheen and Elizabeth Warren wrote to Hegseth about the assignment of an active-duty public affairs officer, Navy Capt. William Urban, as deputy to Lederer, which they said was done “reportedly without consultation with Mr. Lederer.” Placing such an officer in the senior leadership of an organization “whose credibility depends on its independence from the military chain of command raises serious questions,” they wrote, and cited “the April firing of independent Ombudsman Jacqueline Smith after she publicly defended the newspaper’s editorial independence and communicated concerns to Congress.” They asked Hegseth to say by August 28 who directed the assignment, whether Urban will have any role in editorial, personnel, budgetary or management decisions, and whether he will serve as publisher.

Urban published an open letter on Friday. “I understand that I am now part of a team, committed to editorially independent journalism that best serves our most important customer, which is our service members, their families, and our greater military community,” he wrote. He told the AP he has no formal journalism experience, cited more than 20 years in Navy public affairs, and said he wants to expand the paper’s digital reporting. Asked whether he would become publisher, he said, “I can’t comment on what my role will be in the future.”

National Press Club President Mark Schoeff Jr. called Slavin’s firing “another brazen attempt by the Pentagon to dictate coverage of the military” and said it should be immediately reversed. “Firing a newspaper editor after he publicly defended his newsroom’s editorial independence is deeply troubling, and it should concern every journalist and every member of the U.S. military who depends on independent reporting,” Schoeff said.

A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the separation notices to Stars and Stripes and referred the paper to Urban’s letter.