The Pentagon has terminated the editor-in-chief, publisher, and a Middle East reporter at Stars and Stripes, a military newspaper with a long-standing tradition of editorial independence despite receiving partial funding from the Defense Department.
Erik Slavin, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, told The Associated Press that he received a separation notice along with publisher Max Lederer and reporter Lara Korte. According to Slavin, his firing followed a recent television appearance.
“I was terminated for stating in a CBS interview that hypothetical censorship of news for service members would constitute a red line,” Slavin said, emphasizing his position “that Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent.”
The terminations come amid broader shifts by the Trump administration and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has moved to exert tighter control over the publication and reduce what leadership has termed “woke distractions.”
The move follows earlier policy adjustments that limited traditional press corps access to the Pentagon, alongside ongoing disputes between the administration and national outlets such as the Associated Press.
Earlier in the week, Lederer had announced plans to retire at the end of September. His announcement came weeks after defense officials assigned an active-duty military member as his deputy publisher without his advance knowledge. On Thursday, three Democratic senators sent a formal inquiry to Hegseth questioning the appointment of that active-duty deputy.
Lederer, who spent three decades with the organization and served as its publisher starting in 2007, addressed the growing policy divide in a farewell memo to his newsroom staff.
“It has 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,” Lederer wrote.
The dismissals follow the Pentagon’s removal in April of Jacqueline Smith, who served as the publication’s ombudsman charged with protecting its editorial independence.
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