The Pentagon terminated three senior Stars & Stripes employees—editor‑in‑chief Erik Slavin, Middle East reporter Lara Korte and longtime publisher Max Lederer—on Aug. 21, citing insubordination after a CBS interview. The dismissals come as the department pushes the paper’s coverage toward a warfighter‑focused agenda.
Slavin told CBS he was fired for refusing to run Pentagon‑written stories, while Korte said she was dismissed for stating she worked for Stars & Stripes, not the Pentagon. Lederer, who announced retirement on Aug. 18 effective Sept. 30, learned of his termination the same day the deputy publisher, Navy Capt. William Urban, was installed without his prior knowledge. The paper had recently reported grim conditions aboard the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
Press freedom groups and the National Press Club denounced the moves as a direct assault on the newspaper’s legally‑mandated editorial independence, warning it could erode transparent reporting for service members. The firings also highlight the Pentagon’s broader effort to reshape military media content, raising questions about future oversight and credibility of defense‑related news.
One account frames the action as a Pentagon‑driven purge under Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “custom‑tailored” warfighter agenda, while another emphasizes President Donald Trump’s broader anti‑media campaign as the underlying motive. The stated reason also varies, described as “insubordination” in some filings and as retaliation for defending editorial independence in others.