The Pentagon has moved to dismiss the editor, publisher and a Middle East reporter at Stars and Stripes, thrusting the U.S. military newspaper into a new fight over who controls the news delivered to service members and their families.
Separation notices were issued Friday, August 21, to Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin, Publisher Max D. Lederer Jr. and reporter Lara Korte, according to reporting by Stars and Stripes, the Associated Press, Reuters and CBS News.
The notices cited insubordination and gave the employees five days to appeal, CBS reported. That distinction matters: the Pentagon has initiated the dismissal process, but the employees still have an opportunity to challenge it.
The comments at the center of the dispute
Slavin and Korte appeared in a CBS News segment in July about the Pentagon’s efforts to reshape the publication. Slavin said his notice was tied to his statement that censorship of news for service members would cross a personal “red line.”
“Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent,” Slavin said in a statement reported by multiple outlets. He said that independence is required by law and Defense Department policy.
Korte said she had emphasized that she worked for the newspaper—not the Pentagon, an administration or a policymaker. She described covering the military community as her responsibility and said service members deserve access to an independent press.
The Pentagon did not immediately provide Reuters with a detailed response. A Pentagon official confirmed the separation notices to Stars and Stripes and directed the newspaper to an open letter from Navy Capt. William Urban, the recently installed military deputy to the publisher.
Why the publisher’s removal stands out
Lederer’s notice arrived only days after he announced that he would retire September 30 following more than three decades at Stars and Stripes. He had served as publisher since 2007.
In announcing his planned retirement, Lederer said his understanding of the newspaper’s mission differed fundamentally from the direction Pentagon leadership wanted for the organization.
The AP reported that Urban was placed beneath Lederer as military deputy without the publisher’s prior knowledge. Three Democratic senators later asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to explain the appointment.
Urban told the AP that he supports providing strong journalism to service members and their families. He also said he wants the publication to improve its digital operation to reach a military audience increasingly made up of “digital natives.”
A military-funded newspaper with an independent mission
Stars and Stripes receives Defense Department funding but has historically operated with editorial independence. It has published continuously since World War II and distributes news to American troops around the world, according to Reuters.
That unusual structure—government funding paired with legally protected editorial autonomy—is why this dispute reaches beyond an ordinary workplace shake-up. The people being covered by the newspaper are also part of the institution that finances it.
William Gallo, the publication’s Europe and Middle East bureau chief, told staff that the newsroom would continue producing independent journalism under its legal mandate, Reuters reported.
What happens next
The immediate question is whether Slavin, Lederer and Korte will appeal and whether the notices survive the required personnel process. It is also unclear who will permanently control the publication’s editorial and business operations.
The dismissals follow months of tension. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell has said the newspaper should focus more tightly on military readiness, weapons, fitness and related subjects. Earlier in 2026, the Pentagon dismissed the publication’s ombudsman, whose role included safeguarding editorial independence.
For military readers, the outcome may determine more than who occupies three offices. It could define whether Stars and Stripes remains an independent newsroom funded by the Pentagon—or becomes a publication whose boundaries are set more directly by Pentagon leadership.
