Stars and Stripes Editor Fired in Pentagon Power Play

Who Just Got Fired

Erik Slavin, editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes, received a separation notice Friday. So did the paper’s Middle East reporter, Lara Korte. The notice came from the Pentagon itself—the very department that funds the newspaper. Max Lederer, the paper’s publisher, also got a notice, though he had already announced plans to retire at the end of September.

Slavin said the termination notices were retaliation for his public stance on editorial independence. In a CBS interview, he called hypothetical censorship of news for service members a “red line.” That line was crossed, according to Slavin. Not by a foreign adversary. By his own funding source.

Why Stars and Stripes Matters

Stars and Stripes is not a tabloid or a partisan outlet. It is the official newspaper of the U.S. military, founded in the 19th century and serving as the primary news source for service members deployed overseas. During World War II, it became the voice of American troops in theaters around the world. Today, it still carries that weight. Millions of active-duty personnel and their families read it. It is supposed to be independent—by law and by Pentagon policy.

That independence is what makes Friday’s firings significant. This is not a story about a political newspaper being pressured. This is a story about the Pentagon firing journalists who report on the Pentagon.

The Immediate Trigger

The trouble began months ago, but it intensified this year. In January, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced the department would “return Stars and Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters.” He added that the paper would be refocused away from “woke distractions that syphon morale.” The new directive emphasized warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, and survivability. No more DC gossip columns. No more AP reprints.

The editorial direction shifted quickly after that. In April, the newspaper’s ombudsman, Jacqueline Smith, was fired. Her job was to defend the paper’s ethics and independence. Then Navy Captain William Urban was appointed deputy publisher—reportedly without prior notice to Lederer.

Urban published a letter on the Stars and Stripes website praising the paper’s World War II legacy of independent journalism. He also criticized current management for being “slow to embrace digital storytelling” and pledged “modernization.” He wrote: “My commitment is to leave Stripes a better organization than the one I joined two weeks ago.”

Two weeks. That is how long it took for the leadership turnover to accelerate.

The USS Lincoln Incident

Stars and Stripes had drawn Pentagon attention earlier this year for its coverage of the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that has been on a record-long deployment since November. The paper reported that sailors aboard the ship had expressed suicidal ideation or attempted to jump overboard. The Trump administration dismissed those reports as overblown and “dishonest.”

That clash over the Lincoln story exposed the tension between the paper’s editorial mission and the Pentagon’s desire to control its narrative. It was not the first time the administration has pushed back against media coverage it finds unfavorable. Trump has launched lawsuits against the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, the BBC, and The New York Times over coverage disagreements. Under his second term, the Pentagon has also restricted journalists’ access to areas including its press office.

But Stars and Stripes occupies a different category than those outlets. It is funded by the government and serves the military community directly. Its coverage is not adversarial in the same way as wire services or cable news. It is, in theory, journalism written for service members, about service members, by service members.

Who Wins and Who Loses

The Pentagon wins control. That is the immediate outcome. Commander Urban now sits in the deputy publisher chair. The ombudsman’s office is empty. The editor-in-chief and a reporter are gone. The message is clear: coverage that embarrasses the department will be cut short.

Stars and Stripes loses its independence. Or at least, it loses the appearance of it. Slavin himself said he believes he was fired for stating that censorship would be a red line. The paper’s own publisher warned that his philosophy of leadership differed fundamentally from the direction the Department of Defense was taking the organization.

The service members who relied on Stars and Stripes for credible, independent news lose most of all. Their newspaper is now staffed and led by people appointed by the Pentagon public affairs apparatus. Chris Vaccaro, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, said it plainly in a statement on Thursday: “Stars and Stripes cannot fulfill its mission if its journalists or newsroom leaders must worry that independent reporting could bring retaliation from the officials they cover.”

The Political Response

Three Democratic senators—Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren, and Jeanne Shaheen—sent a joint letter to Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth on Friday, calling for answers about the “degradation” of the newspaper’s independence. The letter noted that American service members, especially those stationed overseas and in combat zones, have relied on Stars and Stripes for generations. The trust, they wrote, depends on a clear separation between independent journalism and the Defense Department’s public affairs machinery.

That separation is now gone. Urban is both the deputy publisher and a Pentagon captain. The line between public affairs and editorial content has been erased.

What Comes Next

The Pentagon will likely continue tightening control over the paper’s content. Expect more stories about operational readiness, weapons testing, and force posture—and fewer stories about morale problems, personnel issues, or controversies within the ranks. The Lincoln coverage was a warning. Friday’s firings are an enforcement action.

For press freedom advocates, the Stars and Stripes case is a test. If the Pentagon can fire journalists at a government-funded newspaper without consequence, there is no meaningful barrier to stopping other publications from reporting critically either. The Trump administration’s lawsuits against the AP, the BBC, and others have drawn scrutiny. The Stars and Stripes firings have drawn less. That difference is worth noticing.

Slavin stood by his red line. He will now learn what happens when you cross it.