Stars and Stripes, a U.S. military newspaper meant to give news about the service to military families and personnel, has had its editorial independence backstopped by Congress since 1991, when lawmakers created an ombudsman position that would report directly to lawmakers. This was specifically meant to safeguard the paper from Pentagon interference.
Unsurprisingly, that hasn’t stopped Trump’s Pentagon from … interfering.
Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte were fired for “insubordination” weeks after telling CBS News that censoring the news U.S. troops receive represents a red line they would not cross. Max Lederer, the publisher who had just announced his retirement, was also pushed out. An active-duty Navy officer who Hegseth likes better has been installed in the newsroom’s senior leadership.
The Associated Press reports that this wasn’t the first time this year the paper’s independence took a hit:
[Slavin] received a notice of separation, as did publisher Max Lederer—who had just announced his upcoming retirement—and Middle East reporter Lara Korte, Slavin said. … In April, the Pentagon fired Jacqueline Smith, ombudsman for the newspaper, whose job had been to safeguard editorial independence.
Slavin should be applauded for sticking up for the publication’s independence, which isn’t a courtesy that the department extends whenever it’s convenient, but a legal obligation it is currently violating by its actions.
Every such act of “insubordination” exposes this administration’s authoritarianism and moral bankruptcy. We need more of them.
The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.
© The UnPopulist, 2026
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