The editor-in-chief of the military publication Stars and Stripes said he, along with a publisher and a reporter, were fired by the Pentagon Friday.
Erik Slavin told The Associated Press that he was let go for insubordination after an interview he gave where he objected to potential censorship by the military. The paper is partially funded by the Department of Defense but has a history of editorial independence.
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During Slavin’s interview with CBS News, he said that “hypothetical censorship of news for service members would constitute a red line,” the AP reported. He told the outlet that he stands by the idea that “Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent.”
The firings follow the announcement earlier this week that long-time publisher Max Lederer would retire at the end of September. However, Lederer also received a separation notice, the AP reported, along with Middle East reporter Lara Korte.
Korte posted on X, saying that she was fired for insubordination after she told a reporter at CBS that she worked for Stars and Stripes, not the Defense Department.
“I consider it a great privilege to live alongside members of the military and share their stories,” she wrote in a follow-up tweet. “It’s a shame for the institution and service members, who swore to defend the Constitution and deserve the right to a free and independent press.”
Today, I was informed that the Department of Defense is firing me for insubordination after I told a CBS reporter that I work for Stars and Stripes – not the Pentagon, not any administration, and not any policy maker.
— Lara Korte (@lara_korte) August 21, 2026
Lederer announced his retirement plans weeks after the Defense Department installed a new deputy publisher, without notifying him. Democrats questioned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about the decision in a letter on Thursday.
Sean Parnell, a top public affairs official at the Pentagon, said Stars and Stripes’ current content is damaging to troop morale because of “woke distractions,” in an X post from January.
This wasn’t the first time the Pentagon has moved to fire long-time journalists at the military publication. In April, the department fired Jacqueline Smith, the paper’s ombudsman, who was tasked with safeguarding the publication’s editorial independence.