Pentagon Fires Stars and Stripes Publisher and Top Editorial Staff Over CBS Interview

The Pentagon dismissed Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and Middle East correspondent Lara Korte on Friday, according to reporting from Fox News. The firings stem from Slavin and Korte's unauthorized participation in a CBS Sunday Morning segment that aired last month about the Pentagon's efforts to overhaul the paper, per Fox News. Lederer's refusal to fire Slavin and Korte at the direction of Pentagon leadership contributed to his own dismissal, according to the reporting. Erik Slavin stated in a statement to Fox News Digital that he was fired for saying in a CBS interview that "censorship of news for service members would constitute a red line." According to Slavin's statement, the Pentagon's public affairs office charged him with insubordination. Slavin said he stands "by the principle that Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent, as required by law and by the department's own policies." Lara Korte posted on X that she was informed the Department of Defense was firing her for insubordination after she told a CBS reporter that she works for Stars and Stripes, "not the Pentagon, not any administration and not any policy maker." Max Lederer is an Army veteran who joined Stars and Stripes in 1992 and has served as its publisher for 19 years. According to Fox News reporting, Lederer announced to staff his intention to retire at the end of September due to "fundamental" differences he had with Pentagon leadership on the direction of the paper. He was fired just days after that announcement. Slavin was appointed editor-in-chief in September 2025 after joining the paper in 2005 as a reporter in Japan and later serving as an embed reporter with U.S. Forces in Iraq. The fired staffers were granted five days to appeal their dismissals. The dismissals follow a Pentagon overhaul announced in January 2026 by Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, who posted on X that the Pentagon would return Stars and Stripes to its "original mission: reporting for our warfighters" and eliminate "woke distractions that syphon morale." Per Parnell's statement, the paper would focus on "warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY." Military Deputy to the Publisher Captain William Urban, responding on behalf of the Pentagon, stated that his vision for Stars and Stripes includes maintaining "the highest standard of professional journalism with the credibility that comes with editorial independence."