Three senior journalists from Stars and Stripes, the storied US military newspaper, have filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Defense, accusing the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of illegally retaliating against them for supporting editorial independence. Publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and Middle East correspondent Lara Korte filed the complaint in a Washington, DC district court on Thursday, arguing their terminations constituted unconstitutional censorship under the First Amendment.
Stars and Stripes, which traces its origins to the American Civil War, has long operated as an editorially independent news outlet for US military personnel and their families, despite receiving government funding. The lawsuit alleges that the friction began in July, when Slavin and Korte appeared in a CBS News interview in which they defended the paper's editorial independence after the Pentagon signalled it intended to refocus the publication's coverage. In January, a Pentagon spokesperson had announced plans to redirect Stars and Stripes toward what he described as warfighting, weapons systems, and fitness — a move critics characterised as an attempt to turn the outlet into a public relations vehicle.
According to the complaint, the firings gained momentum not from the CBS interview itself, but from an 11 August Stars and Stripes report detailing deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that had been deployed in the Middle East for nearly nine months without a port stop. The article described food and water shortages, disrupted mail, gruelling workdays, and declining mental health among the ship's roughly 5,000 sailors — reporting that both President Donald Trump and Hegseth publicly dismissed as fake. The day after the article was published, the Pentagon allegedly ordered Lederer to fire Slavin and Korte. Lederer refused, announced his retirement, and was himself dismissed shortly thereafter. All three received formal termination notices on 21 August. The paper's ombudsman, whose role included protecting editorial independence, had already been fired in April.
The lawsuit argues that the Pentagon's actions represent a pattern of retaliation against journalists and media figures who do not align with the administration's positions. "Everyone deserves the right to a free and independent press, especially our service members," Korte wrote on social media following the filing. The complaint notes that defence officials had for decades pledged non-interference with the paper's editorial decisions, calling that independence "critical to its core mission."
The case arrives amid a broader set of legal challenges to the Trump administration's treatment of the press. For military families and personnel stationed abroad, Stars and Stripes has historically served as a trusted independent source of information — making the dispute over its editorial direction not merely a legal question but one about what kind of journalism the US armed forces are entitled to receive.