The Pentagon fired three key figures at a prominent military news outlet following a dispute over how it handled providing “independent news” to readers.
The U.S. Department of War (DOW) fired Stars and Stripes editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and Middle East reporter Lara Korte on Friday, The Associated Press (AP) reported. In addition, publisher Max Lederer, who announced his retirement Tuesday, was also dismissed. The firings came after each of them reportedly expressed opposition to letting the Pentagon — which partially funds it — influence what the outlet covers.
While the DOW declined to comment, a Pentagon official confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that “the separation notices are real.”
“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,” Korte said in an X post Friday.
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
She and Slavin had previously spoken out against the idea of the Pentagon interfering with the outlet’s coverage during a “CBS Sunday Morning” interview in July.
“We need to be able to provide independent news to service members. If we can’t do that, if we were turned into something other than that, if we were public relations, that’s … the foxhole,” Slavin said when asked what “foxholes” — or conflicts between the outlet and the Pentagon — he was “willing to die in.”
Slavin told AP he was fired over the interview.
Lederer wrote in his retirement notice that the outlet’s mission differed from the Pentagon’s in “fundamental ways.”
The Pentagon appointed U.S. Navy Capt. William Urban as deputy publisher weeks before Lederer’s firing, according to AP.
“I understand that I am now part of a team, committed to editorially independent journalism that best serves our most important customer, which is our service members, their families, and our greater military community,” Urban stated in a Friday open letter published by Stars and Stripes.
The shakeup comes amid an apparent campaign by the White House to align the outlet’s mission with its own.
“We are bringing Stars & Stripes into the 21st century. We will modernize its operations, refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members,” Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Sean Parnell posted on X in January.
“[Stars and Stripes] will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints,” Parnell added.
STATEMENT:
The Department of War is returning Stars & Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters.
We are bringing Stars & Stripes into the 21st century. We will modernize its operations, refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale,…
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) January 15, 2026
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller told reporters Friday he was “confident if anybody was fired, it was for just cause.”
“I am 100% confident — a million percent confident — in the leadership of the DOW’s decisions about everything that is necessary to maintain and ensure the national security of the United States and our troops,” Miller continued.
(DCNF)
