Pentagon fires longtime publisher, editor, reporter from military newspaper Stars and Stripes

The Pentagon fired the top brass at the military newspaper Stars and Stripes and one of its reporters Friday over alleged insubordination.

Stars and Stripes' longtime publisher Max Lederer, its editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and Middle East reporter Lara Korte were issued their dismissal notices, Fox News Digital confirmed.

The firings, first reported by CBS News, 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 and Lederer's refusal to fire them at the direction of Pentagon leadership, a source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital.

PENTAGON OFFICIALS MULLING THE FIRING OF MILITARY NEWSPAPER STARS AND STRIPES PUBLISHER "According to the notice, I am being fired for stating in a CBS interview that censorship of news for service members would constitute a red line.

The Pentagon's public affairs office has charged me with insubordination," Slavin said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"I stand by the principle that Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent, as required by law and by the department's own policies." Slavin was appointed editor-in-chief of Stars in Stripes in September 2025.

He joined the paper in 2005 as a reporter in Japan and later an embed reporter with U.S.

Forces in Iraq, his work eventually taking him across the globe, according to the paper's report about the firings.

Korte, who joined the paper in 2024, took to social media, posting on X, "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.

PENTAGON VOWS TO REFORM MILITARY NEWSPAPER STARS AND STRIPES, REMOVE 'WOKE DISTRACTIONS' "I consider it a great privilege to live alongside members of the military and share their stories.

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," Korte wrote.

"I’m proud of the work my colleagues and I do at Stars and Stripes, especially the last six months covering the protracted conflict in Iran.

Military families and service members have trusted us to share their experience with the world and I don’t take that lightly." Lederer, an Army veteran who joined Stars and Stripes in 1992 and has served as its publisher for 19 years, previously announced to staff his intention was to retire at the end of September due to "fundamental" differences he had with Pentagon leadership on the direction of the paper.