On Friday, the Pentagon dismissed three senior employees of the Stars and Stripes military newspaper, publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Eric Slavin, and Middle East correspondent Lara Court, on charges of disobedience.
Fox News confirmed that the dismissal decisions came after Slavin and Kurt participated, without permission, in a segment on the “CBS Sunday Morning” program that was broadcast last month and dealt with the Pentagon’s efforts to restructure the newspaper, in addition to Lederer’s refusal to implement the ministry’s leadership’s directives to fire journalists.
Slavin said, according to Fox News, that the dismissal notice informed him that the reason for his dismissal was due to his saying in an interview with CBS that imposing censorship on news directed at members of the armed forces would be a “red line,” explaining that the Pentagon’s Public Affairs Office accused him of disobedience.
Slavin stressed his adherence to the principle that “Stars and Stripes” remains editorially independent, as required by law and stipulated by the policies of the Ministry of Defense itself.
Slavin had assumed the position of editor-in-chief of the newspaper in September 2025, after joining it in 2005 as a correspondent in Japan. He then worked as a field correspondent accompanying the American forces in Iraq, before his career extended to different regions around the world.
As for Lara Court, who joined the newspaper in 2024, she said through her account on the “X” platform that she was informed that the Ministry of Defense was firing her on charges of disobedience, after she told a reporter from “CBS” that she works for “Stars and Stripes,” and not for the Pentagon or any department or policy maker.
Court added that she considers living alongside members of the armed forces and sharing their stories with the world a great privilege, expressing her regret at what is happening to the institution and members of the armed forces, who she said deserve to have a free and independent press.
She stressed that she is proud of the work she is doing with her colleagues in the newspaper, especially during the past 6 months in covering the extended conflict in Iran, noting that the military personnel and their families trusted the newspaper to convey their experiences to the world.
As for Max Lederer, a US Army veteran, he joined Stars and Stripes in 1992 and served as its publisher for 19 years. He had previously informed employees of his intention to retire at the end of September, due to what he described as fundamental differences with the Pentagon leadership regarding the newspaper’s future and direction.
Lederer said, according to a newspaper report about his retirement, that he thought a lot about the appropriate time to step down, and concluded that the time had come, stressing that he was leaving feeling proud of what had been accomplished and confident in what the workers would achieve in the next stage.
The three employees who were dismissed were given 5 days to appeal their dismissal decisions.
When requested for comment from the Pentagon, a department spokesman referred to an open letter sent by the deputy publisher for military affairs, Captain William Urban, to the parties concerned, a portion of which was published by the Pentagon’s main spokesman, Sean Parnell, on the “X” platform.
Urban said that the newspaper may not be able to digitally achieve the same impact it achieved during World War II, due to the different media environment, but he stressed the need to improve its performance to serve members of the armed forces.
He added that his vision for the future of “Stars and Stripes” is based on increasing access to its content and enhancing its influence on the military, while maintaining the highest standards of professional journalism and the credibility associated with editorial independence.
In early 2026, the Pentagon announced a plan to restructure the newspaper, which has been published for decades.
Parnell said in a post on the “X” platform in January that the ministry is returning “Stars and Stripes” to its original mission of providing reports to fighters, explaining that the plan includes modernizing the newspaper’s operations and redirecting its content towards military issues, including combat operations, weapons systems, physical fitness, combat ability and survival, while staying away from what he described as “distractions.”
