Pentagon Executes Shakeup In Stars And Stripes Leadership Amid Accusations Of ‘Insubordination’

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 publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and Middle East reporter Lara Korte on Friday, The Associated Press (AP) reported. 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.

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.”