Three fired Stars and Stripes staffers have taken the Pentagon to federal court, accusing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and top aides of retaliating against them for defending the military newspaper's editorial independence.
The lawsuit, filed August 27 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, names the Department of War, formerly the Department of Defense, along with Hegseth, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, and Hegseth's principal deputy assistant for public affairs, Andrew Brey. The plaintiffs, former editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, publisher Max Lederer, and Middle East reporter Lara Korte, allege the Pentagon carried out "extraordinary censorship efforts" in violation of the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedures Act, the federal law that governs how agencies make and enforce rules.
The complaint asks the court to declare the firings unlawful and bar the Pentagon from proceeding with the terminations. As of August 28, all three staffers expected the Pentagon to finalize their removal, USA Today reported. The Pentagon declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The complaint traces the conflict back to January 2025, when Parnell posted on X that the Pentagon would "modernize" Stars and Stripes and "refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale." On the same day, the Pentagon purportedly repealed the Stripes Regulations, longstanding rules protecting the newspaper's editorial independence, without notice or opportunity for public comment.
Stars and Stripes has operated for decades as an editorially independent outlet serving American troops and their families, particularly those stationed overseas. Its own website states it is "governed by the principles of the First Amendment." About half the newspaper's funding comes from the War Department.
By March, the Pentagon issued a memo that the complaint says "imposed unprecedented restrictions on newsroom operations and content." Among the changes: Stars and Stripes could no longer use wire stories or publish cartoons. Parnell and Brey then accused Lederer of failing to implement the memo's directives.
That sequence, repeal the independence rules first, impose content restrictions second, then punish the staff who objected, is central to the plaintiffs' case. The complaint characterizes it as "escalating attacks on Stripes' independence" stretching across more than a year.
The breaking point came in the summer of 2026. On June 26, CBS News filmed an interview with Slavin and Korte at the Stars and Stripes newsroom. Both staffers had received approval to participate in their personal capacities. In the interview, Slavin said military censorship of the newspaper would "constitute a red line" and maintained that Stars and Stripes "must remain editorially independent." Korte said she worked for the newspaper and "not for the Pentagon, not for any administration, not for any policymaker."
The interview aired July 5. That same day, Parnell emailed Lederer asking what he thought about the piece. Lederer defended both staffers in his response.
What followed was a quarterly progress review of Lederer that read less like a performance evaluation and more like a political loyalty test. The review stated that "the most important element of the (performance) plan is the faithful administration of POTUS policies." It accused Lederer of a "loss of institutional control" and declared: "The Stripes teams' revolt is a direct reflection of Max's failed leadership."
Hegseth's Pentagon has faced legal pushback on press access rules before, a federal judge struck down the Pentagon's press escort requirement in June 2026, and the Stars and Stripes lawsuit now opens a second courtroom front over the department's handling of media independence.
On August 11, Stars and Stripes published a report on deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln during its extended deployment in the Middle East. The next move came fast. Brey emailed Lederer and directed him to issue separation notices to Slavin and Korte "based expressly on their statements to CBS," Fox News reported, citing the complaint.
Lederer pushed back. He responded with clarifying questions and raised concern that the proposed separation language did not include a required 30-day notice period. Brey reiterated the directive. Lederer refused to carry it out.
Instead, Lederer announced his retirement on August 18 in an email to staff. His message was blunt: "It has become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes, differ in fundamental ways from the direction the leader of the Department of Defense has for the organization." His planned last day was September 30.
Three days later, on August 21, the Pentagon issued separation notices to all three, Slavin, Lederer, and Korte, giving each five business days to respond. Newsmax reported that the five-day window appeared to violate the Pentagon's own 30-day response period regulations, an issue Lederer had already flagged.
The same day, the Pentagon issued new guidance declaring that Stars and Stripes' content "must not have a direct, material and immediate negative impact on military readiness and safety." That included "content that incites or produces imminent lawless action" or reveals nonpublic information that "could be foreseeably exploited by an adversary." Applying that standard to a newspaper that has covered American wars since the Civil War raises obvious questions about where journalism ends and censorship begins.
The Pentagon's stated basis for the firings was insubordination. The complaint tells a different story. It alleges the three staffers were targeted "for speaking up as private citizens in support of the press's freedom to cover military operations" and "in retaliation for their publication of a news report on deteriorating conditions aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln during its extended tour of duty in the Mid-East."
The lawsuit also accuses the Pentagon of repealing the Stripes Regulations without following the notice-and-comment process required by the Administrative Procedures Act, a procedural shortcut that, if proven, could undermine the legal foundation for every restriction the Pentagon imposed afterward.
Four organizations are representing the plaintiffs: the Democracy Defenders Fund, Lawyers for Good Government, the Government Accountability Project, and the Yale School Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic. In a joint statement, Slavin, Lederer, and Korte said the lawsuit is "about safeguarding that mission and ensuring our civilian and military journalists can do their jobs without retaliation."
The Pentagon's firing of the three Stars and Stripes staffers had already drawn scrutiny before the lawsuit landed. Hegseth's tenure at the department has produced a string of policy fights and personnel clashes, from new troop fitness screening programs to public disagreements with senior Navy leadership over arms sales.
Several gaps remain. The complaint does not specify what exact conditions the August 11 story described aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. It does not detail who approved Slavin and Korte to participate in the CBS interview in their personal capacities, or what specific regulation Lederer cited when he objected to the missing 30-day notice. No court hearing, no temporary restraining order, no preliminary injunction, had been scheduled as of the article's last update on August 28.
The lawsuit itself joins a growing list of legal challenges to Pentagon media policy under Hegseth's leadership. A separate case resulted in a judge striking down the escort requirement for reporters. The Defense Department also ordered the return of books it had removed from Pentagon schools over perceived "wokeness" after facing a separate legal challenge in October 2025.
Stars and Stripes has served American troops since 1861. Its reporters have covered every major conflict from the Civil War through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The complaint's core allegation, that the Pentagon fired journalists for doing journalism, will now be tested in a federal courtroom. If the facts in this complaint hold up, the Pentagon's defense will need to explain why a newspaper that has operated independently for more than 160 years suddenly required loyalty oaths and content restrictions to keep publishing.
A military that cannot tolerate an independent press covering its own operations is not projecting strength. It is advertising a weakness no adversary needs a classified briefing to see.