Stars and Stripes publisher could be fired before planned retirement, sources say

Max Lederer, longtime head of the US military news outlet, says his ‘philosophy of leadership’ differs from Pentagon’s

The long-serving publisher of Stars and Stripes could face an early dismissal just days after the taxpayer-funded military news outlet’s reporting revealed deteriorating conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, according to a news report.

Pentagon officials have discussed firing Max Lederer ahead of his scheduled retirement next month, according to CBS News , which quoted anonymous sources. Lederer, the publisher of the military daily for 19 years, had previously cited fundamental differences with the Trump administration for his decision to retire soon.

“It has become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of value and mission of the Stars and Stripes, differ in fundamental ways from the direction of the leadership of the Department of Defense,” Lederer said in a letter to staff, which was posted on X .

The outlet’s reports on the Lincoln, which is on an extended deployment in the Middle East as part of the US-Israel war on Iran , were published the same day as similar reports in the Navy Times, earlier this month.

It is unclear whether that exposure is linked to the reported discussions about Lederer inside the Pentagon but the issue is far from the only one that has put Stars and Stripes in conflict with the Trump administration .

Stars and Stripes, editor, Erik Slavin, hinted at tensions with the military brass last month when he said the “foxhole” he would be willing to die in would be over editorial independence from the Pentagon, which provides about 65% of its funding.

“We need to be able to provide independent news to service members,” he said. “If we can’t do that, if we were turned into something other than that, if we were public relations? Yeah, that’s the foxhole.”

The publication, which reaches about 1.4m readers daily online and via an overseas print edition, was first published during the US civil war and became a daily publication during the first world war on the orders of Gen John Pershing.

But the publication, heralded as representing “the free thought and free expression of a free people”, has sometimes had a contentious relationship with its primary sponsor and that appears to have reached the boiling point.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon spokesperson, Sean Parnell, posted on X : “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.”

Stars and Stripes would no longer use Reuters or the Associated Press – wire services that have clashed with the White House and Pentagon over press access – and would “focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints,” the administration said.

Jacqueline Smith, an ombudsman, or public-facing editor, for the publication, was fired in January after writing a story critical of the restrictions. Smith later sued the Pentagon, alleging that her termination was retaliatory.

“I see what’s going on with other journalism organizations,” Smith told the Columbia Journalism Review last year. “I’d be naive to not be concerned.”

The Pentagon under the second Trump administration soon clashed with the regular ranks of the press corps that cover the department as it began throwing mainstream outlets out of their work spaces in favor of outlets inclined to support Donald Trump . Then, after unofficially rebranding the Department of Defense the “Department of War”, the Pentagon collided head on with the mainstream press last October after it announced severe restrictions and plans to supervise the journalists, leading to a revolt , an influx of rightwing voices and a legal battle .