Pentagon Weighs Firing Stars and Stripes Publisher Before Retirement

Pentagon officials have discussed firing the longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes before his scheduled retirement, U.S. officials told CBS News, as the Trump administration strategizes an overhaul of the military news outlet, which is partly funded by American taxpayers.

Max Lederer, who has served as publisher for 19 years, told colleagues this week he plans to retire on September 30, citing "fundamental differences" with the direction Defense Department leadership wants for the organization. Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin has separately spoken publicly about disagreements with Pentagon leaders. It remains unclear when a decision on the outlet's leadership will be made. Defense Department spokespeople did not immediately comment.

Stars and Stripes, which receives about 65% of its funding through the Pentagon, has long emphasized editorial independence from the department's public affairs operations. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell has said the administration wants to "modernize its operations, refocus its content away from woke distractions" and adapt it "to serve a new generation of service members," adding there would be "no more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints."

About 1.4 million people see Stars and Stripes daily, mostly online, though it also produces a print edition for troops overseas with unreliable internet access. Records show readership has declined from wartime peaks: print delivery fell from about 7 million annual copies in 2019 to 6.2 million in 2024, while unique visitors to stripes.com dropped roughly 30%, from 20 million to 14 million a year.

In his note to staff, Lederer wrote he would "do everything I can to make sure the transition is smooth" before he leaves. The outlet has a history of reporting critically on the military itself, including on housing and child-care problems, and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower once defended it as needing to stay "free from propaganda." The Trump administration has separately restricted press access to the Pentagon, evicting outlets including CBS News from their workspaces in 2025 unless they accepted new restrictive policies.