The Pentagon changes to Stars and Stripes began in January 2026, when the Defense Department revoked the regulation that had protected the newspaper’s editorial independence, and escalated in March with an eight-page memo banning wire service content, prohibiting Freedom of Information Act requests by its reporters, and requiring the publication to reprint Defense Department public affairs materials. In April, the Pentagon fired the paper’s independent ombudsman. Two members of the paper’s advisory board sued the Defense Department in federal court on June 3, 2026, and the fired ombudsman filed her own retaliation lawsuit later that month. Both cases are pending.
What the March 2026 Memo Requires
The core document driving the changes is a memorandum signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg on March 9, 2026, titled “Modernization of Stars and Stripes Operations.” It took effect immediately. Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin said he found it on a government website three days later; Publisher Max Lederer did not receive a copy either.1Stars and Stripes. Pentagon Modernization Plan for Stars and Stripes2NPR. Pentagon Tightens Controls Over Stars and Stripes After Calling It Woke
The memo bars Stars and Stripes from buying content from commercial wire services, including the Associated Press and Reuters, and from running syndicated comics or editorial cartoons. Exceptions require approval from Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell. It requires all content to be “consistent with good order and discipline,” a phrase drawn from the Uniform Code of Military Justice; Slavin publicly asked whether military staff reporters could face legal jeopardy under that standard. It directs the paper to republish Defense Department public affairs materials, labeled by origin, and to operate as a “hometown-style” publication. Reporters are banned from filing FOIA requests in an official capacity, and the paper may not publish controlled unclassified information. The Secretary’s public affairs office is moved into a direct oversight role, and a new advisory board of Defense Department personnel is contemplated, subject to concurrence from the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. The ombudsman must route any information intended for Congress through the Pentagon’s Legislative Affairs Office rather than reporting directly to the House Armed Services Committee.1Stars and Stripes. Pentagon Modernization Plan for Stars and Stripes3Military.com. Pentagon Restricts Stars and Stripes Content in New Modernization Plan
The memo says editorial operations will remain “independent of the military chain of command,” but it does not mention the First Amendment. Feinberg’s stated rationale is that the “primary justification for Stripes’ continued existence is to deliver content, specifically relevant to Service members and their families, that is not usually covered by commercial media.”4U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Targets News Outlets, Leakers
That memo followed a January 15, 2026 action in which the Defense Department published a final rule in the Federal Register rescinding 32 CFR part 246, the regulation that had codified the paper’s editorial independence since the 1990s. The Pentagon called the regulation “unnecessary.”5Federal Register. Stars and Stripes Media Organization6The Guardian. Defense Department Stars and Stripes Editorial Control The same day, Parnell announced on social media that the paper would be “refocused” away from “woke distractions” and toward “warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY,” with no more “Associated Press reprints.” Reports indicated the Pentagon planned for roughly half of the website’s material to consist of Defense Department–generated content, including work by Pentagon writers and combat camera images.7PBS NewsHour. Defense Department Says Military Newspaper Stars and Stripes Must Eliminate Woke Distractions8Stars and Stripes. Pentagon to Refocus Stars and Stripes Content
The Washington Post also reported that applicants for Stars and Stripes jobs were being screened through the USAJobs portal with questions about their willingness to support Trump administration policies. The paper’s leadership said they had not known about the screening until reporters asked.8Stars and Stripes. Pentagon to Refocus Stars and Stripes Content
How the Changes Have Affected Coverage
Slavin told NPR the wire service ban means Stars and Stripes can no longer cover combat zones where it has no reporter of its own, including the war in Iran, and cannot provide coverage of major domestic news or sports events such as March Madness. Ombudsman Jacqueline Smith said wire services had filled gaps the small newsroom could not cover on its own. Leadership said readers would be told as specific categories such as national sports, state-by-state roundups, and comics were phased out.2NPR. Pentagon Tightens Controls Over Stars and Stripes After Calling It Woke1Stars and Stripes. Pentagon Modernization Plan for Stars and Stripes
On the mandate to republish Pentagon public affairs content, Slavin said flatly: “We have no plans to commingle military public relations offerings with our independent reporting.” He also warned that the print edition is “particularly popular” in remote locations such as Kuwait, where commercial internet is unreliable, and that shutting print operations “would be very difficult to restart.” As of March 2026, the paper had been unable to secure a meeting with the Defense Department to discuss implementation, despite requesting one since January.1Stars and Stripes. Pentagon Modernization Plan for Stars and Stripes9Yahoo News. Pentagon Restricts Stars and Stripes Content
The Ombudsman Firing
In April 2026, the Pentagon fired Jacqueline Smith, who had served as the Stars and Stripes ombudsman since December 2023 and was the thirteenth person to hold the position. The Defense Department gave no official reason, telling her only that the decision was “not grievable.”10The New York Times. Pentagon Fires Stars and Stripes Ombudsman
Smith said she believed she was fired for publicly criticizing the Pentagon’s interference. She had spoken out in columns, on podcasts, and before congressional committees, and had questioned the plan to fill half the paper’s website with Pentagon-generated material: “If half the content is composed by the Pentagon, how could anyone trust the other half to be impartial?”11Responsible Statecraft. Hegseth DoD Lethality12MediaPost. Exit at Stars and Stripes: Ombudsman Jacqueline Smith The Pentagon fired her on the same day it sent its formal reply to a letter from senators demanding answers about the paper’s independence.13Sen. Ruben Gallego. Pentagon Reveals Interference With Stars and Stripes Editorial Independence In June 2026, Smith sued the Pentagon, alleging her firing was retaliatory and violated her First Amendment rights.14The Washington Post. Fired Stars and Stripes Ombudsman Jacqueline Smith Sues Pentagon
The Federal Lawsuit
On June 3, 2026, two members of the Stars and Stripes advisory board, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Susan “Suki” Dardarian and William “Bill” Church, sued the Department of Defense in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The case, Dardarian et al v. Department of Defense (No. 1:26-cv-01965), is before Judge Christopher Reid Cooper, with Democracy Forward representing the plaintiffs.15CourtListener. Dardarian v. Department of Defense16The Hill. Stars and Stripes Lawsuit Against Pentagon
The complaint makes two main claims. It alleges the March 2026 memo and the January rescission of 32 CFR part 246 violate the First Amendment by imposing censorship, restraining press rights, and denying readers access to the paper’s independent editorial judgment. It also argues the Pentagon violated the Administrative Procedure Act by rescinding decades-old regulations without notice or public comment, a process the Pentagon dismissed as “unnecessary.”17Democracy Forward. Journalists Challenge Trump-Vance Administration’s Censorship of Stars and Stripes18The Daily Record. Pentagon Sued Over Censoring Stars and Stripes
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the memo and the regulatory rescission unlawful and to enjoin the Pentagon from carrying out the changes. Stars and Stripes is not itself a party but has said the newsroom continues to operate under the new guidance with “open questions” about long-term effects. A briefing schedule has been filed, and the government’s answer was due by August 2, 2026. The Pentagon had not publicly responded to the suit as of late June 2026.18The Daily Record. Pentagon Sued Over Censoring Stars and Stripes15CourtListener. Dardarian v. Department of Defense
Congressional and Press Freedom Response
The House Armed Services Committee opened an inquiry in January 2026, with ranking Democrat Rep. Adam Smith urging Republican colleagues to protect the paper. As of that month, the Pentagon had not responded to the committee’s requests.19Stars and Stripes. House Armed Services Committee Inquiry Into Pentagon Plans for Stars and Stripes
In the Senate, a group led by Sens. Ruben Gallego, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Tammy Duckworth, Mazie Hirono, and Mark Kelly pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for assurances about the paper’s independence. When the Pentagon replied on May 14, 2026, it called including First Amendment principles in the Code of Federal Regulations “unnecessary,” defended the revocation of the 1994 regulations, and described the paper’s mission as operating “in support of good order and discipline of the military.”20Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Pentagon Reveals Interference With Stars and Stripes Mission Gallego, a Marine Corps veteran who helped secure $15.5 million in funding for Stars and Stripes in 2021, said the Pentagon was attempting “to turn Stars and Stripes into another mouthpiece for this administration’s propaganda.”8Stars and Stripes. Pentagon to Refocus Stars and Stripes Content Warren and other senators called the actions “blatant censorship.”
PEN America called the March directive a threat that “will break down and undermine the longstanding firewall between Pentagon leadership and the independent news organization.” Tim Richardson, the group’s journalism and disinformation program director, said the Pentagon was trying “to turn this independent newsroom into a mouthpiece for the administration’s political messaging” in a move that “tramples both the First Amendment and the congressional mandate that the publication remain editorially independent.”21PEN America. Alarm Over Pentagon Move to Impose Restrictions on Stars and Stripes Editorial Independence National Military Family Association CEO Besa Pinchotti wrote to Parnell that the changes “risk weakening trust in one of the few news organizations dedicated specifically to the military community.” Thousands of readers, including active-duty service members, veterans, and military families, contacted Congress and the paper in protest.22Stars and Stripes. Readers React: Pentagon and Stripes
Why This Fight Looks Different From 2020
In 2020, the first Trump administration tried to shut Stars and Stripes down by cutting its $15.5 million in annual federal funding. That attempt collapsed within weeks under bipartisan pressure, with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham among those writing to then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper in support of the paper, and President Trump ultimately reversed the order.23Christian Science Monitor. Stars and Stripes Military Newspaper24Vox. Trump Fight Defunding Stars and Stripes Newspaper
The 2026 approach does not touch the money. It removes the regulation that guaranteed independence, restricts the tools the newsroom uses to report, installs political appointees in an oversight role, requires Pentagon-produced content to run in the paper, cuts off the ombudsman’s direct line to Congress, and, when the ombudsman objected publicly, ended her job. Republican pushback this time has been notably muted compared with 2020.23Christian Science Monitor. Stars and Stripes Military Newspaper Whether the courts will block the changes now rests with the two pending federal lawsuits.