Pentagon Defends Military Press From Journalism
Pentagon officials moved Thursday to preserve military press freedom by ensuring the military press remains free of independent reporting. Three Stars and Stripes employees—publisher Max Lederer, editor in chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte—filed suit against the Defense Department, alleging their firings violated the First Amendment and punished them for defending the newspaper’s editorial independence. The complaint relies on the obsolete theory that a newspaper should gather facts, scrutinize officials and occasionally print information that has not first been tucked into a briefing folder by those officials.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell have sought to modernize Stars and Stripes by replacing cumbersome practices such as skepticism, dissent and verification with the operational efficiency of official approval. Parnell accused senior staff of “open rebellion,” the recognized military offense of failing to describe every administration decision as decisive leadership. Under the Pentagon’s updated doctrine, reporters remain entirely free to ask questions, provided the questions concern how courageously the department is performing and are submitted early enough for deletion.
President Donald Trump praised the firings as a major expansion of constitutional liberty. “Nobody respects the First Amendment more than I do, but the press can’t be free unless it agrees with the commander in chief completely and enthusiastically,” Trump said, explaining a legal standard unavailable in conventional copies of the Constitution. “If reporters print something I don’t like, that is censorship of me, and frankly the government has a duty to stop it.” White House officials said the principle balances freedom of expression with the president’s freedom from hearing expressions.
The lawsuit alleges Slavin and Korte were targeted for publicly opposing political interference, while Lederer was punished for refusing to fire them. Their insistence on editorial standards could now force the Pentagon to defend its conduct in court using evidence, an administrative burden ordinarily reserved for civilians and disloyal PowerPoint slides. A victory for the plaintiffs could expose service members to unapproved facts, multiple viewpoints and sentences that do not begin with praise for senior leadership. The Pentagon’s policy therefore secures a free press by guaranteeing that nobody working there is free to practice journalism.
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