By Jacob Rosen, Eleanor Watson and Kathryn Watson – CBS News Aug 27, 2026
Three fired Stars and Stripes journalists sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and two other top Pentagon officials in federal court Thursday, claiming the Trump administration is attempting to fire them illegally as part of its “extraordinary censorship efforts” against the military news outlet.
The plaintiffs — publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte — were given separation notices last week. The cause cited was insubordination.
They alleged that they were fired both for “speaking up as private citizens in support of the press’s freedom to cover military operations,” and because of their reporting on rough conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. The lawsuit names Hegseth, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell and aide Andrew Brey as defendants.
Slavin and Korte said the alleged insubordination cited in their termination notices was related to interviews they gave to CBS News for a piece on “CBS Sunday Morning” that aired in July. In the story, Korte said that she worked for Stars and Stripes, “not for the Pentagon, not for any administration, not for any policymaker.”
More than a month later, the newspaper published a piece detailing flagging mental health and food and water shortages aboard the Lincoln, which has been deployed for nine months. A day after that story ran, the lawsuit says, the defendants “ordered plaintiff Max Lederer, Stripes’ publisher, to present notices of separation to Mr. Slavin and Ms. Korte.”
“The notices charged them with insubordination for the statements they made five and one-half weeks earlier on ‘CBS Sunday Morning,'” the lawsuit reads.
He did not deliver the notices. Lederer announced his intent to retire at the end of September over “fundamental” differences with the Defense Department, but the Pentagon fired him before he could.
The three fired staffers’ complaint says they are “facing imminent retaliation and termination in violation of their First Amendment and statutory rights.”
“This action seeks to prevent the blatant violation of the First Amendment rights of these journalists and challenges the U.S. Department of Defense’s (“DoD”) extraordinary censorship efforts in violation of both the First Amendment and DoD regulations and policies,” the lawsuit reads.
CBS News has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.
Stars and Stripes was first published during the Civil War, and in recent decades, the paper has prided itself on its editorial independence — meaning the federal government does not dictate what it can and can’t publish.
Roughly half of the paper’s $29 million annual budget comes from taxpayers, a person familiar with the newspaper’s operations told CBS News last week. Readership has declined since its peaks during the Vietnam War, the Cold War and World War II, according to two U.S. officials, but an average of 1.4 million people see Stars and Stripes each day. Print editions overseas also reach service members in remote locations where internet access is spotty and unreliable.
Earlier this year, Parnell said the Defense Department would make sweeping changes to the paper. He vowed to “modernize its operations, refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members.” The Pentagon later sought to stop the paper from running syndicated articles by wire services, Slavin has said.
Shortly after the firings, Stars and Stripes published an open letter from Navy Capt. William Urban, who said he was tapped to serve as military deputy to the publisher. Urban wrote that his priorities were to produce “the highest quality of editorially independent reporting,” while modernizing the paper and boosting its advertising revenue.
Sarah Ferguson and the now ex Prince Andrew believe they have been scapegoated
and say Charles and the royals knew all along about their scandals, but only acted when their antics became public
Sarah has claimed she may retaliate by giving out details on Dianas murder
which would bring down the Royal house.
Whispers that the Duke of Edinburgh Tony Blair and the London Rabbi Yisroel were all involved, and focussed on Dianas intent to take her anti land mine campaign to Palestine,
thus bringing in the Mossad reprisal
Those are fake journalists, their “paper” ever since the civil war , has been a creation of intellegence services, and is stinks of propaganda.
LOL..
Fired Stars and Stripes journalist Sue Hegseth (fabulous breasts)..
should have worked at the New Statesman.. which of course is quickly dispensing with the state and obsessing itself with the faddish and new.. men having been replaced with lantern jawed women and molelike simpering caricatures..that, having dispensed with the rule of law are busy taking each other to court..
lolo
Still waiting to find out about Sue Hegseth. Who the heck is she, and why is she important?
Met chief: Dangerous migrant knife criminals are being let loose on streets
Story by Charles Hymas • 11h • 3 min read
Sir Mark Rowley says he is ‘flabbergasted’ that dangerous migrants are being freed on bail – Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire
Dangerous suspects charged with multiple knife and firearm crimes are being freed because courts are failing to send them to overcrowded prisons, Britain’s most senior police officer has claimed.
Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said he was “flabbergasted” that criminals caught carrying 18-inch swords, and gang members who had fired shots on the streets of London, were being freed despite facing several charges.
He warned that the “deeply concerning” failure of courts to remand dangerous suspects into custody in prisons was “fundamentally undermining” the police’s ability to control crime in the capital.
He added that it was not a “theoretical risk” but had resulted in many “stabbings” and “one or two homicides”.
Andy Burnham is attempting to resolve the prison overcrowding crisis by freeing thousands of offenders early. There are only 1,665 spaces left in men’s prisons, which are at 98 per cent of capacity. More than 15,000 of the 87,000 prisoners in jails are on remand – equivalent to nearly one in six inmates.
Sir Mark said that as a consequence repeated government incompetence, where migrants should have been deported we have overcrowded prisons, “overloaded” courts were not exercising their powers under gun and knife crime laws to jail violent crime suspects.
London gangs in sick ‘league’ where points are awarded for level of violence inflicted
Metro
·London black gangs in sick ‘league’ where points are awarded for level of violence inflicted
Khan said this years notting hill would be violence free as police searched known gang members before arrival, wrong there was lots of violence, this year was the 60th
carnival for black migrants
“Fired Stars and Stripes journalists sue Hegseth and Pentagon spokesperson”
I had to read this twice the other day…
It’s not Sue Hegseth.
It’s “The plaintiffs — publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte — were given separation notices last week. The cause cited was insubordination.”
Slavin and Korte are suing Hegseth. And may they succeed!