The First Amendment

[Essay]

I remember digging through my father’s WWII footlocker, where he had mementos from his time in the service. In it were copies of the VE and VJ Day editions of Stars and Stripes.

From what I know of history, Stars and Stripes was a well-respected newspaper. Congress even created protections for it as an independent newspaper, with its own staff. The paper writes:

News for America's military Stars and Stripes provides independent news and information to the U.S. military community, including active-duty servicemembers, DoD civilians, veterans, contractors, and their families. Unique among Department of Defense authorized news outlets, Stars and Stripes is governed by the principles of the First Amendment.*

And the “*”?

* Stars and Stripes is a service of the Defense Media Activity (DMA); the views and opinions expressed do not reflect the views of the Department of Defense, the military services or DMA. The Pentagon funding that makes up roughly half of Stars and Stripes’ annual budget is primarily used to print and distribute the newspaper to troops scattered across the globe, including in warzones. The remainder of the newspaper’s funding comes from advertising and subscriptions. Stars and Stripes is editorially independent of interference from outside its own editorial chain-of-command. It provides commercially available U.S. and world news and objective staff-produced stories relevant to the military community in a balanced, fair, and accurate manner. By keeping its audience informed, Stars and Stripes enhances military readiness and better enables U.S. military personnel and their families stationed overseas to exercise their responsibilities of citizenship.

Back in the 1980s, the Reagan administration was accused of interfering with coverage of the Iran-Contra affair, and Congress’ House Armed Services Committee created the ombudsman position in 1990–91. The ombudsman was deliberately structured to be outside the newspaper’s normal chain of command and to report directly to Congress about threats to editorial independence. A later congressional hearing record specifically described the post-1989 reforms as strengthening the paper’s independence and minimizing undue command influence.

And now, Stars and Stripes published the truth about the USS Abraham Lincoln, and that set Hegseth off on a tizzy. But it started before that, when Trump and Hegseth began pushing for control of everything.

Stars and Stripes reported:

House Armed Services Committee seeks answers on Pentagon plan for Stars and Stripes

By SVETLANA SHKOLNIKOVA

January 21, 2026

The House Armed Services Committee has sent two requests to the Defense Department asking how the department will ensure the congressionally mandated independence of Stars and Stripes amid a plan to “refocus” its content, according to two people familiar with the matter. A bipartisan request was sent after the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson on Thursday posted to the social media site X that it would overhaul the news organization to rid it of “woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members.” Democratic staff sent a follow-up information request Tuesday after noticing the Pentagon had removed the federal regulation governing the publication. “We have yet to receive any answers,” a committee staffer speaking on condition of anonymity said Wednesday. The Pentagon has also not responded to questions from Stars and Stripes requesting details on the planned changes. The committee staffer said the elimination of the regulation leaves a Department of Defense directive as the only remaining rule addressing the news organization’s editorial independence. The 1994 directive can be changed on a whim, according to Jacqueline Smith, the ombudsman for Stars and Stripes. The ombudsman role was created in 1991 by the House Armed Services Committee to report to Congress on threats to the Stars and Stripes mission of providing independent news to the military community.

[…]

The rule change points out that a proposed modernization of the regulation last year drew 88 public comments that broadly supported Stripes’ independence. Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the committee, said he is asking the Defense Department to explain how it intends to maintain the journalistic independence of Stars and Stripes, as long affirmed by Congress.

Then, in March, Stars and Stripes wrote:

The Pentagon has released a modernization plan for Stars and Stripes that affirms the publication’s independence while expanding Defense Department oversight, introducing new restrictions on content and transitioning away from a print publication. An eight-page memo, dated March 9 and effective immediately, limits the use of wire services, bars comics and other syndicated features and states that content must be consistent with “good order and discipline,” a phrase borrowed from the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The memo is the first formal explanation since Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said in a Jan. 15 social media post that the Defense Department intended to “refocus” the news organization “from woke distractions that syphon morale.” On Friday, Parnell in a statement provided the first direct comment to the organization since Jan. 15. He said the department is “returning S&S to its original mission: an independent news source for service members stationed overseas that is by the warfighter and for the warfighter.”

Then came the straw that broke Hegseth’s back: the story about the carrier that exposed Hegseth’s claim as lies.

Longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes to retire, citing differences with Pentagon leadership

AP News

By JOCELYN NOVECK

August 19, 2026

The longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes has announced his retirement, ending a decades-long career with the military newspaper as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon moves to exert editorial control and eliminate what it asserts are “woke distractions.”

Max D. Lederer Jr. announced his retirement, effective at the end of September, in a memo to staff on Tuesday, as well as in an interview with Stars and Stripes. In the memo, seen by The Associated Press, Lederer, the second full-time civilian in the position, wrote that it had “become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes, differ in fundamental ways from the direction the leadership of the Department of Defense has for the organization.”

The announcement comes less than four months after the Pentagon fired Jacqueline Smith, ombudsman for the newspaper, whose job was to safeguard editorial independence. The news outlet is partly funded by the Defense Department, but has a legacy of independence from military and government leadership. “No one should be surprised that they’re kicking out the one person charged by Congress with protecting Stars and Stripes’ editorial independence,” Smith wrote in a column.

Stars and Stripes has recently been at the forefront of some of the reporting on conditions for sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln and concerns for their mental health during the aircraft carrier’s long deployment — concerns that President Donald Trump has downplayed.

What can you say about a Secretary of Defense who ignores the laws, who ignores the Constitution, the First Amendment, and the laws? And who lies about the conditions in the military?

If Hegseth was telling the truth and the newspaper had completely lied about the conditions, then where did all these reports come from? And if the conditions really were as good as he claimed, why did thousands of sailors spend more than 250 days at sea without a meaningful port visit?

American soldiers fought a war in which Eisenhower said free press and free speech were principles worth preserving. Eighty years later, the Stars and Strips print the truths and the Defense Secretary is attacking the newspaper rather than welcoming scrutiny.

[/Essay]