Pentagon weighs Stars and Stripes leadership shake-up

Pentagon officials have discussed removing longtime Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer before his planned Sept. 30 retirement, U.S. officials told CBS News, as the Trump administration pushes to reshape the military news outlet’s mission and coverage.

Lederer, who has led the publication for 19 years, told staff this week that he would retire, citing deep disagreements with Defense Department leadership. “It has 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,” he wrote in a memo obtained by CBS News and cited by The Associated Press.

Lederer said he would work through the end of September to ensure a smooth transition. “I will do everything I can to make sure the transition is smooth for each of you,” he wrote. Asked for comment by CBS News, he said by email that he was not comfortable participating in an interview before leaving the job.

It was not clear when a decision on the outlet’s leadership might be made. Defense Department spokespeople did not immediately comment to CBS News.

Stars and Stripes, founded in 1861, serves U.S. military personnel and has long emphasized its editorial independence from the Pentagon’s public affairs operation, even though about 65% of its funding comes through the Defense Department. CBS News has reported that an average of 1.4 million people see the outlet each day, mostly online, while it continues to publish a print edition overseas for service members in places where internet access can be unreliable.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in January that the department wanted to bring Stars and Stripes “into the 21st century.” He wrote that the Pentagon would “modernize its operations, refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members.” He also said the publication would “focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints.”

According to CBS News, public records show print delivery fell from about 7 million annual copies in 2019 to 6.2 million in 2024, while unique visitors to stripes.com dropped about 30%, from 20 million to 14 million annually. The outlet is projected to spend about $400,000 this year on subscription services for content that appears in its pages, records show, and it no longer uses wire services such as Reuters or The Associated Press.

Pentagon staff have also complained that newspapers in the building appear to go unread and that the publication has relied too heavily on aggregated news rather than original reporting, CBS News reported.

Stars and Stripes has reported on problems within the military, including deteriorating housing, barracks issues and allegations of neglect at military child care centers. It has also covered the war in the Middle East and its effects on service members, including families of sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier confronting the acting Navy secretary about a nearly nine-month deployment.

Al Jazeera reported that the Trump administration has criticized the outlet over coverage of poor conditions and declining morale aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. The outlet also reported that the Pentagon fired Jacqueline Smith, Stars and Stripes’ ombudsman, who was tasked with protecting its reporting from political interference. “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 responding to her termination.

The leadership dispute comes as the Defense Department has tightened rules for journalists covering the Pentagon. CBS News reported that news organizations, including CBS News, were evicted from Pentagon workspaces in 2025 unless they agreed to restrictive new policies. Al Jazeera reported that reporters were banned in June from the Defense Department press office after it was designated a classified area, and that a judge paused a policy requiring journalists to have escorts inside the Pentagon.