The longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes, a newspaper focused on the U.S. military, has resigned, citing disagreements with Pentagon leadership.
Max D. Lederer Jr. announced his retirement Tuesday in a memo to staff and an interview with Stars and Stripes.
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The memo suggests that Lederer has clashed with President Donald Trump’s administration over the government’s efforts to increase editorial control over publications, according to the Associated Press.
“It has become clear that my leadership philosophy and my understanding of the values and mission of the Star-Spangled Banner differ in fundamental ways from the direction that Department of Defense leadership has for the organization,” Lederer wrote in the memo.
The announcement came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused the publication of promoting “woke distraction.”
The Trump administration also criticized the United States for drawing attention to the poor conditions and low morale of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which was involved in the war against Iran.
Founded in 1861, the Stars and Stripes has served as an institution of the U.S. military for more than a century.
Although the paper receives most of its funding from the U.S. government, it has sought to maintain editorial independence from various administrations.
But critics say threats to news organizations have increased in recent years.
During the Trump administration, which ran from 2017 to 2021, the Pentagon tried to eliminate funding for the newspaper, but Trump promised that the budget would not be cut “on my watch.”
“This will continue to be a great source of information for our great military,” he said at the time.
But in January, the Trump administration’s second-term Pentagon announced it would work to bring the paper more in line with government priorities.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell described the move as returning “The Star-Spangled Banner to its original mission: reporting for warfighters.”
The Pentagon also fired the newspaper’s ombudsman, Jacqueline Smith, who was responsible for protecting the press from political interference. The move sparked protests, including from Smith himself, that it eroded press freedom.
“No one should be surprised that Congress would expel a man accused of defending Star-Spangled Banner’s editorial independence,” Smith wrote in a column following his firing.
Mr. Hegseth has overseen efforts to restrict access to the Pentagon for journalists generally.
For example, in June, reporters were barred from entering the Pentagon press room, which had suddenly been designated as a sensitive area.
That same month, a judge suspended a policy that required journalists to be escorted into the Pentagon, a rule that news agencies had warned could infringe on First Amendment freedoms.
Other policies have also been struck down in court, including a set of rules prohibiting journalists from engaging with material not explicitly authorized by the Pentagon.
Hegseth has also cracked down on policies he sees as part of the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” movement (DEI).
Hegseth dismissed them as evidence of “wokeness” (a vaguely defined concept) and argued that DEI impedes military effectiveness.
The Pentagon is currently embroiled in the ongoing war against Iran, which the United States began with Israel on February 28th.
The war remains deeply unpopular in the United States, where there are reports that military attacks are straining the U.S. military and military supplies.
The Star-Spangled Banner was one of two military publications that reported on low morale and suicide attempts by U.S. service members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, one of the aircraft carriers participating in the war.
The USS Lincoln broke the U.S. Navy record for length of deployment without a port call. It departed in November and was sent off the coast of Venezuela before being transferred to near Iran.
President Trump and his allies have slammed critical reporting on the war, with the president suggesting that journalists who highlight the problems facing the military are traitors who want to see the country fail.
