Longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes to retire, citing differences
with Pentagon leadership
[August 20, 2026]
By JOCELYN NOVECK
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.
It's part of larger, government-driven changes to the military
publication
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
Lederer’s retirement, which comes seven months after the department
announced in a social media post that it would essentially overhaul the
newspaper to align with its current messaging.
Hegseth's spokesman, Sean Parnell, wrote on on X in January that the
Pentagon “is returning Stars and Stripes to its original mission:
reporting for our warfighters.” He said the department will “refocus its
content away from woke distractions.”
“Stars and Stripes will be custom tailored to our warfighters,” Parnell
wrote. “It will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness,
lethality, survivability and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC
gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints.”
More broadly, the developments at Stars and Stripes come against a
backdrop of increased efforts by Hegseth to control media coverage of
the department.
Last year, officials attempted to impose restrictions on journalists
working inside the Pentagon, which, in turn, led most news outlets to
turn in their access badges and walk out.
Then this summer, the Pentagon took another step and declared its press
office a classified space — instituting a policy that journalists must
be accompanied by an escort on Pentagon grounds. That policy is being
challenged in court. In mid-July, a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the D.C. Circuit said the policy could stand, overturning a lower
court decision.
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The Pentagon is seen from the air, July 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP
Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
 In her April column titled “The
Pentagon is trying to silence me,” Smith, the former ombudsman,
expressed concern over increasing restrictions on the media.
“For nearly a year, Pentagon leadership has placed more and more
restrictions on the mainstream media,” she wrote. “The New York
Times sued and when the Defense/War Department lost in court,
instead of following the judge’s ruling Secretary Hegseth and
company pivoted, finding another way to restrict journalists.”
Of Stars and Stripes, Smith wrote: “This newspaper has a long
history of commitment to the military community and to journalistic
values. Please don’t let it be controlled by Pentagon brass.”
The departing publisher objected to certain changes
Lederer was not made available for an interview with the AP. In the
interview with Stars and Stripes, he said he did not feel the
modernization efforts the Pentagon announced in March were
appropriate, in particular a transitioning of print products to
digital — a move he feared would limit accessibility for troops.
“I don’t feel that there’s a full recognition of the value of
multiple platforms versus only a digital platform,” Lederer was
quoted as saying.
In another development, Stars and Stripes said it could not confirm
an account that, in recent weeks, a new deputy had been installed by
the Pentagon under Lederer without the publisher’s prior knowledge.
In a letter seen by the AP, Rufus Friday, the chair of Stars and
Stripes’ advisory board of publishers, wrote to congressional
leaders about the arrival of the new deputy, a development he said
“threatens Stripes’s editorial independence.”
Roughly half of Stars and Stripes' budget comes from the Pentagon,
and its staff members are considered Defense Department employees.
The outlet’s mission statement emphasizes that it is “editorially
independent of interference from outside its own editorial
chain-of-command” and that it is unique among news organizations
tied to the Defense Department in being “governed by the principles
of the First Amendment.”
The newspaper has been reporting about the military steadily since
World War II, to an audience mainly of service members stationed
overseas.
Lederer told Stars and Stripes that while his retirement is
effective Sept. 30, he does not know whether the Pentagon will keep
him as publisher until then or name an acting publisher.
___
Jocelyn Noveck writes about the intersection of media and
entertainment for the AP.
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