Pentagon Agrees to Pause the Firing of Three Stars and Stripes Journalists Until a Sept. 4 Hearing

The Pentagon agreed on Aug. 28, 2026 to keep three Stars and Stripes employees on administrative leave for another week so a court could consider their wrongful-termination suit. Editor in Chief Erik Slavin, Middle East reporter Lara Korte and Publisher Max D. Lederer Jr. had received separation notices on Aug. 21 charging insubordination, with the firings set to take effect two days after the hearing. Judge Trevor McFadden asked Pentagon attorneys whether the firings could be extended so he could understand the case, and the department agreed. A hearing on a temporary restraining order is set for Sept. 4 in Washington.

The paper is owned and partly funded by the Defense Department, and its employees are paid through nonappropriated funds, a status that limits some federal worker protections. The suit alleges the firings were retaliation for the outlet's coverage of conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Defense attorneys wrote that the journalists' televised comments were "designed to undermine the government agency that employs them."

A Pentagon official said in a declaration that separation paperwork was being prepared as early as July 22, before the Lincoln article ran on Aug. 11.