Pentagon fires Stars and Stripes’ independence watchdog

The Pentagon recently ousted the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes’ ombudsman, the person meant to monitor the outlet’s editorial independence and report concerns to Congress. 

“Apparently the Pentagon also doesn’t want you to hear from me anymore about threats to the editorial independence of Stars and Stripes. They fired me,” Jacqueline Smith, wrote Thursday in an opinion piece published in the newspaper.

Smith said that Defense officials gave no reason for her ouster, set officially for April 28, and that she was told the action “is not grievable.” 

The ombudsman role for the publication, which Smith took on in December 2023, is meant to serve as a watchdog monitoring the paper’s independence. Congress created the position in 1991 after military personnel in the late 1980s attempted on multiple occasions to suppress unfavorable news of the Iran-Contra affair and other issues, she wrote, adding that the ombudsman must report to lawmakers at least once a year. 

“As required, I have told the House and Senate Armed Services committees in recent months of my great and growing concern about attempted control of the newspaper by the Pentagon,” Smith wrote.

“No one should be surprised that they’re kicking out the one person charged by Congress with protecting Stars and Stripes’ editorial independence,” she added in the op-ed.

The firing follows months of overhaul at the paper, which receives half its funding from the Pentagon but maintains editorial independence from Defense Department leadership.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell on Jan. 15 announced the department would modernize the paper’s operations, “refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members.” 

Since that decree, Smith said she had been outspoken in her columns, media interviews, talks with national free press groups and communications with Congress about the Pentagon’s moves to take control of Stripes’ content. 

She had also been critical of a March 9 directive from Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg that banned the use of “news stories, features, syndicated columns, comic strips and editorial cartoons from commercial news media” in Stars and Stripes.

“Pete Hegseth doesn’t want you to see cartoons in this newspaper anymore,” she wrote in a separate column.

After House and Senate lawmakers reached out to Pentagon leadership voicing their concerns of censorship at the paper — including an April 15 letter led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, (D-Md.), to Hegseth expressing “great alarm” about reports of political interference with the editorial independence — Smith was fired six days later. 

“I think that Hegseth and company are trying to get around Congress by not eliminating the position, just getting rid of the outspoken present ombudsman,” the outgoing ombudsman wrote. “I knew there would be perils for speaking out against Pentagon attempts to control the news, but I expected some communication or questions or warning first. Nothing.”

Smith’s three-year term was set to expire at the end of 2026, but, “They couldn’t wait,” she added.

The changes at Stars and Stripes are part of a series of actions meant to restrict Pentagon reporters under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has sought to bar certain journalists from the building and set limits on how they seek out information from government sources.

A judge has ruled twice against the restrictions, which the Pentagon has appealed.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Senators to introduce Hot Rotisserie Chicken Act for SNAP recipients

GOP senators ratchet up pressure on Speaker Johnson to quickly end DHS shutdown

2 GOP senators break ranks on final Senate budget vote

Israel’s Netanyahu reveals cancer diagnosis

‘Flashing red’ warning signs for GOP put Senate in play

DOJ drops criminal probe of Fed, Jerome Powell

4 GOP senators vote against adding SAVE America Act to budget package

Democrats worry they may be taking the wrong lesson from recent wins

Hegseth gives 2 questions to TMZ at Operation Epic Fury briefing

Republican proposes giving part of Virginia back to DC after redistricting loss

2 Republicans break with party as GOP defeats budget amendment to lower health ...

Trump’s decline is an emergency: Why doesn't Congress treat it like one?

Navy secretary’s removal points to Trump’s anxiety over shipbuilding

Hegseth responds to pope’s criticism: ‘We know what authority we have’

Luna: Trump should pardon soldier accused of Maduro bet

Trump lived by the conspiracy theory — now he pays the price

Liberals shocked! San Francisco fixed its subway by stopping crime 

3 GOP senators break with leaders over addressing insurance companies’ denial ...

The Hill Podcasts – Morning Report

© The Hill