Cleared for release.

Stars Retained

August 21, 2026 · Ibid.

A soldier in a chow hall holds up a Stars and Stripes front page whose masthead stars are polished pinned general's rank stars and whose stripes and every column below are solid black bars, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth restocks the newspaper rack, pressing black tape across the stacked front pages as a public affairs officer holds the roll steady.

The Pentagon dismissed Stars and Stripes' top editor and publisher and fired one of the newspaper's reporters. AP reported the removals followed the journalists' objections to military interference in the paper's coverage. Stars and Stripes is funded by the Defense Department but has long operated under a guarantee of editorial independence from the chain of command it covers.