The Pentagon has appointed Christian Devine, executive director of its public affairs office, as acting publisher of Stars and Stripes. Devine will retain his Pentagon position while taking on the interim newspaper role, splitting his time between the two jobs until a permanent publisher is selected.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced the appointment to Fox News Digital. He described Devine as a former Marine Corps colonel and experienced public affairs official, and said the Pentagon expected him to help modernize the publication while preserving its editorial independence. Devine said in a statement that he hoped to support the newspaper’s staff during the interim period.
Stars and Stripes describes its mission as providing independent news and information to the U.S. military community, including service members, Defense Department civilians, veterans, contractors and their families. The publication says it operates according to First Amendment principles. Its website states that the Pentagon funds about half of its annual budget.
The appointment comes amid a wider dispute over the newspaper’s direction. In January, Parnell said on X that the Defense Department planned to refocus Stars and Stripes on military subjects, modernize its operations and move away from content he characterized as distracting from its mission. He listed topics such as weapons systems, fitness and military operations as areas of focus, and criticized the use of republished material.
In August, the newspaper’s longtime publisher, Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and Middle East reporter Lara Korte were fired. Fox News Digital reported that a source familiar with the matter attributed the dismissals to Slavin and Korte’s participation in a CBS Sunday Morning segment about the Pentagon’s plans and Lederer’s refusal to dismiss them at Pentagon leadership’s direction. That account was attributed to an unnamed source; the supplied material does not include a response from the Pentagon or the former employees addressing that explanation.
The three former staff members have sued the Pentagon over their terminations. They allege that they face imminent retaliation and that their First Amendment and statutory rights were violated. Those claims are allegations, not findings established in the supplied account.
In September, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden denied a temporary restraining order seeking to reverse the firings. The source reports that McFadden found the plaintiffs had not met the high standard required to show they were clearly entitled to a preliminary injunction. The ruling described in the source addressed the request for temporary relief; it does not resolve the underlying lawsuit.
Devine’s appointment places a Pentagon public affairs executive in charge of the newspaper during a period of leadership change and litigation. The source does not specify when the search for a permanent publisher will conclude or what changes the acting publisher will implement.
