Fired Stars and Stripes Watchdog Sues Pentagon Over Dismissal
Jacqueline Smith spent three years as the person whose entire job was to protect a military newspaper from political interference. She says that's exactly why she got fired.
Smith filed a federal lawsuit against the Defense Department this week, alleging her April dismissal as Stars and Stripes' ombudsman was retaliation for criticizing Pentagon control over the paper's content.
What the Lawsuit Claims
Smith says she was fired just 10 days after publishing an April 8 opinion column criticizing Pentagon officials for eliminating syndicated comics from the newspaper.
Her three-year term as ombudsman, a congressionally mandated role, wasn't set to expire until December 2026.
The lawsuit alleges the firing violated her First Amendment rights and seeks her reinstatement to the position.
"I felt I had to take a stand on principle and fight to uphold the First Amendment," Smith said of her decision to sue.
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Why the Ombudsman Role Exists
Congress created the Stars and Stripes ombudsman position in 1991, after military personnel in the late 1980s attempted multiple times to suppress unfavorable coverage of the Iran-Contra affair.
The role requires the ombudsman to monitor the paper's editorial independence and report concerns to lawmakers at least once a year.
Stars and Stripes has operated independently from the Pentagon under a framework established in 1994, even though its staff are Pentagon employees and the paper receives partial agency funding.
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The Dispute That Led to Her Firing
Smith had criticized a March 9 directive from Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg banning the use of commercial news stories, syndicated columns and comic strips in Stars and Stripes.
She wrote in a separate column that Pentagon leadership "doesn't want you to see cartoons in this newspaper anymore."
House and Senate lawmakers, including a letter led by Rep. Jamie Raskin expressing "great alarm" about political interference, pressed Pentagon leadership over the directive before Smith was fired six days later.
Smith says Defense officials gave her no reason for the dismissal and told her the decision "is not grievable."
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The Pentagon's Position
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, has previously said a related lawsuit from Stars and Stripes advisory board members "is without merit" and that the department expects to prevail.
Neither the Pentagon nor Stars and Stripes has commented specifically on Smith's new lawsuit.
A federal judge has twice already ruled against the Pentagon's content restrictions in the related advisory board case, though the department has appealed those rulings.
Reaction From Press Freedom Groups
Press freedom advocacy group PEN America called on Congress to "step in" after Smith's firing, with program director Tim Richardson saying she had been "fired for doing exactly what Congress intended" the ombudsman role to do.
Richardson argued the firing fits "a broader pattern of restricting press access to evade scrutiny," while calling on Congress to defend the statutory independence lawmakers built into the role decades ago.
TL;DR
- Jacqueline Smith, the fired Stars and Stripes ombudsman, is suing the Pentagon over her April dismissal.
- She says she was fired 10 days after criticizing the removal of comics from the paper.
- Congress created the ombudsman role in 1991 after Iran-Contra-era censorship attempts.
- A federal judge has twice ruled against related Pentagon content restrictions, which the department has appealed.
- Press freedom group PEN America has called on Congress to intervene.
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World News Correspondent
Rachel Hayes reports on international affairs, geopolitics, and breaking world news. Based in London, she covers stories shaping the UK and global political landscape.
