Former Stars and Stripes reporter Kevin Baron slammed the Pentagon for firing Stars and Stripes ombudsman Jacqueline Smith. According to The Washington Post, the Defense Department dismissed Smith “without giving a reason.”
“I’ve been outspoken about my concern with increasing restrictions on the press by the Pentagon and, in particular, very concerned about the editorial independence of Stars and Stripes,” Smith said after her dismissal. “All of this speaking out made me vulnerable.”
She added, “It’s a way to quiet the criticism.”
Baron defined The Stripes ombudsman as “an independent watchdog for the public, making sure the paper and the Pentagon both get it right. Pretty simple. When one side fires the refs, you can guess which side is breaking the rules.”
We are at war. Congress passed a law after Vietnam specifically to prevent what happened then and what’s happening again now: political interference by the administration designed to protect their power and hide the truth from American troops at war. Who fires an ombudsman? https://t.co/SDT2tHRoUc
— Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) April 24, 2026
Baron wrote: “We are at war. Congress passed a law after Vietnam specifically to prevent what happened then and what’s happening again now: political interference by the administration designed to protect their power and hide the truth from American troops at war. Who fires an ombudsman?”
Baron, former executive editor of Defense One, a subdivision of Atlantic Media, added: “Once again, Trump’s chosen DOD civilian leaders keep crossing lines, ignoring rules, asserting executive power while Congress and courts get steamrolled or willfully demure. Who does this most hurt? It hurts troops. I’m confident Stripes will outlive these politics.”