Kelly, Blumenthal, Colleagues Demand Answers on Pentagon’s Efforts to Politicize Stars and Stripes Military Newspaper

"The paper's independence is essential to ensuring the American people understand what is happening in our armed forces, and to provide servicemembers with honest, credible reporting rather than filtered or politicized narratives."

Today, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) joined Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and a group of their colleagues in sending a letter to the Department of Defense (DoD) demanding answers on its efforts to politicize Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper that has long maintained editorial independence.

The letter follows recent reporting on how Stars and Stripes job applicants have been asked to explain how they would advance the Administration's policy priorities, and comments from the Pentagon's top public affairs official on the Department's plans to overhaul the newspaper.

"We write to express our strong and unwavering support for the continued editorial independence of Stars and Stripes, a publication whose credibility rests on its ability to report freely and impartially on matters affecting the men and women of the United States Armed Forces," wrote the senators. "Any diminishing independence of Stars and Stripes is a blow to the public's legitimate need for information and disrespectful to our military. The paper's independence is essential to ensuring the American people understand what is happening in our armed forces, and to provide servicemembers with honest, credible reporting rather than filtered or politicized narratives."

Stars and Stripes was founded in 1861, and Congress has long affirmed the newspaper's independence.

The senators continued, "Congress has been clear for decades that Stars and Stripes must be governed by First Amendment principles and insulated from political influence, regardless of which administration is in power. We urge you to immediately clarify that neither hiring practices nor editorial decisions at Stars and Stripes will be conditioned on ideological alignment or policy advocacy, and to reaffirm, publicly and unequivocally, the newspaper's statutory independence."

In addition to Kelly and Blumenthal, the letter was signed by Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

The full text of the letter is available here.