Pentagon fires ombudsman overseeing military newspaper after calling it ‘woke’

Stars and Stripes ombudsman Jacqueline Smith said the Defense Department dismissed her without giving a reason, according to an email reviewed by The Post.

Three months after the Pentagon decried the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes as “woke” and announced it would be overhauled, Defense Department official Sean Parnell fired the publication’s ombudsman, a role charged by Congress with safeguarding the paper’s editorial independence.

In a Thursday message to Stars and Stripes staff reviewed by The Washington Post, the paper’s ombudsman said the Defense Department fired her without giving a reason.

However, Jacqueline Smith said she believed she was fired for speaking out against the decision to overhaul Stars and Stripes, announced by Parnell in January, a decision she said threatened the storied paper’s long-held independence. Parnell is also the chief Pentagon spokesman.